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| Lake Jindabyne (March 2003) Trip Report by Steven Tuften 50m visibility, balmy tropical waters and strange underwater sights. Well one out of three ain’t bad. Yes, we’re heading for Lake Jindabyne. Muck diving capital of Australia. Our trip began early Friday afternoon. The sun is shining, the birds are singing! We thought we’d leave Sydney early only to be temporarily waylaid by torrential rain and hailstones halfway to the Nations Capital. The drive from Sydney lasted just over 6 hours and, once we got past Canberra, was smooth diving the rest of the way. By 7pm we had arrived at the modern township of Jindabyne on the south western shores of Lake Jindabyne. 61 km from Cooma and 462 km from Sydney, Jindabyne, and Lake Jindabyne, are 914 metres above sea level and possibly the best location in Australia to hone your altitude and drysuit diving skills. Whilst the opportunity to test our newly acquired drysuit techniques was tantalisingly close, foremost in my mind was the intriguing prospect of soaring down the main street of a ghost town. Blake would apparently do this upside down and myself blown up like the Michelin man (see "What not to do in a drysuit" inset below). After the lengthy drive down, a rushed eat in dinner at a Thai restaurant in Cooma, (though the food was excellent I forgot how sloooow country town service can be), we dived into bed in preparation for an early start. In my case I’d enrolled in the Drysuit Course only to curse my stupidity at denying myself an extra half hours sleep on a Saturday morning. Our accommodation for the weekend was in on site cabins at the Snowline Caravan Park, just near the Kosciusko/Thredbo Road junction. The cabins had everything a wet and weary diver needs after a long days diving including kitchen, bathroom, one double bed and 2 singles, tv and heater.
"Reel Diving" or "Navigation for Dummies" Saturday Dive 1: Main Street of the Old Town of Jindabyne Upon donning our gear in the brisk alpine morning air, we climbed (clambered for those in drysuits) into the tinnies waiting at the wharf just a short stroll down from our cabins. The first dive for the day was to be the main street of the Old town of Jindabyne. Fifteen minutes motoring north east and we arrived at a yellow buoy about 50m from Church Rock. Here we dropped anchor and plunged backwards into the water "007" style. Due to the obvious and liberating lack of current we were able to safely don our BCDs and do buddy checks in the water. Since its much more difficult to look down and check your buckles and straps in the water it helps to coordinate and alternate getting into our BCD with my dive buddy. Especially since it was our first real dive in dry suits and we had to connect our pressure hoses to our suits with cold and clumsy gloved fingers. No sooner had we begun our descent to the dark and dizzying depths of 8m than all dive hands were rapidly locating their dive torches. No sooner had everyone landed gently on the bottom kicking more silt up than a Saharan sandstorm than everyone was reaching for their dive reels as well.
Out of the water, one of the other divers mentioned their chance encounter with the remains of a building and an old motor vehicle. Back to the shore we headed and then onto our second dive for the day.
Oh give me a home where the Rainbow Trout roam…. Saturday Dive 2: SunnyBrae Farmhouse Being an alpine location and with the reputation as a Trout fishermans heaven you would have thought we’d encounter at least one damn trout in our collective dive hours. Nope , not a skerrick of Oncoryhnchus mykiss to be seen. Apparently they prefer the flow of fresh water and particularly gravel beds where they can lay their eggs and feed on insects, crustaceans and molluscs. As such our dive locations were particularly poor spots to encounter any kind of aquatic life.
Sunday Dive 1: Sunnybrae Farmhouse While half the group were busy off exploring the old township the rest of us decided to return to Sunnybrae for another chance at the old homestead. Unfortunately the yellow buoy that used to mark the site has gone so make sure you bring along a depth sounder or GPS and plenty of patience. This time, however, the dive gods had smiled on us for smack bang in front of the anchors resting place was the homestead. The first thing to appear on my descent was a deteriorating corrugated roof that must have been an annex to the main farmhouse (the original house was bulldozed prior to flooding). Off to one side is what appears to be the main chimney with an oven at its base with its original steel door still in place. Several metres away from the main building is a well however I wasn’t able to venture much further due to my buddy having to return to the surface with equalisation problems.
Sunday Dive 2: Shore Dive, North of East Jindabyne Our last dive for the weekend was a shore dive off the eastern side of the Lake on another submerged homestead. This one more intact and easier to access due to its proximity to the shore. This was by far the easiest shore dive, and most comfortable with the drysuit on, I have ever done. We strolled into about 5m of water and with the sure knowledge that the site was within 10~15metres of our location we proceeded to do a square search pattern 10metres to a side until on the last leg we ran into the foundations of the farmhouse. All the walls had long since collapsed leaving a sturdy fireplace, rotting floorboards and a four poster bed. Around the floor area were broken bottles, a few old saucepans and loose brickwork. At the western end of the house were the remains of a steel rainwater tank. After completing our circuit of the property we ventured a little deeper into the lake where emerging out of the grey green gloom were a strand of dead eucalypts with their great twisted arms pointing every which way as if they were trying to escape the rising waters. Negotiating our way through and around these trees trying not to get tangled, we decided to turn around and headed swiftly back to shore. With our last dive for the trip completed and our first altitude and fresh water dives under our belts we headed back to Sydney still reeling from the ghostly sights and experiences we had encountered in the waters of Lake Jindabyne. |
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