Goulburn

Sunday, 22nd September

Yesterday evening, we discovered that there was a 4WD muster being held on the showgrounds, right next door to the caravan park.  The main entertainment during the evening for the hundreds of enthusiasts camping at the showgrounds?  Seeing who could rev their engine the loudest!  Thank goodness there was obviously a very strictly enforced curfew, as it was very quiet after 10.30 pm.

We had a very cold start to the day, but it quickly warmed up once the sun was well up.  The M1 motorway between Newcastle and Sydney is becoming a little tired and could do with some maintenance.  We also found there was a lack of signage regarding rest areas, with no signs for the final rest area (ie necessary pit stop) before reaching Sydney.  The only indication of the nice rest area on the northern banks of the Hawkesbury River was an exit sign – too late!  We had to trust Doris completely this morning to navigate through Pennant Hills, and for once, she didn’t want to take short cuts.  We had no problems skirting Sydney and getting back onto the M5 (or maybe it was the M7?) before heading south again on the M31 – lots of M numbers around this area.

We turned off the motorway at Mittagong and headed through Bowral to Moss Vale for our lunch stop and a rest.  Nothing much happens in Moss Vale on Sunday.  We continued on to Goulburn for our overnight stop at the Governors Hill Carapark, a small caravan park which, we discovered, is not very far from the Goulburn Training Centre (otherwise known as the Goulburn Gaol).  Fortunately I had made a reservation a couple of days ago, as there is a Chevrolet rally happening in Goulburn and lots of old cars (some even have fox tails on the aerials) in the caravan park.  Cat was very intrigued by the musical ensemble providing the afternoon’s entertainment.

After refuelling, we did a quick tour of this very old town and ended up at the War Memorial, which has been built on the top of a very rocky hill.  I pity the poor veterans who take part in the Anzac Day March!  There were some magnificent views of the surrounding countryside from the top of the tower.  There were also quite a few reptiles around the base of the tower – the ones we saw had legs but we didn’t go looking for the legless variety.