Episode 4
BTW, this is what I posted earlier regarding the Canberra War Memorial in a separate topic on here.
Today we visited the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, something I have wanted to do for almost all my adult life but for one reason and another it hasn't happened.
A VERY moving experience. I had tears in my eyes on more than one occasion but as we were going back out there was a very overweight guy who looked like he might be suffering a range of health problems, sitting and just looking up past the Eternal Flame and the rears were rolling unhindered down his face. I have no idea what his demons were or if he was just simply moved to be there as I was but the whole place seems to have that sort of effect on anyone old enough to understand why it exists.
If you haven't been there, try to see it before you run out of time on this earth.We spent the morning in the Canberra City Centre Mall. “Twould have been more colourful a month ago.
Then headed north towards Yass but got side-tracked at Cockington Green on the northern outskirts of Canberra. This is well worth a visit. It is a model village, featuring in the original section, displays from Great Britain plus the more recently added International Section (which also features a couple of Aussie historical models).
I’ll let the photos tell the story I think, but although I’d been there a few years ago, I was fascinated all over again with the attraction of these nicely built models which occasionally feature some weird humour.
The International Section is new and we actually didn’t even realise it was there until we finished the original tour. The displays here are sponsored in the main by the relevant country’s embassies in Australia.
There's some humour here if you look closely
The International Collection ( a selection)
You can see more here.
http://www.cockingtongreen.com.au/index.htmlFrom here, our route took us up to and along the Hume Highway until we turned north to Boorowa and on to Cowra in the NSW Central West.
Boorowa is a small town but just east of it is a village called Rugby. Don’t know why it’s called that. There’s nothing around to suggest a link to the football game. But nearby in Boorowa they make those machines on wheels the rugby teams use to train for their scrums.
Cowra is noted for its roses among other things. It was the scene during the second world war of the great Cowra Breakout when several hundred Japanese prisoners of war broke out of the prison camp there. Several Australian soldiers were killed and over 200 Japanese. The few hundred who escaped were recaptured within a week or two.
It became the subject of a pretty well done (IMO) mini-series for TV here in Australia.. Probably 30 years ago now though.
Anyway, I’ve been to Cowra many times on business and I like it. So it was nice to show it to my wife who has only passed through there briefly once. And I got some brownie points back by using a motel I was familiar with and well above average (made up for picking “the chook inn” the previous night).
Early the next day we headed north via Canowindra (pronounced “Canowndra” by the locals), the scene of many hot air ballooning gatherings. It’s well known for the lack of wind and ideally suited to ballooning.
We passed just to the west of Orange but separated from it by a range and Mount Canobolas with its forest of TV and communications towers, picking up the Mitchell Highway at Molong and then north to Wellington. I can recommend the Wellington Caves to anyone passing through. They are quite surprising really. Not in the side of a mountain. You pull up in a pretty level area which just looks like a paddock and enter the caves from ground level. It’s a long while since I’ve been there but I remember them fondly.
Frome here we left the beaten track, passing through the “ten dollar town” of Gulgong just north of Mudgee’s vineyards, and on through Coolah to Gunnedah. We had lunch in Gunnedah and pressed on to Tamworth of country music festival fame, then to Armidale and on to Glen Innes. Along the way we passed signs to Lake Keepit. Next morning we saw on the news that a 4.2 magnitude quake (two in fact) had rocked Gunnedah, Tamworth and Lake Keepit the night before. I didn’t think I was driving that fast.
