They are ALL asleep!!! grandpa, parents and kids.
Where did I leave you? I must enlarge on Akaroa; it was colonised by French people in mid 1800's, at a time when communication took so long that they were well established when someone told them "Sorry, its British" They must have said "Merde, quelle domage!" or something to that effect. Anyway the Frenchness has prevailed and it is really delightful, architecture, etc.
On our last day in South Island I had my eye on the clock, drop van off at noon, get to ferry terminal to check in by 1320 hrs, ferry leaves at 1415 hrs. to this end I kept onto John, press on, press on, but there was so much to see. We were in the Marlborough Sounds area, famed for its fine weather, aquamarine sea inlets, green mountains, orchards, tiny towns and villages, all so laid back, plenty of marinas, and of course it was a wow view every minute, the twisty roads providing a kalaedescope of visual splendour, it would have been easy to cancel the ferry and stay another week! We could easily be tempted to do a 6 month house swap, even tho you can only sail 2 hrs each side of high tide, which is what we got away from in UK! However we pressed on, we had to because we had picked up an Austrian hitchhiker who was hoping to get the 1315 hrs ferry. This was the first warning and I didn't heed it. I just thought hmm, plenty of ferries.
We dropped young Wolfgang off at the Picton ferry terminal and almost did a pub lunch but I was on edge, keen to get rid of van. Well! Lucky we did, because the van man said"2.15? that's odd" I had booked the ferry on i'net at Wayne's place and printed off the ticket so I checked it, and sure enough it said 2.15...................but from Wellington to Picton! AAARRRGGGHHH! Not much phases me these days but that did! PANIC...but the kindly van man said you'll make it, whizzed us to terminal where I confessed my blooper to the lady and she smiled and said we'll soon fux thet (honestly that's what she said, that's how they say it in Kiwiland). Next thing we were in the queue and boarding. Now I could lie and say it was my brilliant planning, but the huge grin on John's face was bound to give it all away. Since then I have regained some ground on personal behaviour issues (I won't go into details but it does involve alcohol) but I think I am still way behind. Had to ring Kathy and warn her of early arrival, which can really ruin your day with 2 small kids and a husband to collect from work, but she managed. Mucho chagrin.
We left Picton and its lovely fiords in calm blue water and sky, and as we approached windy Welly it got wilder and wilder and it reminded us of returning to West Wales after an outing or holiday eastwards; as you approach Port Talbot, the weather closes in and you know that that is it, put your socks and long trousers on.
Lovely reunion, kids in good form, not scared of us. Hawk too young to remember us but he pitched in with a will, got the hang of us. Hayden knows I worry about not having a bed to sleep in so he showed me to my room and wow!...4 large windows overlooking Island Bay, the shoreline about 15 metres away, lots of white horses out on the water, fishing boats bobbing on moorings, and in the distance the snowy peaks of South Island. Pretty specky. Nina the dog did her usual prancey dance and it was suddenly like we had never been apart for 9 months.
Since then we have revelled in the comforts of home and not having to drive anywhere. Its easy flat walking around here which is great for
k and kids, and the boys will play on the pebbly beach for hours; it reminds us of being kids, growing up on Sully beach 50+ years ago.
We have been keen to know what K and M will do next, when his contract expires in Feb 2010, and on Thursday he gave us the great news that he has been offered the job he wanted, with the building of the new Fiona Stanley Public Hospital in Perth, commencing late March 2010. So yippee they are coming home, now we don't feel so bad about leaving next Friday. They've got a very busy time ahead of them but it'll pass.
Mark's birthday on Monday, so a busy weekend, we went to Hayden's Kindy Gala today, seemed to spend a heap of money on little things but won 2 bottles of wine (a semillon blanc and a merlot, no less) and some chocs, so came out in front I think, plus BBQ tomorrow.
That's it, you're up to date and they are all still asleep.
Love
Po
Friday, October 16, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
friday 16 October
refreshed and recharged after a swim in the welly pool, Hayden and Hawk are like a couple of dolphins, wonderful to watch.
But back to Victoria...
noticed error in last post...the pianist referred to is David Helfgott..oops.
-had quick looks at Wilson's Promontory, Wonthaggi, discovered old port at Port Albert and took time to walk and explore. At this point we have regularly covered between 200 and 300 kms a day, so sometimes it is actually hard to find time for a decent walk. To this end, we even take opportunities to walk by collecting water from taps, taking rubbish to campsite bins, plus a nice stroll to the ablution block; its all exercise!
We reached Phillip Island and found a really beautiful camp site, owned and run by seasoned campers, so it had some really useful features, such as sensor lights around the grounds, which come on when they are needed and go off so you are not kept awake by bright lights, lots of hooks in the shower cubicles and beside the wash basins, (everyone has hangup washbags these days) a large enclosed campers kitchen with everything including washing up liquid, huge lounge area with sofas and a gigantic LCD tv, where, being on our own, we were able to watch ABC instead of commercial rubbish.
we had a drive around Ph.Island and due to inclement weather we decided to do an indoor thing so went to the chocolate factory.
i have never been to one before, and I have to say, it was a WHIZZ! Make your own choc bar in a fantastical machine, see the miniature village made of choc, the liquid choc fall, the 1 ton block of choc, besides being very informative about the production of same. And with lots of school kids, it was extra entertaining, as you can imagine.
Since being in NSW and Victoria we have really enjoyed the towns and villages being so comparatively close to each other, mostly 10 to 15 kms. Its true what they say about WA, its a long way between beers!
Also we have noticed the high density of cows and sheep per paddock, whereas in WA its a case of paddocks per animal! Here, the fences are serious, while in WA after a few kms out of Perth metro area, they hardly bother with them.
-The road trains in Queensland are maximum 75mtrs in length, whereas here they are just trucks.
John and I have been having a lot of fun scoring points off each other for doing silly age-related things, such as leaving the keys in the van door and going off walking, putting things away and then blaming each other for not putting them away properly, then finding them in a completely different place, leaving an empty kettle on the hob; not reading the map properly and taking wrong turns; too many to mention but John is way ahead at the moment because of a silly thing I did, but later...
Did I mention I hired a flute for the trip? I can play quite a few tunes now, Happy Birthday, Calon Lan, Gwyneth Gwyn, Rhagfyr, Mozart's clarinet concerto K622 3rd movement, opening 6 bars! But only in C major, i am struggling to apply fingers to keys for notes outside said scale. As usual, "could do better, needs more practice". Ah well..
We finally got to Melbourne and found Maureen's place quite easily, had a lovely reunion with her, talked until wee hours, caught up on gossip and families, it was terrific, haven't seen her since 1995. We had such fun (and a few traumas!)together in Manhattan all those years ago, and our lives are now completely different, but the bond is still strong. We even phoned a mutual friend in NY and had a good chat. M is a mental health social worker and loves her work, and makes time to pursue her love of art, photography and her growing family of nieces, nephews, and their kids, all the issue of her 4 brothers, who all live in the melbourne area.
M had to work so we had brunch in her local cafe where they all wanted to know about Rita and our trip, then caught train into city and explored Melb. on foot, had a tram ride, went to imax 3D cinema, museum, art gallery and Federation square, then met M for dinner in Carlton, the old Italian area, quite an experience and great food.
Melbourne is an old grey city and has a grey/brown river and a lot of grey sky...not for us.
When it came time to leave, with M promising to see us in WA in Feb, we set off a nearby suburb to visit Kathy's old flat mate Sarah and her husband Rob and their daughter Niamh. Niamh is 1/4 malaysian thru Sarah and is a pretty child, and it was her 2nd birthday, with family party, so we scored a hit there. We were made very welcome and given 3 offers to leave Rita in their drives while we went to NZ, but we had already made a motel booking, so had to decline. But we will stay with Sarah and Rob on our return.
Nice motel, lift to airport in morning, left Rita in respite, good flight, then sunny Christchurch, which I later learned is the Swing Capital of NZ, so there you go! Collected our van next morning and found we had been given an upgrade (frequent flyers with Pacific Horizon). Typical me, I almost declined it because in the van we booked I knew exactly where everything was and where to stow things, plus easy pull-out bed, plus a waist height fridge, which the upgrade didn't have. In the event, it was a nice van, but the fridge and bed were a pain and not enough storage, too many fancy bits of kitchen equipment. It was very easy to drive, which is so important on NZ roads, with all their bends, mountain slopes, steep drop-offs and so on. Somewhere in the past I have seen a speed limit sign which says 25kph on a tight bend. Underneath it said "you have been warned" and I now apply this principal to Tasmanian and NZ roads. NZ has so many 100kph speed limit signs which are a complete waste of taxpayers money, because they are immediately followed by 65, 55, 45, 35, etc.
In Christchurch we made time to do a tourist tram ride and walk in the lovely botanical Gardens, then hit the road for Akaroa, which is a tiny French town on the flooded crater of an ancient extinct volcan which forms the Banks Peninsular off Christchurch.
We had been there 5 years ago and were glad to see it again. Had a sail on the crater lake, out to the Heads, took photos of French influence, they still have French street names, speak French and have an annual French festival, which we had just missed! Beautiful sunny weather, so we spent 2 days there, especially as we found the Little River Hotel with its huge sign saying "motorhomes welcome' and discovered that we could camp free in their back garden, which was up a steep bank and commanding views over a lovely green river valley. They just hoped we would refresh ourselves within, which of course we did. Considering it costs between $25 and $35 per night in a CVPark, this is a great idea. they seemed to take a liking to us because the meals we were served were enormous; Johns steak egg and chips came with 3 eggs. We met lovely local people and had great chats about local issues, which is always interesting.
We managed to make contact with Wayne near Timaru, south pf Chch, a pal we had met 5 years ago while camping by a lake. He loves fishing and presented us with 2 trout for breakfast that time. Since then we have been email pals. We spent the night at their place; they have been converting a bach (a basic NZ fishing shack) into their permanent home and were apologetic about the ongoing work, but it was so interesting for us to see. They have children and grandies nearby, and Wayne also has a magnificent motorbike and does huge challenging things like, the Southern Cross race, in which you have to ride your bike to the N,S,E and W- ernmost points of NZ, and all within 3 days. Judith said he spent 11 hrs a day in the saddle and was still driving it after he got home and collapsed into bed. He also wore a set of $600 tyres out in that week! Some guy. We did enjoy their hospitality plus we had never actually met Judith. They are so generous , saying any family and friend of ours was welcome there.
We took there advice and did a diversion to Lake Tekapo where they have hot outdoor springs, partly natural so they say. i was determined that at max 2.5degC I wasn't taking my clothes of for anyone, but when we got there, well, it just had to be done, so in we went! 3 pool, 41, 39 and 36degC, all of them gorgeous with lakeside views and snow all around. Wot a larf. Spent several hours there.
From there it was a pleasant but rainy ride north and west. I was concerned about Arthurs Pass through the mountains, snow was forecast and sure enough it arrived. On the day we were due to go thru the Pass it had been closed during the night but was now open, and i can tell you, it was a really rare treat to go thru that magnificent Pass in fresh Spring snow, still snowing at times. I made a snowball and a snowman, we saw kids(still on hols from school) sliding down banks on anything they could find, bits of wood, plastic bags and so on. Wow, great fun. We stopped at a lookout and were amazed to have our first and completely unexpected sighting of the kea parrot, the only alpine parrot in the world, right at our feet. We swept on our way, amid snowy scenes, heater full blast and Johnny Coppin singing Winding Stair on the CD.
By this time we were needing to keep an eye on the kms and the date because I had booked us on the Tuesday 2.15 ferry from Picton.
We found a beaut lakeside campsite, Lake Brunner, near Inchbonnie, revisited the longest swingbridge in NZ/?the world, checked an historic coal mine site, pressed on and took 3 tries to find our next free camp; after 2 dead ends in private farm yards we took a lookout road and swept up to the top of Hope Saddle with 360deg views of snowy peaks, and just the one grassy site just big enough for us, plus no "no camping" signs. Sometimes we just laugh, it is so extraordinary the places you can find and spend the night for no cost. There was even a spotless public toilet. No CVPark can compare.
-Lots of quirky NZ arty things along the way; letterboxes, garden figures, a doll festivall, home made campervans, no end of it. Even a school bus stop is individualised. They are very good at it and must put real time and effort into it.
Our last night was again near a pub and in a streamside layby, very welcome after a day of steep u bends, drop offs, no barriers, melting snows. A local in the pub implored us to stay on his property with full use of shower, toilet, kitchen, etc, but we declined. John warned him that we were strangers and might just be serial axe murderers!
Hawk has woken up so I'll take a break!
refreshed and recharged after a swim in the welly pool, Hayden and Hawk are like a couple of dolphins, wonderful to watch.
But back to Victoria...
noticed error in last post...the pianist referred to is David Helfgott..oops.
-had quick looks at Wilson's Promontory, Wonthaggi, discovered old port at Port Albert and took time to walk and explore. At this point we have regularly covered between 200 and 300 kms a day, so sometimes it is actually hard to find time for a decent walk. To this end, we even take opportunities to walk by collecting water from taps, taking rubbish to campsite bins, plus a nice stroll to the ablution block; its all exercise!
We reached Phillip Island and found a really beautiful camp site, owned and run by seasoned campers, so it had some really useful features, such as sensor lights around the grounds, which come on when they are needed and go off so you are not kept awake by bright lights, lots of hooks in the shower cubicles and beside the wash basins, (everyone has hangup washbags these days) a large enclosed campers kitchen with everything including washing up liquid, huge lounge area with sofas and a gigantic LCD tv, where, being on our own, we were able to watch ABC instead of commercial rubbish.
we had a drive around Ph.Island and due to inclement weather we decided to do an indoor thing so went to the chocolate factory.
i have never been to one before, and I have to say, it was a WHIZZ! Make your own choc bar in a fantastical machine, see the miniature village made of choc, the liquid choc fall, the 1 ton block of choc, besides being very informative about the production of same. And with lots of school kids, it was extra entertaining, as you can imagine.
Since being in NSW and Victoria we have really enjoyed the towns and villages being so comparatively close to each other, mostly 10 to 15 kms. Its true what they say about WA, its a long way between beers!
Also we have noticed the high density of cows and sheep per paddock, whereas in WA its a case of paddocks per animal! Here, the fences are serious, while in WA after a few kms out of Perth metro area, they hardly bother with them.
-The road trains in Queensland are maximum 75mtrs in length, whereas here they are just trucks.
John and I have been having a lot of fun scoring points off each other for doing silly age-related things, such as leaving the keys in the van door and going off walking, putting things away and then blaming each other for not putting them away properly, then finding them in a completely different place, leaving an empty kettle on the hob; not reading the map properly and taking wrong turns; too many to mention but John is way ahead at the moment because of a silly thing I did, but later...
Did I mention I hired a flute for the trip? I can play quite a few tunes now, Happy Birthday, Calon Lan, Gwyneth Gwyn, Rhagfyr, Mozart's clarinet concerto K622 3rd movement, opening 6 bars! But only in C major, i am struggling to apply fingers to keys for notes outside said scale. As usual, "could do better, needs more practice". Ah well..
We finally got to Melbourne and found Maureen's place quite easily, had a lovely reunion with her, talked until wee hours, caught up on gossip and families, it was terrific, haven't seen her since 1995. We had such fun (and a few traumas!)together in Manhattan all those years ago, and our lives are now completely different, but the bond is still strong. We even phoned a mutual friend in NY and had a good chat. M is a mental health social worker and loves her work, and makes time to pursue her love of art, photography and her growing family of nieces, nephews, and their kids, all the issue of her 4 brothers, who all live in the melbourne area.
M had to work so we had brunch in her local cafe where they all wanted to know about Rita and our trip, then caught train into city and explored Melb. on foot, had a tram ride, went to imax 3D cinema, museum, art gallery and Federation square, then met M for dinner in Carlton, the old Italian area, quite an experience and great food.
Melbourne is an old grey city and has a grey/brown river and a lot of grey sky...not for us.
When it came time to leave, with M promising to see us in WA in Feb, we set off a nearby suburb to visit Kathy's old flat mate Sarah and her husband Rob and their daughter Niamh. Niamh is 1/4 malaysian thru Sarah and is a pretty child, and it was her 2nd birthday, with family party, so we scored a hit there. We were made very welcome and given 3 offers to leave Rita in their drives while we went to NZ, but we had already made a motel booking, so had to decline. But we will stay with Sarah and Rob on our return.
Nice motel, lift to airport in morning, left Rita in respite, good flight, then sunny Christchurch, which I later learned is the Swing Capital of NZ, so there you go! Collected our van next morning and found we had been given an upgrade (frequent flyers with Pacific Horizon). Typical me, I almost declined it because in the van we booked I knew exactly where everything was and where to stow things, plus easy pull-out bed, plus a waist height fridge, which the upgrade didn't have. In the event, it was a nice van, but the fridge and bed were a pain and not enough storage, too many fancy bits of kitchen equipment. It was very easy to drive, which is so important on NZ roads, with all their bends, mountain slopes, steep drop-offs and so on. Somewhere in the past I have seen a speed limit sign which says 25kph on a tight bend. Underneath it said "you have been warned" and I now apply this principal to Tasmanian and NZ roads. NZ has so many 100kph speed limit signs which are a complete waste of taxpayers money, because they are immediately followed by 65, 55, 45, 35, etc.
In Christchurch we made time to do a tourist tram ride and walk in the lovely botanical Gardens, then hit the road for Akaroa, which is a tiny French town on the flooded crater of an ancient extinct volcan which forms the Banks Peninsular off Christchurch.
We had been there 5 years ago and were glad to see it again. Had a sail on the crater lake, out to the Heads, took photos of French influence, they still have French street names, speak French and have an annual French festival, which we had just missed! Beautiful sunny weather, so we spent 2 days there, especially as we found the Little River Hotel with its huge sign saying "motorhomes welcome' and discovered that we could camp free in their back garden, which was up a steep bank and commanding views over a lovely green river valley. They just hoped we would refresh ourselves within, which of course we did. Considering it costs between $25 and $35 per night in a CVPark, this is a great idea. they seemed to take a liking to us because the meals we were served were enormous; Johns steak egg and chips came with 3 eggs. We met lovely local people and had great chats about local issues, which is always interesting.
We managed to make contact with Wayne near Timaru, south pf Chch, a pal we had met 5 years ago while camping by a lake. He loves fishing and presented us with 2 trout for breakfast that time. Since then we have been email pals. We spent the night at their place; they have been converting a bach (a basic NZ fishing shack) into their permanent home and were apologetic about the ongoing work, but it was so interesting for us to see. They have children and grandies nearby, and Wayne also has a magnificent motorbike and does huge challenging things like, the Southern Cross race, in which you have to ride your bike to the N,S,E and W- ernmost points of NZ, and all within 3 days. Judith said he spent 11 hrs a day in the saddle and was still driving it after he got home and collapsed into bed. He also wore a set of $600 tyres out in that week! Some guy. We did enjoy their hospitality plus we had never actually met Judith. They are so generous , saying any family and friend of ours was welcome there.
We took there advice and did a diversion to Lake Tekapo where they have hot outdoor springs, partly natural so they say. i was determined that at max 2.5degC I wasn't taking my clothes of for anyone, but when we got there, well, it just had to be done, so in we went! 3 pool, 41, 39 and 36degC, all of them gorgeous with lakeside views and snow all around. Wot a larf. Spent several hours there.
From there it was a pleasant but rainy ride north and west. I was concerned about Arthurs Pass through the mountains, snow was forecast and sure enough it arrived. On the day we were due to go thru the Pass it had been closed during the night but was now open, and i can tell you, it was a really rare treat to go thru that magnificent Pass in fresh Spring snow, still snowing at times. I made a snowball and a snowman, we saw kids(still on hols from school) sliding down banks on anything they could find, bits of wood, plastic bags and so on. Wow, great fun. We stopped at a lookout and were amazed to have our first and completely unexpected sighting of the kea parrot, the only alpine parrot in the world, right at our feet. We swept on our way, amid snowy scenes, heater full blast and Johnny Coppin singing Winding Stair on the CD.
By this time we were needing to keep an eye on the kms and the date because I had booked us on the Tuesday 2.15 ferry from Picton.
We found a beaut lakeside campsite, Lake Brunner, near Inchbonnie, revisited the longest swingbridge in NZ/?the world, checked an historic coal mine site, pressed on and took 3 tries to find our next free camp; after 2 dead ends in private farm yards we took a lookout road and swept up to the top of Hope Saddle with 360deg views of snowy peaks, and just the one grassy site just big enough for us, plus no "no camping" signs. Sometimes we just laugh, it is so extraordinary the places you can find and spend the night for no cost. There was even a spotless public toilet. No CVPark can compare.
-Lots of quirky NZ arty things along the way; letterboxes, garden figures, a doll festivall, home made campervans, no end of it. Even a school bus stop is individualised. They are very good at it and must put real time and effort into it.
Our last night was again near a pub and in a streamside layby, very welcome after a day of steep u bends, drop offs, no barriers, melting snows. A local in the pub implored us to stay on his property with full use of shower, toilet, kitchen, etc, but we declined. John warned him that we were strangers and might just be serial axe murderers!
Hawk has woken up so I'll take a break!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Thursday 15 Oct 2009. Wellington, North Island, NZ
Here we are in the land of grandchildren, such fun, a bit trying at times. Need a mental shift in this house!
I left off in Parkes NSW, where we had visited the radiotelescope. The 3D movie was amazing, the space walk really made you feel you were doing it yourself. So the story goes, the NASA equipment had a failure which meant that photos could not be relayed to Earth. Parkes to the rescue!Suddenly this tiny place in Oz was cataputed into World news and fame.
In addition to all this excitement we also met and investigated a few interesting campervan/motorhomes in the car park. You never see 2 the same, and many of them have been built by their owners.
Sweeping panoramas, lots of birds, lots of "beware wombat" signs, but we only saw dead ones by roadside. Ahh. Passed a place called Dunedoo and it reminded us of the Perth suburb called Inaloo. What's in a name!
Next major stop was Canberra, so we drove via Grenfell (a pretty rural town in lovely countryside and former home of my good friend Sandy), where we free camped next to the Company Dam, built to service the railway steam engines. Had a look round the town and met someone who new Sandy. Then it was through Young (Cherry capital of OZ) and into Canberra area where we were somewhat perturbed by the brown colour of the atmosphere. We checked into a motel for some comfort in cold weather and a chance to give Rita another clean. Did we ever strike lucky! That night we had a huge storm with red dust, howling wind, pouring rain, thunder, lightening and even hail! I felt very guilty about poor Rita all alone in the car park, while we turned the tv up and poured more wine.
Canberra was a very pleasant surprise, lots to see and do, and as it was school hols, although it was busy, watching kids getting involved in things was very entertaining. We managed to fit in the new and old Parliament Houses, the Captain Cook Waterjet, National Gallery, the National Museum, the National War Memorial and Museum and the Science Museum, a very hands on place called Questacon, and where a very lifelike dinosaur swing his head right in my face and snarled his big sharp teeth at me - very scarey!
Each night we finished at the Canberra Sailing Club for a pleasant dinner, thanks to our reciprocal membership, and where we watched dragon boat training.
The art in the war memorial was far more emotive and interesting than the gallery, and the diorama models of various kinds of warfare were beautifully done and effective. We noticed Aus. soldiers in uniform showing Vietnamese soldiers around. How times change.
Lots of Cherry blossom trying to come out but too cold. The flower festival was on but too cold to enjoy.
Next stop was Cooma where we came across the info centre for the Snowy River
hydrosystem, about 25 years in the making, in the 1930s, it involves about 25 dams and the designer was knighted. I had a chance to try and cycle enough power to boil a kettle - at my speed it would never have boiled! It was exciting to be in the Snowy Mountains, a place I have long wanted to visit. Of course it is a huge area, and we only brushed with it. Maybe another time we will explore deeper
Our night stop was a free camp in a tiny village called Nimmitabel, next to the Country Club - we're getting the hang of this! The locals were intrigued to know why we were there and we explained how we like to spread our money out rather than spend it in obvious large centres. A few drinks, a nice meal and some local gossip, with a free camp site is all we ask, especially on a cold night, which it was there, bitter in fact, fleece, beanie, gloves, and that was in bed (only joking!)but we are snug enough in Rita.
Our drive was taking us through pretty high alpine country and a very steep descent from Snowy mountains to coast, where we discovered such glorious terrain that we decided to drive north to Bermagui, where they filmed "the man who sued God" and do a circuit back to Merimbula. On the way we found (at the end of a horrible 10km dirt road) a Nat. Park Gillards Beach, and camped next to a 34 year old marine ranger from E gippsland in Victoria, Mike,who had his 10 yr old nephew on their first ever camp together. What fun to be 10 and have such an uncle. They were surfies seeking waves. What we found near our camp was a 3 metre lace monitor, once of our larger lizards; I really though 'Komodo Dragon" when I saw it. I thought it was dead, it was so still, but Mike assured me it was very much alive and not to leave any food around. A few hours later it was gone...but where??? There were roos everywhere, of all sizes. We were also treated to our very first look at wild potoroos, small furry things that come out at night, running all over the place from dusk onwards, impossible to photograph, but very special. We had a great evening, shared a campfire, cooked snaggers (sausages), sang, did party tricks (yes, I had to sing Horace the Horse and John did Turkey Rhubarb and Daniel Taylor, not much changes!), played guitar and told yarns. It turned out to be a great place to stay and the 10 kms going out was not nearly so bad!
That was the night that Geelong won the grand final and poor St Kilda will have to wait another year to try again.
So on thru Cobanga, Quamma, Bega (of cheese fame), Potoroo Palace, home for injured wildlife, where we saw cockatoos, echidnas, dingoes, emus, pheasants, native geese, peacocks but no potoroos, but we were ok, we had seen wild ones.
Eden was a must for me, home of the famed WA pianist David, who suffered a huge nervous breakdown in his youth, from pressure of performance. He got back to playing in a Perth cafe, where he was rediscovered. His now wife helped him to recover sufficiently to play major concerts on the world stage. We have seen him perform several times, and he is challenging to watch as he is far from what we would call normal, but his performances are electrical. Eden itself was cold and damp, tho v pretty, but we discovered the lovely Seahorse Inn, like a small stately home near the beach, where you can camp in the grounds and dine with views to die for. Unfortunately there was a power cut that night and dinner was off, so we had to cook on our metho stove. No matter, it was another of those magic moment/places.Next day we visited Eden's Killer Whale Museum, very interesting. there was one old whale apparently who used to lead the sea catch into the bay for the fishermen.
We then drove from NSW in rain and wind to Orbost, now in Victoria. We booked into Snowy River CVP, visited a local pub with roaring fireplace and caught up on local gossip, yarns and history. Next day we were unable to get to Lakes Entrance where Snowy meets the sea, due to nasty road accident, but the diversion was pretty, through real emerald green fields, a real treat for a couple of sandgropers from WA; this depth of green is but a distant memory of Wales.
So we are now in Victoria on this blog. I'll take a break and continue later.
Here we are in the land of grandchildren, such fun, a bit trying at times. Need a mental shift in this house!
I left off in Parkes NSW, where we had visited the radiotelescope. The 3D movie was amazing, the space walk really made you feel you were doing it yourself. So the story goes, the NASA equipment had a failure which meant that photos could not be relayed to Earth. Parkes to the rescue!Suddenly this tiny place in Oz was cataputed into World news and fame.
In addition to all this excitement we also met and investigated a few interesting campervan/motorhomes in the car park. You never see 2 the same, and many of them have been built by their owners.
Sweeping panoramas, lots of birds, lots of "beware wombat" signs, but we only saw dead ones by roadside. Ahh. Passed a place called Dunedoo and it reminded us of the Perth suburb called Inaloo. What's in a name!
Next major stop was Canberra, so we drove via Grenfell (a pretty rural town in lovely countryside and former home of my good friend Sandy), where we free camped next to the Company Dam, built to service the railway steam engines. Had a look round the town and met someone who new Sandy. Then it was through Young (Cherry capital of OZ) and into Canberra area where we were somewhat perturbed by the brown colour of the atmosphere. We checked into a motel for some comfort in cold weather and a chance to give Rita another clean. Did we ever strike lucky! That night we had a huge storm with red dust, howling wind, pouring rain, thunder, lightening and even hail! I felt very guilty about poor Rita all alone in the car park, while we turned the tv up and poured more wine.
Canberra was a very pleasant surprise, lots to see and do, and as it was school hols, although it was busy, watching kids getting involved in things was very entertaining. We managed to fit in the new and old Parliament Houses, the Captain Cook Waterjet, National Gallery, the National Museum, the National War Memorial and Museum and the Science Museum, a very hands on place called Questacon, and where a very lifelike dinosaur swing his head right in my face and snarled his big sharp teeth at me - very scarey!
Each night we finished at the Canberra Sailing Club for a pleasant dinner, thanks to our reciprocal membership, and where we watched dragon boat training.
The art in the war memorial was far more emotive and interesting than the gallery, and the diorama models of various kinds of warfare were beautifully done and effective. We noticed Aus. soldiers in uniform showing Vietnamese soldiers around. How times change.
Lots of Cherry blossom trying to come out but too cold. The flower festival was on but too cold to enjoy.
Next stop was Cooma where we came across the info centre for the Snowy River
hydrosystem, about 25 years in the making, in the 1930s, it involves about 25 dams and the designer was knighted. I had a chance to try and cycle enough power to boil a kettle - at my speed it would never have boiled! It was exciting to be in the Snowy Mountains, a place I have long wanted to visit. Of course it is a huge area, and we only brushed with it. Maybe another time we will explore deeper
Our night stop was a free camp in a tiny village called Nimmitabel, next to the Country Club - we're getting the hang of this! The locals were intrigued to know why we were there and we explained how we like to spread our money out rather than spend it in obvious large centres. A few drinks, a nice meal and some local gossip, with a free camp site is all we ask, especially on a cold night, which it was there, bitter in fact, fleece, beanie, gloves, and that was in bed (only joking!)but we are snug enough in Rita.
Our drive was taking us through pretty high alpine country and a very steep descent from Snowy mountains to coast, where we discovered such glorious terrain that we decided to drive north to Bermagui, where they filmed "the man who sued God" and do a circuit back to Merimbula. On the way we found (at the end of a horrible 10km dirt road) a Nat. Park Gillards Beach, and camped next to a 34 year old marine ranger from E gippsland in Victoria, Mike,who had his 10 yr old nephew on their first ever camp together. What fun to be 10 and have such an uncle. They were surfies seeking waves. What we found near our camp was a 3 metre lace monitor, once of our larger lizards; I really though 'Komodo Dragon" when I saw it. I thought it was dead, it was so still, but Mike assured me it was very much alive and not to leave any food around. A few hours later it was gone...but where??? There were roos everywhere, of all sizes. We were also treated to our very first look at wild potoroos, small furry things that come out at night, running all over the place from dusk onwards, impossible to photograph, but very special. We had a great evening, shared a campfire, cooked snaggers (sausages), sang, did party tricks (yes, I had to sing Horace the Horse and John did Turkey Rhubarb and Daniel Taylor, not much changes!), played guitar and told yarns. It turned out to be a great place to stay and the 10 kms going out was not nearly so bad!
That was the night that Geelong won the grand final and poor St Kilda will have to wait another year to try again.
So on thru Cobanga, Quamma, Bega (of cheese fame), Potoroo Palace, home for injured wildlife, where we saw cockatoos, echidnas, dingoes, emus, pheasants, native geese, peacocks but no potoroos, but we were ok, we had seen wild ones.
Eden was a must for me, home of the famed WA pianist David, who suffered a huge nervous breakdown in his youth, from pressure of performance. He got back to playing in a Perth cafe, where he was rediscovered. His now wife helped him to recover sufficiently to play major concerts on the world stage. We have seen him perform several times, and he is challenging to watch as he is far from what we would call normal, but his performances are electrical. Eden itself was cold and damp, tho v pretty, but we discovered the lovely Seahorse Inn, like a small stately home near the beach, where you can camp in the grounds and dine with views to die for. Unfortunately there was a power cut that night and dinner was off, so we had to cook on our metho stove. No matter, it was another of those magic moment/places.Next day we visited Eden's Killer Whale Museum, very interesting. there was one old whale apparently who used to lead the sea catch into the bay for the fishermen.
We then drove from NSW in rain and wind to Orbost, now in Victoria. We booked into Snowy River CVP, visited a local pub with roaring fireplace and caught up on local gossip, yarns and history. Next day we were unable to get to Lakes Entrance where Snowy meets the sea, due to nasty road accident, but the diversion was pretty, through real emerald green fields, a real treat for a couple of sandgropers from WA; this depth of green is but a distant memory of Wales.
So we are now in Victoria on this blog. I'll take a break and continue later.
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