Northern Beaches

We are not big city people. Michael grew up in London at the other end of the street to Mrs Windsor (ER11) and I lived in London for 6 years but after 35 years in Perth we have relaxed considerably. Sydney is a vast, impersonal place. Narrabeen is a very nice suburb and the caravan park was really nice (we even stayed on a couple of extra days). We traipsed around Peg's old suburb trying various tacks to locate a missing cousin or two, including going to their old school but no luck.The school looked up their 'old' records - from 1971 (we were after 1950s), and the local phone book listed over 30 with their surname! Everyone we phoned had an answering machine, therefore we couldn't get through.
 After a few days we decided to give up and play tourist - we got the express bus into the city - over the Harbour Bridge; in the city we walked around Darling Harbour and then visited the Powerhouse Museum.

We didn't go to the special exhibition (Harry Potter) but found the museum very well laid out, great displays but the lighting was a little dim in some cases, and we enjoyed the 'hands on' experience.
They had something for everyone, something from the first flight - by a box kite to USSR space craft.

Michael was both impressed and amused when at the section on radiation I chose the correct scan for each patient!
         The next day we took a bus down to Manly wharf - then got the Ferry across to Circular Quay.

 - then got a train to Central station, - then got a tram out to the end of the line (Lilyfield) before returning by tram to Paddy's Market. We couldn't think of what to spend our tourist dollar on until I spotted a bright pink very large wristwatch - $15. I had to have it, it's big and trashy.

After a couple of days the city was starting to appeal but the sheer volume of traffic makes travelling into the city very time consuming - using the 24hr bus lane the 24kms trip into the city still takes 1hour.
So despite the defeat in the hunt for cousins, and it's scary size we did enjoy Sydney, but it was time to leave. On our way out, we detoured to French's Forest Cemetery where we did indeed find some relatives, Michael's aunt and uncle are buried side by side, although 53yrs apart.

Then it was a long hard very slow grind in heavy traffic across to the 'Sydney to Newcastle Freeway', this was a Saturday morning and the only reason for the slow crawl was sheer traffic volume!

We stopped to shop at Gosford, not a thriving town. In the shopping centre I think the customers were equal in number to the shop assistants. We drove on to The Entrance, now this town was busy and it is a very pretty place but we only wanted an overnighter not a holiday so we carried on and stopped for the night at the caravan park in Budgewoi. A lovely name and a lovely quiet place on a lake.
We drove up through back roads and more quaint lakeside hamlets before rejoining the Pacific Hwy and on into Newcastle - and of course had to drive down Hunter Street! The significance of that will probably be lost on most of you. Does anyone remember "The Newcastle Song"?
We had a free overnighter planned for a stay in Newcastle, out at the Mayfield Sports Club - luckily we went to check it out early in the day because the club was placed in the hands of the liquidators just before Christmas and was closed in January 2012. The large carpark at the back was still there but we thought it just a bit too cheeky to park there.
We checked the camping books and headed off down the 'Tourist Route' to Forster. It is a pretty road, lots of twists and turns but the road condition was appalling making it a really rough trip. The rest stop was just outside Bungewahl and it was a large bitumen area, surrounded by lots of bush, there was quite a bit of traffic noise but as the afternoon wore into evening the traffic diminished and the birds increased; we saw our first finches twittering away just outside our window as well as our little friends the blue wrens, a very peaceful evening.

We continued heading up the northern coast using the Pacific Highway, we drove on, bypassing Kempsey and Port Macquarie settling on Nambucca Heads for our night's stop. We chose a caravan park on the Headland but were a little disappointed that we couldn't see the sea from the park. There is a track leading down to the beach and it is a really nice beach but the climb back up is a killer!
This little whinge was forgotten once we looked along the path and spotted this little chap
- a tawny frogmouth,

and then a little later this fella sat next to our van!

Tomorrow we hope to get the van serviced in Coffs Harbour.

The Blue Mountains - under and over

The next morning we were away early (for us anyway) at 9.30; we drove through Blayney to Bathurst and at the information centre checked out which roads were suitable for us to use to get to Jenolan Caves as some are not suitable for caravans and trailers. Then we treated ourselves and drove out to the Mount Panorama racetrack.

Then we returned to town for some lunch before heading on down through really pretty country to the town of Oberon, the highest town in the Blue Mountains region. (There is a Titania Motel in town, just off Shakespeare Close, which is near On-Avon Avenue for any Midsummer Nights Dream fans).
We expected a sweet 'alpine' town but the first sight we saw was a giant plant - the CHH particle board and MDF plant. Fortunately the trees in the caravan park screened it from our sight, but not the sound which continued day and night. Both of us had a sleepless night.
Next morning we were off to Jenolan Caves, on the route advised in Bathurst. It was a good road and it was only the last 10 kms that were very twisting and winding (after the notice advising not to proceed if towing a caravan or trailer). But we were both rather awestruck when we had to drive through the 'Giant Arch' at the entry to the caves, but as there was only one way in and out and a coach had just left we knew we'd be okay.
We booked onto 11.30 Lucas Cave tour. As we started the first half of the tour I was wondering what the fuss was about - those caves in South Australia were better, but then the size of the Jenolan Caves became apparent, they are huge.

The caves have been a tourist attraction for many many years and have suffered from the vandalism of those early tourists in the 1890s and 1900s, they 'souvenired' anything they could reach, and used the smoke from their candles to write their initials!

                 There was one small cavern that was inaccessible and that is really beautiful.

                   As we exited the cave into the sunlight we came across this lizard basking.

We had lunch in the van before driving back through the arch and the road back - apologies for the shaky photo, but I wasn't about to ask Michael to try and turn around and drive through again for a better photo!!

We drove up through the mountains, across ridges into Lithgow. I admit that we got a little lost looking for the caravan park but it did give us a look around the town, what we saw left us unimpressed - a typical old coal town, and the caravan park, when we found it, was not cheap despite it's location out of town, so we decided to head East straight to Katoomba.
The caravan park there was nice and modern and opposite the Katoomba Falls, right on the tourist trolley sightseeing route. It was a little pricey but we expect that as we get closer to Sydney. We checked in with the good intention of doing some sightseeing after a little break  - that didn't happen we settled in and became too relaxed - "will start early tomorrow".

Tomorrow came and the bed was just too comfortable, the early start didn't eventuate.
Just after 10 we got the trolley bus around town. We got an all day ticket which included 3 rides at 'scenicworld' - on:- the Skyway, the Railway and the Cableway.

We took the trolley around Katoomba, it's a really nice town. We got off in the main street checked out a few shops, then had lunch before getting the trolley back out to a Skyway station. There were only 2 other people on the trip - which unfortunately only lasted 6 minutes.
                                             
                                                The opening glass floor was really neat.

 Unfortunately the area around the station had been burnt out in a bush fire last October (deliberately lit, luckily they have caught the arsonist). The sad thing is that since the fire the area has had a lot of rain, resulting in a lot of run off - including seeds and soil, so the area has no regrowth, and there have even been some rock slides, changing the landscape forever.

                                      Then we had a coffee and enjoyed the grand views

before taking the railway - the steepest railway in the world, a 52degree descent to the forest floor.

 Where we had a choice of a 10, 30 or 50 minute walk around. (We took the 10 minute option!)
Then we took the cableway back up to the main station.

Then we left scenicworld and took the trolley back into the main street (to a bookshop we'd spotted earlier - 5 books for $20! including a Janet Evanovich, now only 2 needed to complete the set!)
We got another trolley back to the caravan park, which was now almost full because there's a blues music festival in Katoomba this weekend. Our new neighbours are an English couple in a VW Kombi (they'd paid extra for a VW rather than a 'Wicked' Toyota.)

We sat out for Happy Hour under overcast skies planning the next day's trip. The 'day pass' ticket on the trolley is actually valid for 2 days, so we intend to make the most of it before leaving Katoomba and edging closer to Sydney.

As planned, we exited the caravan park, parked just next door in the Falls Reserve carpark and got the trolley out to Echo Point and the Three Sisters viewing platform. As it was only just 10 am the area was nice and quiet and the light on the mountains was different to the previous afternoon.

Then one more visit to the main street, checking out any shops we'd missed before returning to collect the van and head East. It was a slow trip as there are road works nearly all the way - upgrading the highway to dual carriageway all the way from Sydney to Katoomba. Just before Penrith we turned north up to Richmond and the 'Wanderest' park, in the park area of the community/Tradies club.
Officially it's for members' use, so I joined up for $4.00 per annum. We got a 'welcoming pack' which included free drink vouchers, and booked in for the maximum 3 nights.. We took an unpowered site - they are free of charge, powered sites are $10 a night (there weren't any available).
The weather was hot and quite unbearably humid so we were pleased when it did start to rain, the rain continued all night, ranging from thunder to light drizzle. It felt good, especially as it wasn't torrential and wasn't a flood threat.
Next day was overcast and drizzly but nice enough for us to sit out under the awning, the little space between van and low wall keeping us quite dry.

Richmond RAAF base was just down the road and every so often we had a huge C17 fly directly overhead (the C17s were bought after the govt bought Abrams tanks and then discovered they didn't have planes big enough to transport them.)

3 days was the maximum stay but we decided to move on into Sydney on Sunday afternoon rather than Monday morning, so around 3pm we set off for Sydney. We had been told that there was a cheap camping option at the St Ives Showgrounds - when we got there we were faced with a sign - "No camping allowed until further notice".
The next move was simple - we drove on into North Narrabeen to stay at the caravan park there, (this is the suburb that Michael's aunt used to live in, where we will be starting our hunt for cousins).
We had thought of staying here but were aghast at the price listed on line of $50 a night.
We checked in and got a discount for CMCA (motorhome club) members price of $35 a night, we booked in for 4 nights.
The park is really big but nowhere near full, we can hear the Pacific Ocean, walk to the beach and shops (maybe even walk to Aunt Peggy's old house) and outside the park we can get the bus to Sydney or to Manly to get the Ferry to Circular Quay. But first things first - tomorrow we go hunting cousins!

Trains, Tractors and Planes

We left Cootamundra and went south to Junee, through some really nice countryside, but there was evidence of the floods everywhere. We thought Cootamundra was nice but Junee was lovely! Amazing buildings everywhere, some from 1880s, some great ones from 1920s and 30s.
We went out to the Roundhouse Rail museum, where we had a delightful guided tour with Neville, an ex train driver of 40 years.
The roundhouse at Junee has 42 bays, ?still the biggest in the southern hemisphere.
Half of the bays are occupied by the museum's displays and the other half are being used by a restoration company, they have use of the turntable to move equipment and stock.

We had a very enjoyable 2 hours there before spending a little more time enjoying the great buildings in town. Then we headed north to Temora, home to one "the best aviation museums in Australia".
There are two caravan parks in Temora, one in town next to the Rural museum, and one out of town next to the aviation museum. We pondered our choices and decided to spend 2 nights in town, and spend the next day at the Rural museum as it was their annual open day. We could then visit the aviation museum on Sunday on our way out of town. The aviation museum has 'flying days' on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month - this is the 2nd Saturday so there's no reason to see the museum on Saturday.

The next day I walked into town to get the weekend newspaper, but... Vinnies (St Vincent de Paul Op Shop) was open and had all summer stock $2 a bag!! I only got 2 tops, and the lady was going to charge me $1 but I happily paid $2. When I got back Michael was just about to phone to see what was taking so long - well at $2 a bag there were a lot of clothes to check out!!

After a coffee break we went around to the Rural museum, and their annual open day.
There was a lot to see and at 1.30pm there was the Grand Parade.
This was in 4 parts - Trucks and Commercials, Tractors part 1, Cars, (Raffle Draw), Tractors part 2.

We were standing near the entry gate, at the start of the parade - what total utter chaos!!
There was one ineffectual old bloke trying to direct traffic, but he kept stopping to talk to people. Tractors were coming back in after their circuit as cars were pulling out into line willy nilly. The number on their windscreen obviously didn't mean anything to the drivers - number 32 pulled out after number 5, was told to back up and wait, when his turn came he couldn't restart the car (1909 Renault) and so missed out entirely! I'm surprised no one got injured, no cars were damaged and at the least that the announcer didn't give the wrong description of a car. It was shambolic chaos, but apparently it's the same every year - and everyone always has a good time.

As we left the museum we checked at the information desk about the latest road closures in the area - still a lot of flood water around. The route we were hoping to travel is closed still so with their help we planned a new route towards Sydney. Fingers crossed that today's glorious sunshine continues and the waters ease. There was a great comparison in the weekend paper, satellite images of the Eastern seaboard from 2009 and now.....I wonder if the West is the reverse - wet then and dry now, they're still having temperatures up around 35 degrees.

For those not really aware of the area we are talking about, the flood area is larger than the whole of France, and the water in some towns was up to the roof eaves!

The next morning it was time for the  'planes', we went to the Aviation Museum - it really was a shame that it wasn't a flying weekend because the $12 admission seemed a little high for just the museum, whereas a charge of $15 or so would have seemed reasonable if they'd been flying. Anway, it is a good museum, and as all of the planes fly at some point they are in very good condition.

The Spitfires were both in the workshop.

Over in the main hangar the Sabre, Winjeel and Wimmaway were all absent, flown away?

But there were others on view, 

including the Tiger Moth which had crashed into the Sydney harbour in its' past.

After the museum we drove down past the Aviation Park homes - the estate enables residents to have their planes in their backyards; we have a big shed but these sheds are enormous!!

Then we drove back through Temora heading west to a little village, Ariah Park, which has the same look and feel as it did back in 1920s.

 It is known as the 'town' of "Wowsers, Bowsers and Peppercorns". 

Wowsers - comes from the locals contesting a licence for a second pub, back in 1926.

Bowsers - the first petrol bowser appeared in 1925 and when a garage opened in 1927 and installed a second pump the local paper observed "Judging by their number and a big increase in dogs Ariah Park will soon be known as the town of Bowsers and Towsers."

Peppercorns - Peppercorn trees have been a feature of the main street since 1917 when the community decided to divide its wide thoroughfare by planting a double avenue between the commercial premises.

There is a small camping ground on the edge of town with a $10 charge for power and a key to the shower block, otherwise it's free (there are toilets), we took the free option and parked up in the shade of some huge gum trees.

After lunch I walked into town - what a really delightful place. I chatted two nice ladies in the op shop/museum (half the building each). It was a glorious sunny day and after the walk we sat out together, reading and relaxing.

After a nice peaceful night we returned to Temora and took the road out to the town of Young, we had lunch and then in the early afternoon set up at the camping ground at Carcoar Dam.

Another free spot. It wasn't too crowded but there were quite a few vans around the water's edge.

We got a little spot with views from each side of the water, with the wind farm on the hill on the other side of the dam.

From here it's edging ever closer to Sydney, but before then we have the Blue Mountains.....

Canberra - our nation's capital [museum central]

Sometimes it makes me stop and think that there is something is this ESP thing... When I was working I'd sometimes think "What happened to Mr or Mrs X" and within a couple of days I would hear news of them, a follow up appointment or sometimes, sadly, other news.
 We were sitting at the Queanbeyan showgrounds when I decided to text Hanny in WA with an update, unsure of whether they were home or still on hols in the state's south... 3 hours later I got a phone call from Ralph (her other half), just checking on us - as we were talking Hanny turned her phone on and got my text message!! In the words of William Shatner - "Weird, or what!?"
(We don't phone or text regularly, if that's what you cynics are thinking).
After the phone call we thought the rain had ease so I walked into town for a newspaper and some cash for the tyre shop the next day  - I'd been walking no more than a couple of minutes before the rain came down - heavily! I pressed on into town, carrying on down to the river bank to see the new level.

                              By the time I got back I was in need of a dry towel, and a glass of red!!

On Friday we dropped the van off for the tyres and got the bus into town - we walked around and went back to the caravan park to stand in the same spot to take another photo of the river level - it had dropped from Thursday afternoon but is still high.

We spent 4 hours in Queanbeyan shopping district, and that was 3 and 1/2hours too long; then we went back to collect the van. We have 4 lovely Continental tyres BUT no new shock absorbers because anything  other than original Fiat ones won't fit!! We were hoping to fit a more heavy duty variety.
The guys at the trye shop were really good and if you're in that area and need tyres or work, see Jax tyres in Urriara road, Queanbeyan.
 (Coincidentally Continental have a $50 gift voucher offer in March, if you buy 4 tyres - we wouldn't have got that if we'd gone straight there on Wednesday!)

The rain returned on Saturday, just after lunch, as we drove from Queanbeyan up to Canberra.
The break in the rain had meant that the back roads were re opened after being closed due to flooding.
We were going to  stay with friends from Perth - Penni and Nathan, and their two little boys - Spencer and Felix. We found their house really easily, their street is a nice quiet street with English Oak trees as the street trees. Our van seemed enormous in the street and especially so once we'd squeezed up their driveway - our van access for the next few days is via the driver's door!!

We were lucky to be invited on the Saturday because Penni and Nathan were having a 'curry night', Mmmmm lovely curries.

The next day we all piled into their Kluger and drove out to the Old Bus Depot Markets, different stalls every time we visit, this time a lot more food stalls and we bought some lovely olives, antipasto and bread.
Then we went for a drive around Canberra and decided to see how much water was around the place.
We drove out to Scrivener Dam, which is at the end of Lake Burley Griffin, which had flooded.
The dam was well and truly overflowing, there was a traffic jam to get to the carpark at the viewing area.

                                                  The water isn't brown due to soil erosion......

                                                         Spencer thought it looked like coffee

Then we went up Mt Ainslie for a look out over Canberra - we had a particularly good view down Anzac Parade (from the back of the War Museum up to Parliament House).

At the beginning of our trip out for the day the top of Mt Black was in the clouds, now, later in the day, from Mt Ainslie we could see the top, and the sun had come out.

The next day, Nathan was off to work, the boys were off to school, Penni dropped us in town to start 'doing' the museums. We did the Screen Sound Museum (new name is National Film and Sound Archive). We always find this museum interesting, this time its' special screening was politically incorrect movienews and advertisements from the 1930s - 1970s. Some funny, some cringemaking, some actually very interesting. They also have some of the costumes from the movie Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

After lunch there we walked down to the National Museum - what a disappointment. Penni and Nathan had visited recently and referred to it as the 'not a museum', even its' own blurb says, "Best of all, general admission is free". We made enquiries about the Citroen 5CV that was the first car to drive around Australia; we know they have it because we know it's previous owner (son of the original driver).The discovery of the administration block and many questions later we found out where it is being stored at the moment.  Feeling totally uninspired by the place, we phoned Penni to come and collect us.
That night we indulged in some Eastern States culture and all went to 'The Tradies' (previously the Canberra Tradesman's Union Club). It was $10 pasta night but we all opted for the "renowned' schnitzels - they were fantastic value and quality, there was really good live music too......

The next day and more museums - this time we started with the National Archives.
A really interesting collection, we particularly enjoyed the video snippets featuring government releases, music clips, adverts and film clips from the 1930s -1990s.
 But had never heard of this board game - Pank-a Squith, from the suffragette days.

We also spent some time searching the archives for Michael's long lost aunt who migrated to Sydney in 1930s. We hit the jackpot - finding her and then went on to find more details. Something to do in Sydney - find 4 cousins!

After lunch at the Archives we walked around the corner to Old Parliament House. It was vacated in 1987 when the parliament moved into the new building up the road. We had about 15minutes to kill before a free guided tour started so we found a comfy seat.

The guided tour was supposed to take 45 minutes but an hour and twenty minutes later we were still going around. The guide was really enthusiastic and interesting.
The Prime Minister in office when they moved was Bob Hawke, his office is as he left it.

We then spent a pleasurable half hour checking out the political cartoons of 2011 exhibition. It was approaching 5pm so we rang Nathan, he works around the corner, and bummed a lift back with him.
Dinner that night was home delivered pizza and a couple of beers....Mmmmmm.

Another day and another museum, this time the War Memorial.
Penni very kindly drove us in again and we got started - first of all WW1.

A terrific display, so interesting, before we knew it, it was lunch time.

After lunch we tackled WW2 and beyond. There were so many excellent displays and features.
There was also a special exhibition on nurses through conflicts.

At 4pm we had just started 'The Colonial Wars' when I got a text from Penni - 'Are you lost in there? do you want a roast dinner?'  Our reply was, No, Yes and can Nathan pick us up again?

We were exhausted but we had seen pretty much all of the museum, we made our way to the exit and got there as they were changing the guard at the tomb of remembrance.

Nathan picked up two very tired tourists, the roast was really excellent, we were even treated to Yorkshire Pudding. Yummy!

All too soon it was time to farewell Penni, Nathan, the boys, and Canberra, . We headed North East trying to avoid more flooded rivers, travelling through Yass to Cootamundra. Home of the Cootamundra Wattle tree and Sir Don Bradman (legendary Aussie cricketer).We're not into cricket in any way, but the town looks interesting so we checked into the caravan park. The news is full of flood alerts with towns on the Lachlan River to our north and the Murrumbidgee River to our south on high alert, if not already affected. At the moment we're okay and will be taking major highways into Sydney so should continue to be safe and sound. Tomorrow it's more rural towns, lets hope those roads are open.