25 September – Thursday
Three months to Christmas!
Our first stop today, of course, was the Mt Panorama Race Circuit. We began with a visit to the museum, which was quite interesting, even for non-petrol heads. There were some old cars, lots of motor bikes and cars belonging to people I can remember. Cars driven by both Allan Moffatt and Dick Richards were there, as well as a special corner devoted to Peter Brock. Not only did this contain one of his 05 cars, but also a memorial car covered in fans’ signatures. Then it was time for the BIG EVENT – a lap of Mt Panorama! Unfortunately, Les had to hold the Pajero back as the speed limit was 60 km/h. We were surprised at how short the home straight is and how steep the mountain is, especially down through the esses. Work is currently in progress for the big race. Another surprise was the number of houses and vineyards around the circuit, which is an actual road. One would not want to run out of bread or milk on race day!
To lower the excitement levels, our next stop was at Machattie Park for a stroll around the fountain, rotunda and fern house – very pretty. Then it was a visit to the Art Gallery to view the 2008 Archibald Prize paintings which are currently in Bathurst – a nice coincidence. We selected our favourites, which were quite different from the judges’ choice – some paintings were very good (according to our view) and others were a little out there.
Lunch time at the caravan was rather exciting, for the man of the caravan, anyway. It happens to be mating/nesting season for magpies, which become very aggressive and territorial at this time of the year and it can be quite dangerous just walking in their region. However, we have a very friendly magpie living near the caravan and yesterday it tried to sit on my knee and take a piece of fruit cake I was eating. It was discouraged from this thought. Today, as it was a sunny day, we were eating our sandwiches outside and someone had placed his plate on the ground beside his chair. Next thing, the magpie comes in and removed the top slice of bread and tomato, depositing them on the ground in front of us. It proceeded to eat some of the bread and then make a number of trips back to its nest with pieces of bread, totally ignoring the tomato.
This afternoon we drove to the gold mining community of O’Connell and discovered there isn’t much there now apart from a pub and a couple of houses. It was a nice drive, anyway. Following this, we had a stop at Ben Chifley’s house but only had a look from the outside as it does not open on Friday.
Three months to Christmas!
Our first stop today, of course, was the Mt Panorama Race Circuit. We began with a visit to the museum, which was quite interesting, even for non-petrol heads. There were some old cars, lots of motor bikes and cars belonging to people I can remember. Cars driven by both Allan Moffatt and Dick Richards were there, as well as a special corner devoted to Peter Brock. Not only did this contain one of his 05 cars, but also a memorial car covered in fans’ signatures. Then it was time for the BIG EVENT – a lap of Mt Panorama! Unfortunately, Les had to hold the Pajero back as the speed limit was 60 km/h. We were surprised at how short the home straight is and how steep the mountain is, especially down through the esses. Work is currently in progress for the big race. Another surprise was the number of houses and vineyards around the circuit, which is an actual road. One would not want to run out of bread or milk on race day!
To lower the excitement levels, our next stop was at Machattie Park for a stroll around the fountain, rotunda and fern house – very pretty. Then it was a visit to the Art Gallery to view the 2008 Archibald Prize paintings which are currently in Bathurst – a nice coincidence. We selected our favourites, which were quite different from the judges’ choice – some paintings were very good (according to our view) and others were a little out there.
Lunch time at the caravan was rather exciting, for the man of the caravan, anyway. It happens to be mating/nesting season for magpies, which become very aggressive and territorial at this time of the year and it can be quite dangerous just walking in their region. However, we have a very friendly magpie living near the caravan and yesterday it tried to sit on my knee and take a piece of fruit cake I was eating. It was discouraged from this thought. Today, as it was a sunny day, we were eating our sandwiches outside and someone had placed his plate on the ground beside his chair. Next thing, the magpie comes in and removed the top slice of bread and tomato, depositing them on the ground in front of us. It proceeded to eat some of the bread and then make a number of trips back to its nest with pieces of bread, totally ignoring the tomato.
This afternoon we drove to the gold mining community of O’Connell and discovered there isn’t much there now apart from a pub and a couple of houses. It was a nice drive, anyway. Following this, we had a stop at Ben Chifley’s house but only had a look from the outside as it does not open on Friday.
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