A few pics.
A trawler in dry dock in Tuncurry. Just after i took this pic (early morning) a bleary eyed old salt staggered out of the wheel house and down the ladder. Thought he was gonna have a go at me but I don't think he was seeing too well.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/TrawlerinDryDockTuncurry.jpg)
It's a long way down to the river here but the floods can get pretty close to cutting this brige off
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/KangarooValleybridge.jpg)
Surfing at Dee Why Sydney
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/DY6.jpg)
Still surfing at Dee Why Sydney
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/DY1.jpg)
A very elaborate clock in the QVB in Sydney's CBD
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/ElaborateClockintheQueenVictoriaBuildingSydney.jpg)
The Tilba Garelly (Gallery) :whistler:
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/TilbaGallery.jpg)
More Tilba (Tea Rooms)
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/TilbaNSW.jpg)
Nice old pub, complete with a couple of local "characters" having a beer on the balcony.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/TilbapubNSW.jpg)
There's a lookout above the town. These rocks are behind it.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/Tilbarocks.jpg)
Looking towards the coast from the lookout.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/LookingNEfromTilbatothecoast.jpg)
We had visitors trying to stay out of the rain. The signs say not to feed the local wild life but they would virtually take a piece of apple out of your fingers. So we weren't the first. :snigger:
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/BedraggledRainbowLorikeetsMerimbula.jpg)
Some pics
A Centurion Tank in the grounds of the Australian War memorial
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/CenturionTankandmywife.jpg)
And some more shots from there.
Rabbits in the afternoon sun. Rabbits are an introduced pest in Australia and have produced all sorts of control methods over the years. There are rabbit proof fences in WA and Qld. Queensland also has a law banning the keeping of rabbits as pets. The measures seem to work as we don't see them in numbers like in the southern states. I remember my son living in a unit at Lane Cove, a classy suburb of inner NW Sydney and there was a school oval next door. One afternoon we counted over 100 rabbits on that oval.
We also developed a disease called Myxamatosis which was quite successful until they became immune to it. More recently there is another virus the calicivirus which was developed by the CSIRO and actually escaped into the wild before testing was complete. it has proven more effective in warmer climates.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/Canberrarabbits.jpg)
From the steps of the War Memorial, looking down and across to Parliament House. The new one is in the background (with the flagpole) The original is the lower building just in front of it.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/Theoldandthenew.jpg)
The dome from inside
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/ThedomeinsidetheAustralianWarMemorial.jpg)
Simpson and his donkey at Gallipoli.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/SipsonandhisdonkeyawellknowncharacterbyAussies.jpg)
This is maybe a better shot of the Parliament buildings.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/FromtheWarMemoriallookingovertheoldParliamentHousetothenewone-1.jpg)
Looking up over the Eternal Flame and Pool of Remembrance.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/AustralianWarMemorialabovetheEternalFlame.jpg)
Canberra is hot air balloon territory.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/Hotairballoooverthenationscapital.jpg)
Couple of galahs canoodling on the power lines.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/CoupleofpinkandgreyGalahsgettingfriendly.jpg)
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.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/CanberraMallWouldhavehadmorecolourifwegotthereamonthago.jpg)
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.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/CockingtongGreenCanberraTheentryandonlyfullsizedhouseintheplace.jpg)
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/DSCF5770Large.jpg)
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/Genericsoccermatch-CockingtonGreen.jpg)
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/ModelsofEnglishVillagesatCockingtonGreen.jpg)
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/BraemarCastle-CockingtonGreen.jpg)
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/BraemarCastle.jpg)
There's some humour here if you look closely
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/CockingtonGreenHumour2.jpg)
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/CockingtonGreenhumour1.jpg)
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/CockingtonGreenhumour3.jpg)
The International Collection ( a selection)
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/DSCF5863Large.jpg)
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/TurkeymodelAndthatsatreegrownfromtheoriginalLonePine.jpg)
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/DSCF5860Large.jpg)
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/GivesanoverviewoftheinternationalsectionatCockingtonGreen.jpg)
You can see more here. http://www.cockingtongreen.com.au/index.html (http://www.cockingtongreen.com.au/index.html)
From 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. :snigger:
I should finish this off. Sorry. Got lazy.
We had a good night in Glen Innes. My wife and I spent a night there some years ago and froze. Not surprisingly a week after we went through this time it got down to -7C and even cooler a few days (nights) later.
Our next stop was Tenterfield which we visited briefly last year and spent just enough time there to want to go back and explore it a bit.
Tenterfield has a pretty big place in Australia's history, not just because it was the venue for the autobiographical Peter Allen song, "Tenterfield Saddler". It was also the venue for the famed speech Sir Henry Parkes made in the Tenterield School of Arts.
On a (rail) trip back to Sydney from Brisbane, the then NSW Premier he delivered a speech advocating the "federation" of the Australian states. This was on 24th October 1889. Widely reported with the catchcry, "One People. One Destiny" he won immortality as the father of federation. Which of course, took quite a few more years to be realised.
The School of Arts has a great museum of objects, photos, and stories from the era. It's surprising how viscious and embittered the "for" and "against" factions were. Sound familiar. Republic anyone?
Anyway, some pics follow. We drove on from here to Brisbane via Stanthorpe and Cunningham's Gap down the range and into Brisbane.
The Tenterfield School of Arts
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/TenterfieldSchoolofArtsThebirthplaceofournation.jpg)
Tenterfield PO
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/TenetrfieldPO.jpg)
Old fashioned horse trough outside pub with the question most asked by publicans/bar staff engraved on it.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/OldfashionedhorsetroughoutsideTenterfieldpub.jpg)
Restored Bank of NSW building.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/NicelyrestoredBankofNSWbuildinginTenterfield.jpg)
National Australia Bank in Tenterfield
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll46/TrevG27/Road%20Trip%20June%202012/NABTenterfield.jpg)
As you can see, a clean, tidy and attractive town.
Tenterfield Sadler by Peter Allen.
Words of the song.............
The late George Woolnough
Worked on High Street and lived on Manners
Fifty- two years he sat on his verandah
And made his saddle
And if you had questions about sheep or flowers or dogs
You just asked the saddler
He lived without sin
They're building a library for him
Chorus
Time is a traveler
Tenterfield Saddler
Turn your head
Ride again jackaroo, think I see kangaroo up ahead
The son of George Woolnough went off and got married
And had a war baby
Something went wrong
And it's easier to drink than go crazy
And if there were questions about why the end was so sad
George had no answer about why his son ever had need of a gun
Repeat chorus
The grandson of George has been all around the world
And lives no special place
He changed his last name and he married a girl
With an interesting face
He'd almost forgotten them both
Because in the life that he leads
There's nowhere for George or his library or the son with his gun
To belong, except in this song
Time is a traveller. Tenterfield Saddler turn your head
Ride again jackaroo. Think I see kangaroo up ahead
Time is a meddler, Tenterfield Saddler make your bed
Fly away cockatoo, down on the ground emu up ahead
tenterfield saddler- Peter allen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMauNjr7_ZE#)