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Travel Diary

Howqua River Victoria

Above left: Car packed with our bags / Above right: Road trip essentials

©Kara Rosenlund

A ‘Weekend in Pictures’ post – ahh, they are always my favourite blog posts and this past weekend was really special.  Timothy O and I decided to escape the city for a few days, just as the weather dropped and the leaves turned.

We flew to Melbourne and drove to the alpine region of Victoria, where I had booked a tiny timber fishing hut along the Howqua River. Literally couldn’t wait to arrive….

Above left: A new limited edition print titled ‘Letterboxes’ / Above right: The drive to the timber fishing hut

Above: The view from our timber fishing hut

Above left: Our little hut for the weekend / Above right: Opening the gate for the car

Timothy O and I constantly travel with our jobs, so the fishing hut was the perfect place to run away to and catch up with each other, before going our separate ways again.

There was hardly any phone coverage and the weather was wild and ever changing. The falling autumn leaves looked so cinematic and the smell of smoke was heavy in the air from nearby fireplaces.

I just love everything about this time of year, so much.

Above: A new limited edition print titled ‘Howqua River’ Photographic Print.

Above left: Timothy O and Andy ready for fly fishing / Above right: Andy teaching Timothy O and I how to fly fish

Plus, staying at the fishing hut included the bonus of a fly fishing lesson with fly fishing expert Andy – who could say no to that!

Timothy O and I put on the waders, grabbed the rods and headed for the water like pros with Andy.

How hard could fly fishing be, always looks so graceful and relaxing in the movies, just sort of flick the line up and down … I was thinking about all the recipes I could do with trout …..

*note – current mood, very confident.

Above left: Andy showing Tim what to do / Above right: Timothy O getting the hang of it

Above left: Andy in his element / Above right: Details of Andy’s waders

Above left: The view of the river/ Above right: Following the shallows of the river

*note – current mood, hello reality! Turns out, fly fishing is bloody hard.

Timothy O got the knack pretty quickly, besides a few early tangles, but I ‘threw in the fly’ rather fast and decided to just enjoy following the shallows of the river, as it gently snaked through the stirring landscape.

Above: Details of the Grass in the wind

Above left: Tree details of the falling autumn leaves  / Above right: Autumn leaves falling onto the car

Above left: A new limited edition print titled ‘Gum Tree Photographic Print’ / Above right: A new limited edition print titled ‘Riverbank Photographic Print’.

Above: Tree trunk details

Above left: Local trout from the IGA / Above right: Our special camp spot on the banks

After my misplaced confidence on the fly fishing front, I know, I know,  Timothy O and I were in such awe of the river, we both wanted to be as close to it as possible. So we went out to find a special camp spot on the banks.

We didn’t catch anything from our adventures fly fishing – surprising right? – and Andy respectively practises ‘catch and release’ when it comes to his passion for fly fishing … I wasn’t about to give up on the trout adventures, I heard a hot tip that the local IGA was the best fishing hole in town for local trout, so that’s where I went fishing.

Above left: Keeping our drinks cold in the river / Above right: Preparing the trout for the fire

Above left: Fire details / Above right: Adventuring down the river

Above: Tree trunk details

Above left: A glimpse of our cozy dining room / Above right: Quince and almond cake

I ran into a friend of mine Jana, who is a high country local and helped me a few years ago with some leads for my book Shelter.

She made us the most stunning and homely quince and almond cake, which moonlighted for breakfast, lunch and dinner over the few days by the river.

Above: Timothy O relaxing by the fire

Above left: Timothy O relaxing by the fire / Above right: My kitted tea cosy keeping the tea pot warm

I actually really loved staying at the fishing hut, it felt really primitive to be protected from the elements by a little timber structure.

Above left: Bringing the outdoors in, with this autumn branch/ Above right: Surrounding myself with the beautiful autumn leaves

If I stay at a place longer than one night I always like to bring a bit of the outdoors in. Whether it be flowers or branches or in this case, autumn leaves, bursting with beautiful tones.

There was no vase, so unfortunately I had to drink a bottle of wine to make a vase… Dang

Above left: Bringing the outdoors in, with this autumn branch/ Above right: Details of the beautiful autumn leaves

Above left: My Leather Bag hanging up / Above right: A glimpse into the dining room

I brought along my new favourite throw blanket, as I alway like to be reminded of home and a check rug always signals outdoor adventure for me.

Above: The autumn colours shining in the trees

Above left: Autumn Trees / Above right: Leaf details

Everywhere I looked there was a thick carpet of yellow dancing leaves sprinkling the region … I just had to get into it, so we had a sunday morning picnic right in amongst the leaves.

I packed the flask and Jana’s cake and found a special little spot under an oak tree. So lovely to just lay back on the blanket and be hypnotised by the natural colours.

Above left: The flask with the quince and almond cake, ready for our picnic/ Above right: Our delicious picnic

Above left: Relaxing under the oak tree / Above right: Cake and Tea on the thick blanket of autumn leaves

Above: Wearing My KR Wool Cape

And here is me, in front of the camera, my favourite spot, not, wearing my new KR Wool Cape which launched earlier this week.

I’m so proud of this piece. It took over six months to perfect it’s simple structure and to find the right Australian maker to stitch and hand finish them. The Cape sold out within a day, which made my heart swell.

Above: A new limited edition print titled ‘Howqua Track’ Photographic Print.

Hope you enjoyed my latest travels, as always there will be more to come,

Talk soon

KR x

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4 Comments to “Howqua River Victoria”

  1. I love the way you portray this beautiful country which you evidently love as much as me and millions of others your extreme good taste used in the mot subtle of ways promotes the less is more aesthetic your choice of colours that blend in with nature exposes your sharp eye your love of history is evident in how glamorous you make old pieces of furniture pop with the use of whatever is nearby turn in to a vase which u soon fill with whatever flora is close by
    There is a lovely film called Le Heavre with great simple set design I wonder if u have seen it

  2. Absolutely wonderful photos. I love your style.
    I couldn’t find the movie Pamela mentioned. Typo? Could she mean Le Havre? A terrific film in french.

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