It's rare to get an absolutely perfect camp, but Geehi Campground is one of them. We came here last time we went to Cooma, some five years ago, and the only difference was this time it was colder.

It's a long drive down from Jindabyne to get here, past another large camp called Tom Groggin. There's a large picnic area at Geehi and plenty of space for picnics. It takes two river crossings to reach where we wanted to be, but there is plenty of spaces to camp in between.

The river runs along the edge of a magnificent large valley where kangaroos graze. There's small camps all along, with plenty of space in between, and the white noise of the river drowns out the sound of other camps anyway. If there's no space along the river at busiest times there's room in the valley itself with magnificent views of the mountains.

We set up our potbelly stove and lit a fire, enjoying a tea and the ambience. I also decided to have a shower, the second one we had since we bought the Kickass shower tent set up.

I had bought a collapsible bucket in which is also packed the lithium powered, USB charged shower hose. Inside the shower tent, I put the large bucket that we take with us for firewood, wetsuits and the like. That becomes our shower basin.

The best thing about camping by a river means we don't have to use our tank water to have a shower. Saying that, one bucket showers us both, and that's with shampoo, conditioning and a really good rinse. The trick is to turn off the pump when you are soaping up. Honestly I reckon I only use two litres which is extraordinary, three on the outside, and I don't feel as if I haven't properly soaked at all.

Boiling the wok, the kettle and the jetboil takes about five minutes, and added to the bucket makes for water the perfect temperature. Even if the weather is cold outside, the fact the shower tent keeps the wind off you means it's quite comfortable to be butt naked in there, and even a tiny glimmer of sunshine means it warms up quite nicely. I honestly can't believe we can have such a luxury shower whenever we want on the road.

The other thing I have settled on is the extra large camp towels from Macpac. They wrap all the way around, soak up water well, and dry fast, which is a must in colder camp weather. They also don't take up much space. I bought four so when two are dirty or being washed, there's a spare.

I also am using eco shampoo bars, which store better and use up less space, and there's less chance of the shampoo tipping and wasting! Plus they don't harm the environment. When the water is done, all we need to do is empty the shower 'basin' under a tree or away from the river as even eco soap film can harm fish I believe.

We had the most peaceful night and morning at Geehi, and in retrospect I wish I had have stayed two nights, however, the coming rain meant it would have been way scarier travelling over the mountain ridge we drove the next day.

From our most perfect camp at Geehi, we headed to Tom Groggin where we knew there was a river crossing into Victoria and and into Alpine way. We knew some areas and tracks were shut due to flood damage and had stopped to ask some campers what the track was like as we didn't have anyone with us for recovery. They said the first but was rough but after that it was fine, so we decided to risk it.

The river crossing was deeper than the last one with a steeper ascent out of the water, but Jamie's learnt to 'just send it' as 4Wd'ers say here, putting his foot down and shooting up and out of the river.

After a breakfast of muesli and coconut yoghurt we headed down the empty track with a vague idea of where we were going. It's a little nerve-wracking going without another recovery vehicle but we figured it was a fairly well travelled route. A few other tracks had been shut due to landslides so the chances of another vehicle coming along were good.

Sadly we didn't get a lot of footage along this stunning route. The first bit was really bumpy and uphill as we went up high along a ridge, looking into a valley far below on either side. Long clouds of mist hovered between tree covered mountains and on the ridge, tall trees with wide girths shouted back. After the hard core tracks we did in Tassie this felt easier but had it rained I don't think we could have got up there!

After a while the track became easier and went through regrowth forest coming back after a fire. We ended up at Honnemunje where there was a camp along the Mitta Mitta river and the oldest wooden bridge in Victoria, carved by hand.

However, we decided to push through and headed to a camp half way up to Falls Creek, which was beautiful, right by a river and hardly anyone around. From here we would head up to 1700 metres, but that's another story.

Oh, and if you were trying to spot our Landrover in the Cooma line up below? It was quite tricky. We were in the top left corner! Just below the marquee , next to the white pop top.

With Love,

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