I love a bit of man made concrete ingenuity. The Lake Guy Dam - or Junction Dam - is near Mt Beauty in Victoria's alpine region, and part of the Kiewa Hydroelectric Scheme, designed to capture renewable energy. They started building it in 1939, and it was completed in 1944, and was named after the resident engineer for the project.
Big projects like this usually have towns built ont eh edge of them, and the little town of Bogong Village was purpose built with a school, post office and the like. But the lake and dam was what we'd driven to see. The lake itself is scenic enough, taking about an hour to walk around, and people kayak and trout fish there. It's a cool intersection of nature, community, and engineering.
It's also really fabulous brutalist architecture! By design, dams have to be - big buttresses of concrete are the norm. But I find something really architecturally pleasing about it. Plus, I get all caught up in the fact that if there was no one to maintain it, it'd disintegrate in a 100 years. We build things out of concrete we think will last forever but concrete has water in it and can crack and decay just like nature can.
The other cool thing about this dam is that you can walk inside it! I loved this. My gorgeous nephew and I walked through first, with Mum, my sister and brother in law close behind.
Of course I started thinking about cool places to hide from zombies. There was something beautifully spooky about it. I love how nature finds a way to creep in.
Looking below you could see big 'rooms' or caverns where the water comes through to the other side of the dam. We'd find a way into them in a second, but here's the view from the top.
When you come out the tunnel, on the other side you can walk down to where the water flows out. My nephew went straight down - he loves an adventure. I was a bit reluctant and went back to the tunnel to talk to them below where they had their phone torches out looking around. My bro in law was proper spooked.
Apparently there were smaller tunnels running sideways from 'cave' to cave. It'd be a great place to film an amateur horror film. You know, dark spaces and decaying concrete.
After that we went to a waterfall and had a swim, but I didn't take my phone as it was out of charge. Then it was lunch and back to Bright for dinner at the Brewery. I wasn't really in the mood for taking content photos for Hive as I was enjoying being present with the family.
We explored for quite a while, having fun together. I do love these family mini adventures, and I know Dad would hve been first in the tunnels if he was around, and taking photos of us all. Still, I suppose we have him to thank for our sense of adventure at all.
I dreamt about him twice on the weekend, more than I have in a year. He was giving me advice on the house, punching my arm to say he told me there was nothing to worry about, and joking that I was rich and the various ways I could spend my money. Coming home, and thinking about Lake Guy, it's kinda hard to think of him as not being there. Ghost Dad is pretty real.
With Love,
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[//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin -36.80475 lat 147.22971 long Lake Guy Dam at Mt Bogong d3scr))