A White Christmas (23 Monaro Highway, Bredbo)

If you see the cheery red and green 'open' sign swinging on the door at Bredbo's colourful Christmas Barn in mid-winter, it doesn't mean they've forgotten to take it down from last December.

Open from June each year, this Santa storehouse, packed to the rafters with Christmas goodies is the ideal place to snaffle up your festive decorations early. Oh, and if the snow gods come to the party, you may even be blessed with a white Christmas in July, at least in the mountain villages further south.

Billilingra Straight (8 km south of Bredbo)

Nothing typifies the striking scenery along the Monaro Highway more than this long straight stretch of road which extends to the horizon like a giant black snake.

It always looks longer than the 5 kilometres it actually is and lead-footers, beware, the local constabulary have a field day patrolling it to top up their quota of fines.

In her book The Road South (RNK Publications, 2005), Ruth McFadden reports that in March, 2000, a lone driver who crashed into a ditch beside the straight road wasn't found for an incredible 10 days after the incident. Hidden from passing motorists by the dense foliage of a willow tree, it was only a chance sighting of the upturned vehicle by local farmer, David Coggin, which resulted in the driver's rescue. Immobilised following the crash, apparently he had survived for 10 days "by sucking on a small pillow soaked by rain". Remarkable.

Obscure Obelisk (14 km south of Bredbo)

In 1973 a striking metallic obelisk was erected atop the very hill where 150 years earlier Captain Mark Currie, Brigade-Major Ovens and Constable Joseph Wild became the first European explorers to venture this far south.

Sadly for the history buffs, the obelisk is on private property and not readily accessible. However, if when passing Chakola Road you look up to the hills to the east, you might be lucky enough to see the sun reflecting off the top of the obelisk. Travelling along at 100km/h in air-conditioned comfort, it's hard to believe this was once the limits of civilisation.

If you miss catching a fleeting glimpse of the obelisk, there is also a plaque commemorating the exploratory efforts of Currie, Ovens and Wild at the nearby Numeralla rest area.

Hang Man (17 km south of Bredbo)

For the art aficionado, one the highlights of the road south are the many large-scale, roadside sculptures. Apart from the aptly-nicknamed "Tin Man" who featured in last week's column (The Road South, 11 June) arguably the most eye-catching is Green mountain blue 11, which at first glance appears to be a small plane that crashed into the top of a small, windswept hill.

Commissioned by property owner John Kahlbetzer, the stunning steel art work was created by American sculptor Charles Ginnever who painted it blue to harmonise with the Monaro skies.

Due to its significant size, measuring 21 metres long by 8 metres high, when first installed in 1978, traffic authorities thought it would be a dangerous distraction to passing motorists. Some locals claimed it even interfered with their television reception. There were also rumours that the sculpture had more sinister purposes, including that it was a CIA tracking station. Really!

In 1981, Kahlbetzer donated it the National Gallery of Australia, where, according to a spokesperson for the gallery, "Green mountain blue 11 was originally intended for the gallery's sculpture garden and was to be relocated once the trees in the garden had grown sufficiently". However, this never happened, and it has become a permanent marker on the western side of the Monaro Highway.

The sculpture did, however, temporarily vanish in 2007, when conservators from the gallery disassembled and transported it to Queanbeyan for extensive conservation work which included removing graffiti and corrosion, and repainting.

The sculpture consists of three steel beams bolted to a concrete footing and a fourth beam is cantilevered at one end and balanced with a high-tension cable on which schoolkids from Cooma once hung their teacher's clothing as an end of year prank. I'd like to see that.

Hotel Hold-up (25 km south of Bredbo)

At the height of the bushranging era, on 22 March 1866, the notorious Clarke Gang raided John Cullen's Squatters Arms Hotel at Bunyan. The gang intended to relieve Cullen, who was also a well-known bookie, of his takings from the Cooma races held earlier that day.

Despite missing out on their intended loot (Cullen had cunningly given his takings to a servant to transport home), the bushrangers instead "stole ham, turkey, tongue, beer and a variety of alcoholic drinks" and rode down to a nearby creek, where, according to Peter Smith in The Clarke Gang: Outlawed, Outcast and Forgotten (Rosenberg, 2015), they "enjoyed a jolly good feast".

Although the circa 1841 stone building is now a private residence, the Bunyan landmark, recently repainted white, is only metres from the busy Monaro Highway (right-hand side when travelling south), and easily viewed from a passing vehicle.

Apparently the loft in the stables at the back of the property is haunted, but by whom remains a mystery.

Mountain Monument (34 km south of Bredbo)

At the northern gateway to Cooma is the tower-like Tadeusz Kosciuszko Monument, a bicentennial gift from the Federal Council of Polish Associations in Australia to the town.

The six-metre high stainless steel sculpture set on a concrete base with plaque and bust not only commemorates the 'discovery' of Mount Kosciuszko in 1839 by Polish explorer, Paul Edmund de Strzelecki who named it after the Polish leader, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, but also celebrates the valuable contributions of Polish settlers to the construction of Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme in the 1950s-60s.

The Road South: My road trip from Canberra to the Snowies was inspired by Ruth McFadden's book, The Road South: a picturesque & romantic history of a well-travelled track (RNK Publications, 2005), which documents places of interest on the Monaro Highway.

Don't Miss: Next week for the final of this three-part series, which features points of interest along the road from Cooma to the snow resorts.

Tree Face

While recently snooping around Bruce Ridge, Bindi Vanzella of Wagga Wagga snapped a number of photographs of old, gnarly gum trees.

Back home, while flicking through photos from the outing, Vanzella was surprised to see a face staring back at her from one of the tree trunks. Can you see it? It's a side profile of a man looking to the right, nose at centre–right, with right ear at top left. Got it? You may have to squint to see it, but when you do, I guarantee you'll be impressed.

Vanzella reckons "it looks a bit like an oil painting". I agree, what a ripper.

Cryptic Clue: You'll be barking mad if you don't get this one.

Degree of difficulty: Medium (or 'hard' if you don't live northside)

Last week: Congratulations to Chris Longhurst of Jerrabomberra who was first to correctly identify last week's photo, sent in by Margaret McJannett as "the Griffith Private Guest House, which later on became the Russian Embassy". Longhurst just beat Jane Malcolm of Kambah, Tony Eastaway of Deakin and Chris Rule of Gilmore to the prize.

Although the photo is sourced from McJannett's family collection, she is unsure if the photographer was her father, or her mother who worked at the guesthouse. Can anyone date the photo? It must be old as Canberra Avenue is still dirt.

Meanwhile, Rebecca Lamb recalls "the excitement on a night of 17 January 1971 when two Bulgarians hurled a gelignite bomb at the embassy and blew a hole in it," adding, "legend has it the perpetrators tried to escape by running down the drain in Telopea Park."

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to timtheyowieman@bigpond.com. The first email sent after 10am, Saturday June 18, 2016 with the correct answer wins a double pass to Dendy cinemas.

CONTACT TIM: Email: timtheyowieman@bigpond.com or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, 9 Pirie St, Fyshwick. You can see a selection of past columns at: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/by/Tim-the-Yowie-Man-hvf8o