MUDGEE

Thursday, 30 May 2019

The temperature has nearing risen to 0 degrees

Power station not producing power

Rotunda  in Robertson Park

Joey Scouts' wreath

Lawson Park

Cudgegong River

Reflections

Whoever said caravanning was fun had obviously never travelled through New South Wales in late autumn!  Thank goodness winter hasn’t arrived yet!!!

Today we left a freezing, chilly, brisk and cold Bathurst behind as we headed towards Lithgow before turning north to Mudgee.  The road was very hilly and climbed to over 1200 metres; the temperature hovered around the two degrees.  Being a major truck route, we were very kind to a tanker and allowed him to overtake, only to realise the hills kept on coming and continued to climb.  It wasn’t long before we overtook him!  The turnoff to Mudgee was shortly before Lithgow and we drove past three well concealed power stations and as many coal mines within the first twenty kilometres (or thereabouts!).  The Castlereagh Highway was a beautiful drive, bit hilly along the foothills of the west side of the Blue Mountains, but through some beautiful grazing country until we came to the wine district of Mudgee.

By the time we arrived at the Riverside Caravan and Tourist Park, the sun was shining and the temperature was a very tropical ten degrees.  This is a lovely park on the banks of the Cudgegong River and only one block away from the CBD.  Mudgee is a very pretty town, with lots of well cared for parks and old buildings, which we enjoyed on an afternoon walk.  A lovely find was the wreath which the Mudgee Joey Scouts had made from egg cartons and laid on the Cenotaph, as well as the sculptures in one of the parks beside the river.

BATHURST

Wednesday, 29 May 2019

Ben Chifley's house

The name says it all!

Raining at the starting line in pit straight...

first turn and time to Conquer the Mountain.

Across the top of the mountain...

down through the esses...

speed along Conrod Straight (60km/h)...

to the final turn.

Bathurst Gaol entrance

Lovely old lamp posts

With only just over 100 kms to travel today, it was a more relaxed start to the day (someone was able to have a sleep in!) and a quick walk to the supermarket was possible.  The weather was overcast, windy and cold for the uphill haul to Bathurst, with quite a few roadworks encountered today.

A chilly seven degrees felt like two degrees when we arrived at the NRMA Panorama Bathurst Caravan Park – down jackets and scarves are standard gear by now!  The young lady at reception was very cheerful and helpful as she allocated us a site.  All good, Himself did a lovely job of reversing onto site, only to find that when the caravan was in position, the tap was under the middle of the caravan.  Asked to be moved, not a problem, tap further back but after reversing on once more, discovered the tap was preventing us from getting onto the site fully.  Himself decided to walk to reception was called for and we were able to select a suitable site.  The sites opposite had been recently upgraded with new slabs, power and water connections, so it was third time lucky!  The caravan park was taken over by the NRMA sixteen months ago and it is possible to see the amount of upgrading work that has been undertaken, with a lot more still to be done.  The amenities block has been completely gutted and refitted, sites and cabins are being upgraded as well as activity areas.

This afternoon it was time for another spin around the Mount Panorama circuit before the tourist circuit of the town, stopping at Ben Chifley’s semi-detached house and the magnificent sandstone entrance to the Bathurst Gaol before driving through the older part of the town, with its beautiful buildings and iron lacework.

COWRA

Tuesday, 28 May 2019

Very stubborn Cat!

Cowra Van Park

Lachlan River

How cold can it possibly get?  Definitely time to move further north, so set out for our next planned stop at Canowindra, just north of Cowra.  This small town featured on Back Roads a couple of years ago, so we thought a visit was called for.  With excitement mounting as the temperature rose from five to eight degrees, before finally making double figures (before dropping again), we drove through some lovely farming areas to arrive at Canowindra shortly before lunch.  The rustic caravan park on the bank of the local creek contained a few long time permanent caravans and lots of working, noisy construction machinery.  We drove down the quaint country-town main street, did a blockie and returned to Cowra, only 30 kms away.

The weather hadn’t improved when we booked into the Cowra Van Park, still as neat and clean as every other time we have stayed here.  The heater has managed to warm the caravan this afternoon; we were very naughty and actually left it on while we went for a walk up the main street and then across the Lachlan River.

CANBERRA

Monday, 27 May 2019

Temora sunset

Rugged up for the Australian War Memorial visit

Richards A.H.

Connell O.E.

Richards L.J. (Les' namesake)

G for George

Avenue of Honour tapestry

Memories

Up periscope!

Keeping the home fires burning...

Original Long Tan Memorial Cross

Afghanistan art installation - carved marble!

Parliament Houses

Last Post Ceremony

After a very quiet night at Temora, we headed south east (I know, should be going north!) for Canberra and were on site at the EPIC Showgrounds before lunch.  After making a contribution to the laundry contractor, it was time for our much anticipated visit to Movenpick.  The ice cream shop was still in the same position but the Movenpick ice cream had turned into a rather much cheaper version of Everest ice cream.  We walked away in disappointment…

Sunday was spent with James and Maureen, enjoying a lovely lunch at their home and meeting their family for the first time.  Late Sunday afternoon, the temperature began to drop, then dropped some more.  Our heater just couldn’t cope with raising the temperature above 13, so it was into bed early with the electric blanket keeping us warm.  It was a very rough and cold night, with strong winds and rain.  After a fairly sleepless night, Himself rose shortly after 6.00am, put the awning in and returned to bed and sleep!

The temperature rose to five degrees (apparent temperature -3), the heater still struggled until we left to spend the day at the Australian War Memorial.  It was certainly a day for thermals, possum fur and merino knitwear, scarves, hats, gloves and down jackets.  Poor Cat has refused to put his nose out from under the blankets and keeps muttering about going to Cairns.

We had a long and wonderful day at the War Memorial.  Having lost three relations in the First and Second World Wars, Les was keen on placing a poppy beside their names on the Roll of Honour and when we asked how to find the names, a lovely lady immediately asked Les if he would like to lay a wreath at the Last Post Ceremony in honour of his relations, printed of their information and then showed us how to find the names.  Even though we have been to the r Memorial a number of times, the exhibits are constantly changing and being added to.  We were in the ANZAC Hall when the G for George film was shown – George was one of 500 planes on a bombing raid over Germany – and the film followed this flight.  The film concluded with statistics – the number of airmen who served, the number who died (about half), the number of Australian airmen to serviced and died.  It was a really sobering moment, and there was complete silence from the many people who were in the Hall at that time.  We were also treated to a bit of “street theatre” where an actor played the part of a serviceman returning from France and visiting the mother of a friend who didn’t return; very moving.  Another new art installation commemorated those lost in Afghanistan – for each man there was a folded flag tied with a cord and red poppies on top, with the folded flag actually being carved Australian marble.  Absolutely stunning.

The wreath laying was part of the Last Post Ceremony held at the end of each day, in which a serviceman/woman is honoured.  After the welcome, a piper plays while wreaths are laid, then a history is read of the person being honoured, the Ode and Last Post complete the proceedings.  A very emotional ceremony.

With showers throughout the day, the temperature didn’t really rise much above six degrees and was dropping again by the time we arrived back at a FREEZING caravan shortly after 6.00pm.  Another early night coming up!

TEMORA

Friday, 24 May 2019

Model of the WW2 base

Canberra bomber in the maintenance hangar

A work in progress

Tiger Moth which was actually used to train pilots at the base

Spitfire

Sabre jet

Flight simulators have come a long way - so have cockpits!

Cessna used in Vietnam

Spitfire film star

Although not as cold as yesterday, today’s start to the day was very raw and overcast, with little prospect of the temperature climbing much at Bright.  It was time to say goodbye to the pretty town and head further north to Temora.

We returned to Myrtleford before turning towards Albury and then on to Wagga Wagga.  It was a lovely, fairly easy drive at first through some beautiful farming country, however, once in New South Wales, the road condition deteriorated and became rather bumpy between Albury and Wagga Wagga.  The weather remained overcast and we experienced one very short, sharp and heavy downfall.  As we neared Temora, the temperature started to rise and it was a pleasant 21 degrees on arrival.  We are staying at the Aerodrome caravan park, a nice and sunny area next to the Temora Aviation Museum.  We do have to say it is a very busy little aerodrome with lots of very busy little aeroplanes.

During the afternoon we visited the Aviation Museum and were very impressed with the friendliness of the staff/volunteers and the number of fully operational planes on display.  The museum is on the site of the former No 10 Initial Training Facility for pilots during and after World War II.  Apart from a number of different RAAF planes, the display also included two Spitfires, one of which was used in the movie Reach for the Sky, about Douglas Bader.

Tomorrow we head for the seat of power – Canberra!