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Saturday 26 March 2011

BACK TO PERTH CARAVAN TRIP WEEK 3

BACK TO PERTH 2011 - WEEK 3

Sunday 13 March, 2011 - 11:06 by Bob and Marion in Travel Log
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Sunday 13 March 2011:  After Sunday mass at Henley Beach we returned to the van in order for Marion to complete some much needed washing of clothes.  The forecast was for some showers that did not arrive so we were fortunate in that regard.
Marion Washing 13 March 2011.
After lunch we drove over to Aunty Nat's house where Marion was generously given the use of Nat's sewing machine to make some alterations to the jeans and long trousers we purchased last Friday.  We had a pleasant visit and watched the rainbow lorrikets feeding at the bird feeder whilst sipping our coffee.  Back at the van we had a "scratch" evening meal and I retired early to read a good book.  We had a telephone call from our daughter Cathie to advise us Jake had come down with suspected "Chickenpox" and would be going to the doctor on Monday.  We immediately envisioned  having to return home to look after him whilst his parents travelled to work.  Sometimes we think this trip was not meant to be; given the late departure due to floods and hold ups with our solar installation, however time will tell.
Monday 14 March 2011:  We both woke up at 4.00am this morning.  We were worried about Jake and the possibility of baby Luke (Lucas) catching the disease from Jake.  We discussed the possibility of going back home, but decided to wait for a report this morning.  At 10.15am we received a telephone call from Cathie to advise all was well and the illness Jake had come down with was called "Hand, Foot & Mouth".  It was not chickenpox, thank goodness!
Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common childhood illness that is caused by a viral infection (most commonly the Coxsackie A16 virus). It typically affects children under the age of 10 years, but older children and adults can also be affected. There is no relationship between hand, foot and mouth disease and the condition known as foot-and-mouth disease that affects animals.
Cathie informed us the doctor was of the opinion all would be well by Wednesday and Jake could return to school.  In the meantime Beau had days off and would be looking after him.  We could continue our trip!  (Cathie was surprised we were even contemplating returning home; guess we are "worriers" at heart.)  Today is a public holiday in Adelaide and nothing is open; thus we decided to stay "home" and complete some washing and maintenance.  It would seem my deep cycle battery has called it a day after 4.5years of hard work.  I currently (no pun intended) have it on a sophisticted machine which is trying to re-condition it, without success I am afraid.  Looks like we are in the market for a new one.  The rest of the day has been spent reading and relaxing.  Tomorrow we will be attending the funeral of John Koukourou's mother which will be a sad occasion for the whole family.
Tuesday 15 March 2011:
We drove to Unley early making sure we found the church and a parking spot, as we knew there would be a large number of friends and relatives attending the funeral of Mrs Katina Koukourou, John's mother.  We entered St Spyridon's Greek Orthodox Church and took a seat towards the rear to await the arrival of Nat, Lee and Alan as arranged.  Neither of us had attended a Greek Orthodox Church Service before and we had plenty of time to gaze upon the beautiful artwork depicting saints and religious adorning the walls of the church.  There were also several very large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling one of which was of an enormuous size.  We noticed an iconic painting standing just inside the entrance to the church proper; many of the congregation bent to kiss this painting as they entered.  Katina was born in Rizokarpaso, Cyprus and lived from 1921 to 2011.  She is now at rest with her husband, Stelios.
After the ceremony we were taken by Alan and Lee, together with Nat, to the Buckingham Arms Hotel where they brought us a smorgasbord lunch.  The food was excellent as was the wine and conversation!  After lunch Marion and I went shopping before finally returning to the caravan for a well-earned rest.
Wednesday 16 March 2011:
Today we struck out on our own to do the "tourist thing".  We started with a drive to the Torrens Lake in the city center where we intending taking a cruise on the  Lake in a "Popeye" boat.  We were an hour early and spent the time walking along the bank and watching the ducks and swans at play.  A couple of black swans swam over to us, no doubt looking for a "hand out", but we had nothing to offer.
 Black Swans - Lake Torrens.
The boat finally arrived and we embarked upon our cruise.  Being a week day we had only a few other passengers for company and the captain proved to be a genial host.  When I went forward to take a photograph of one of the old bridges across the Torrens, he obligingly stopped the vessel and positioned it for the best angle of the shot.
  Oldest Bridge Over the Torrens Rv.
The banks of the Torrens along the city reach and the lake boasted landscaped lawns and gardens, all of which made for a postcard picture.  As we slowly made our way upstream and down I thought the scene was a perfect setting for mole and his friends from "The Wind In The Willows" and I was reminded of the quote, ""There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." - Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, Ch. 1.


Our voyage was over all to soon and as we returned to the dock the mist from the fountain floated gently over us, bidding us a fond farewell.
After the boat trip we went to a little cafe nearby where we had lunch.  We then drove to the Adelaide Zoo and paid our entry fee.  Our first call was to see the two Giant Panda Bears, Wang Wang and Funi.  We found one of them fast asleep in the panda house; however Funi was up and about and treated us to a good view.
Much to our delight Funi decided to inspect her enclosure and I got some good photos of her walking about.
 Funi, Adelaide Zoo.
We then strolled around the zoo looking at all the exhibits.  I felt a bit sorry for some of the larger animals as it did not seem appropriate for them to be caged up.  I was particularly struck by the confinement of the lions, but they did seem content.  One female bestowed a "lion's stare" upon me for several moments; those eyes bored right into me.  She was a very large lion and I would hate to meet her on a path in the wild.  I felt a bit privilaged that she choose to stare intently into my eyes for all those moments; I could see some of her spirit was still there.
After the lions we found a couple of enclosures which house the famous tree kangaroo, which is so hard to see in the wild.  I was at least glad to be able to  photograph these unusual animals.  Tree Kangaroos can also be found in New Guinea, as well as tropical North Queensland, Australia.
 Tree Kangaroo, Adelalde Zoo.
After leaving the zoo we returned home driving through heavy traffic.  It was a bit intimidating coping with the beligerence of some drivers who seemed intent on maiming themselves and others as they approached round-abouts at speed and played "blindman's bluff" when changing lanes.  I perservered with my sedate country style of driving and we eventually arrived back at the caravan park in one piece!  Another day of high adventure was over.
Thursday 17 March 2011:
I spent the morning testing all our batteries as I was suspicious that at least one had given up the ghost in the caravan; and another in the car was not behaving normally either.  To my consternation I found the deep cycle battery in the caravan was completely dead; although I must admit it was over 4yrs old.  The auxilleries battery in the car had "gone out" in sympathy and after a bit over 2yrs work was also dead.  It had been feeding off the cranking battery (used to start the car) and thus the cranking battery was feeling the strain when it came to starting the car.  This is what alterted me in the first place.  I spent a couple of  hours ringing around for prices as these deep cycle batteries are not cheap to buy!  I finally find a distributor who was prepared to sell me two batteries at "trade price" and his quote stacked up against all the others to the tune of $50.00 cheaper for each respective battery.  We had to drive down to Port Adelaide which was about 8kms away, but it was worth it to get these batteries at the right price.  By the time all this was done the day was shot to pieces, so we returned to the van and relaxed for what was left of the day.
Friday 18 March 2011:
Marion was attempting to do some early morning cooking on the gas stove in the van when she advised me we were running out of gas.  I turned the suspect cylinder over to the second cylinder, only to met with the declaration, "That one's empty as well.  You will have to go and fill them up!"  Now I was sure that the second cylinder was full; and was intent on proving my point.  I removed each cylinder from inside the van's boot and attached a tester to each in turn.  The first cylinder still had a quarter of a tank of gas in it; and the second was indeed full!  Whilst this was a small win for the "mere male", it was a big problem.  Something had gone wrong with the gas system!  Either the gas line had been holed, or the regulator had a blockage.  Maybe the regulator had collapsed entirely.  I gave the regulaor a few taps with the hammer to see what would happen and Marion reported a slight increase in pressure before the flame immediately fell back to being just visible at the burner on the stove.  That told me the regulator was faulty and would have to be replaced.  I called a gas fitter on the telephone only to get no reply; all I could was leave a message and hope for the best.  Just after 9.00am Mark from Waterworks Plumbing rang me.  I explained our problems to him and he promised to come out to us at 11.00am, after he had done another job.  I said a silent prayer that the "other job" would not take too long.  True to his word Mark turned up just before 11.00am and made short work of testing the regulator, confirming my earlier diagnosis.  He had to go away to obtain a new regulator of the correct type and promised to return ASP.  Again I whispered a silent prayer that this would be so!  Again true to his word, Mark was soon back with the new regulator and made short work of installing it and testing the system.  I was very impressed with his professional approach and his genuine attitude.  He charged us $87.00 for the new regulator and as I had priced them on the internet at $133.00 I was most impressed.  We had planned to spend the day at Victor Harbour but gave that idea away, as it was far too late to be driving that far. Nothing was really lost as we had been to Victor Harbour a number of times in the past.  Instead we went shopping for groceries and returned from the shops to the van for a well earned rest.  Finally I had a functioning 12v system in the car and the van respectively; and a functioning gas system in the van.  All was well and the worrying was over!
Saturday 19 March 2011:
Our time in Adelaide was coming to an end.  The two weeks had simply flown by and we wanted to do a bit more of the "tourist thing".  Rain was forecast for our last day, Sunday, so we decided to head over to Glen Osmond to see the monastry of St Paul of the Cross which was owned by The Passionists order of monks.  Lee and Alan had told us about The Sacred Garden in which large marble statues of the fourteen stations of the cross had been placed, and they said it was well worth going to see.  We arrived in bright sunshine and parked in the grounds.  The garden was easily found and we entered via a small pathway to find a peaceful and well landscaped garden.
 Station XI - Jesus Is Nailed To The Cross.
 Station XI - Jesus Is Natled To The Cross.  Close Up of Art Work.
The statues were strategically placed along the path and I was struck by the excellent work of the artist who had made them.  I photographed each one taking our time as we proceeded from station to station.  We also came across one of the biggest Moreton Bay Fig trees I have ever seen.  A sign informed us it was planted in the 1850s.  It was a magnifcent specimen even more so for being south of the latitude at which these trees are usually found.
 Moreton Bay Fig Tree circa 1850s.
 Moreton Bay Fig circa 1850s.
We left the garden in silent reflection upon what we had seen; it was not only the religious aspect of the Stations of the Cross, but the beautiful art work we had seen, that caused us to be so reflective.  We went and visited the church where we saw some magnificent paintings.  I hope these works of art will be preserved for future genertions to wonder at.  After leaving the monastry we decided to drive across the City of Adelaide and the Torrens River to see the statue of Colnel Light, known as "Lights Vision".  Imagine our surprise when we arrived to find a full scale Japanese Wedding in progress!  I managed to get a couple of photos before leaving the scene to the wedding party.
 Lights Vision, Adelaide, S.A.
Colonel William Light was the first surveyor general of South Australi.  He fixed the site and laid out the city of Adelaide in 1836.  After a quiet drive through the CBD of Adelaide, we returned home to the van for the rest of the day.  We discussed the fact that rain was expected on Sunday and Monday and decided to take down the annexe, in preparation for our departure on Monday, whilst it was still dry.  This poved to be a wise decision.  After the work was done, it was time to sit and relax in the shade with a glass of wine and chat with passers by.  A very good day had come to an end.
END OF WEEK 3.

Tuesday 8 March 2011

Back to Perth Week 2

Saturday 5 March 2011:  Having set up our site yesterday today was our settling in day.  Whilst Marion did some washing I spent a very frustrating day trying to fix the html language mistakes that kept appearing in my Week 1 blog.  No matter what I did the mistake kept coming back.  I tried the suggestions in the help file, but nothing seemed to work.  The problem centred around the Word document I had imported into the blog.  After a very frustrating day I gave up and published with no photos and all the mistakes, determined to have another go when I got the chance.  That was the end of Saturday!  Eventually I got it right.
Sunday 6 March 2011:  We were up in time to go to 9.30am mass at  Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church, Henley Beach and enjoyed a  special mass for the children who had started school this year, it was heart warming to see them all singing "Butterfly Wings" and doing the actions that go with the song.  Back at the caravan we had time to relax for a few hours, before setting out on the drive to Flagstaff Hill where we visited our cousin Jill and her husband John.  Cousin Lee was there also with friend Allan; as was Aunty Nat.  Jill's sons Adam and Justin popped in for a short visit an we said hello to Adams wife and children also.  For reasons that will become apparent I have not mentioned surnames here.  Jill must have worked for hours preparing finger food of all shapes and sizes!  What a spread!  We were treated like very  special people and Marion and I enjoyed this interlude immensely.  Good company, good food and wine and great surroundings.  I really looked forward to seeing this branch of our family once again and was not disappointed with the hospitality.  It's great to see them all again.
Later that same afternoon we were invited over to a friend's house to see an avairy full of birds, including some very tame black cockatoos bred in capativity.  We were also shown a great collection of asian artefacts that had us enthralled as each item was explained to us in detail.  Also included in the tour were some special religious icons and other assorted items that took one's breath away!  We were both very grateful for the opportunity to see all these wonderful works of art and will remember the experience for a long time to come!  We met this person through our cousins' auspices and because the collections we saw were of some value, I have not mentioned names here for obvious security reasons.  All in all we had a wonderful afternoon and enjoyed ourselves very much.  It was all over too soon!  We took Aunty Nat home and dropped her off with the promise of a luncheon over here at our caravan; as well we have planned a family trip  to the country side at Tooperang to see the family farm.  We are looking forward to that, as we will see a memorial to my Uncle Bernard for the first time.
One of the Carvings We Were Shown
Bob & Black Cockatoo.

Monday 7 March 2011:  Today we set out to do some research regarding Marion's "family tree".  We wanted to find the grave of one Thomas Humpstone Willington, Marion's Great, Great, Great Grandfather.  He had been transported to Tasmania as a convict for stealing wearing apparel at the age of 21 in 1830, aboard the S.S. Clyde.  His sentence was seven years tansportation and we are not sure if he served the whole of his sentence, or received a pardon at some stage of the sentence.  In any event he subsequently arrived in Adelaide and worked as a "Hawker" in the Port Adelaide area, before moving to Melrose, S.A. where he  set up a store.  He later returned to Port Adelaide, became a well known pioneer and builder and was one of the first subscribers to the Port Adelaide Institute.  His photograph appears in a supplementary history of the institute.

Thomas Hump[h]stone Willington
His Tombstone shows Thomas Humphstone Willington
It took the help of Meredith from the Port Adelaide Library to find out the lease number of Thomas' grave in the Cheltenham Cemetery.  After some inquiries at the cemetery office we were able to locate the grave, which turned out to be a family "communal" grave.  When we found it the tombstone was inscribed with several names of his descendents and, we thought, his name did not appear.  We were about to walk away when I told Marion to walk around to the next row of graves and stand behind the tombstone whilst I took a photograph.  Low and behold on the back side of the tombstone Marion found Thomas' name and the names of his immediate family inscribed.  The tombstone had been turned around to use both sides!
The tombstone had been turned around to use both sides!

Front view of grave.
Rear view of grave.

Considering ourselves lucky to have found the tombstone, we decided to call in person to the Port Adelaide Library and thank Meredith in person for her research and emails to us in Queensland before we left on our trip.  We found the library without any trouble and introduced ourselves to Meredith, who turned out to be the head librarian.  She took us into the locked research room where she did some more research for us and provided us with copies of several documents which will be added to our family history websites.  Meredith also suggested we become visiting members of the library, which would give us access to the internet resources there.  We took up her offer.  Thanks Meredith!
We treated ourselvs to lunch and returned to the caravan to make some telephone calls.  We learnt that Jill's husband's mother is very ill and we did not know this when we visited yesterday.  John had insisted nothing be said as he did not want to put a damper on our visit.  We feel very sad for him and the family as things do not look to good.  We decided to call it a day and remain at the caravan for the afternoon.  During the night it began to rain.
Tuesday 8 March 2011:  We awoke at 4.00am to the sound of heavy rain and found to our dismay the water had pooled in the roof of the annexe!  Hasty provisions were made to support the roof with additional poles to ensure the water ran off.  Our efforts seem to have worked and as I write the rain seems to be easing off. Thank goodness!
Our Site at Adelaide Shores Caravan Park, S.A.
Well I was wrong.  As it turned out it rained all day on and off.  We heard on the radio we had over 30ml last night (1" +), more in one night than the average rainfall for the month!  We were happy to stay home in the van and relax whilst keeping an eye on the water on the roof of the annexe.  I lowered one corner of the anexe in order to allow the water to run off somewhat easier and this worked well.  We decided to put the T.V.  inside the van in case water dripped on it; and whilst we were doing that we hooked up the satellite dish to the T.V. and tried it out.  We thought a large tree at the back of our van would block it out, but it didn't and we were able to watch the news on our local channel back at home.  We were also able to watch the ABC programs in Queensland which was a bonus as they came on half and hour earlier than in S.A.  I read some more of Kiki's book, "The Voyage of Islita" and did some writing also.
The forecast is for the rain to ease off over night and we are hoping we will be able to go for a drive tomorrow.


Wednesday 9 March 2011:  After Ash Wednesday Mass at Henley Beach, we drove to Port Adelaide and had a look at the Port Canal Shopping Centre, where we had lunch.  We then strolled over to the Port Adelaide Library and used our visitor's account to do some more research.  From there it was a rather long drive across town to the Payneham Cemetery, where we found the groundsman very helpful.  He contacted the records office for us and found the location of the grave of Henry John and Susan Catnach Willington, Marion's Great, Great Grandparents.  He was kind enough to take us to grave site which was located near the corner of Marian Street, Payneham.  We were most grateful for his assitance!
 
Marion's ancestors, Payneham Cemetery, Adelaide, S.A.
After photographing the tombstone above we drove back to the caravan, arriving home at 4.30pm.  Another day was gone!  Sadly when I checked out our messages, we learnt that my cousin Jill's mother-in-law had died in hospital.  I made some telephone calls of condolence and sent off some emails.  We will attend the funeral next Tuesday.
Thursday 10 March 2011:  Today we spent all day at the caravan reading and wrting and updating the family tree website.  It was good to have a relaxing day, after all the running around we have been doing.  Tomorrow we will go shopping.
Friday 11 March 2011:  Another relatively lazy day in Adelaide.  We drove over to the Marion Shopping Centre to get some decent clothes to wear to Mrs Koukourou's funeral and managed to get what we needed in our respective sizes.  We had lunch at the shopping centre before returning home for a quiet afternoon's reading and relaxing.
Saturday 12 March 2011:  This morning I drove over to Aunty Nat's home and picked her up for lunch at our caravan.  We had a lovely few hours chatting over lunch, walking down to the beach and going for a drive around Adelaide City.  I was very happy to have this opportunity to have Nat over to our van as she had never been on our previous visits to Adelaide.   We drove Nat home to her house and returned to our van in time to relax for an hour or so before our evening meal.  All in all a very nice day!
Aunty Nat and Bob 12 March 2011.
And so our second week came to an end.


Saturday 5 March 2011

WEEK 1: [Including Saturday Preceeding]

BACK TO PERTH 2011

Saturday, 26 February 2011:  Towing our Coromal Princeton 605 caravan behind our Toyota Landcruiser Series 100, Marion and I departed home at 5.24am and headed west!  We passed through the familiar towns of Gympie (Bruce Highway), Kilkivan (Wide Bay Highway), Goomeri (Burnett Highway) and Murgon before reaching Wondai (both on the Bunya Highway) at 7.40am, where we stopped for a short break.  From Wondai we travelled on to Kingaroy, Kumbia and Bell where we stopped for a short break before continuing on to Dalby, arriving at 9.58am.  We fuelled up at the Dalby Woolworths Plus Petrol Station, where fuel was .03c cheaper than any other in town; with our card we also got another .08c discount, which was a small bonus.
Leaving Dalby we continued south-west along the Moonie Highway arriving at Moonie at 11.44am.  We were disappointed to find the roadhouse closed, as were all the little shops in the complex.  This is a sign of the times in country Australia it would seem.  We were to visit many more small communities which appeared to be “dying”.  What is happening to country Australia?  Why are all these once thriving communities slowly becoming tired and abandoned, except for the diehards who struggle on.  I am glad I have reached my “senior years” and can remember the good times out in the “real Australia”; it is very sad to see what is happening out there.  We also noticed the road damage caused by the recent floods and heavy rains, all the way along the highways we travelled.  Many patches of road were being repaired, but there is a long way to go before all damage is fixed.  In places the heavy transport vehicles have created deep depressions on the near side bitumen of the roads and these depressions can be dangerous to the unwary traveller, particularly when passing oncoming traffic with no room to move out and around the hazard.
We stayed at Moonie for almost an hour and had lunch in the caravan.  Even the Information Centre was closed, which may have been because it was Saturday and no volunteers were available to man the premises.
We turned onto the Leichhardt Highway and travelled on to Goondiwindi on the New South Wales border, arriving there at 1.42pm.  We then turned onto the Newell Highway at Goondiwindi and crossed the New South Wales border over the Macintyre River.  The Macintyre and Weir Rivers drain an area of about 44,000 square kilometres, most of which lies in the southern border parts of Queensland, with a small part of the basin extending into New South Wales. The Macintyre River has three main tributaries - the Macintyre River in New South Wales, the Dumaresq River along the border, and the Macintyre Brook.  Major flooding can occur along each of these river systems causing isolation of towns and rural lands, and severe flooding at times in the Goondiwindi area.  Whilst some flooding was experienced during the recent flood disasters, the Goondiwindi flood levee held and saved the town.  The levee is 11m high and the flood waters nearly raised that high!

Goondiwindi Flood Level 14 Jan 2011_ another .4m and the town would have gone under!
 
Leaving Goondiwindi, a short drive brought us to Boggabilla and 30kms further south brought us to the Northstar rest area.  We kept on as we wanted to make the Tookey Creek Rest Area, where we intending camping overnight.  We arrived at Moree at 4.11am Daylight Saving Time (DST), having put our time pieces forward an hour after crossing the border.  At 4.52pm (DST) we arrived at the Tookey Rest Area.   We were joined by two couples, fellow travellers, who were on their way to Tasmania for a fifteen day touring holiday in a motor home and a caravan respectively.  I had the thought that I would spend a lot longer in Tasmania if I spent the money to take my caravan over Bass Strait in the car ferry, which is not a cheap exercise as it is an overnight trip.  Hopefully one day Marion and I will make the trip to this lovely island state.  During the night we were also joined by five road trains with enormous prime movers.

Tookey Rest Area NSW_our first overnight on the road.

The Newell Highway is one of Australia’s life lines for the transport of goods to and from the Southern States to the Northern States; as we travelled along the highway it was noticeable that the trucks and road trains flowed in a constant convoy carting all sorts of goods and machinery.  I wonder what the “bullockies” of old would have thought had they lived to see this wonder of modern day transport; trips that took them months to transport their goods by bullock dray now take a couple of days only.


Transport of yesteryear!


A cloud of dust on the long, white road,
And the teams go creeping on
Inch by inch with the weary load;
And by the power of the green-hide goad
The distant goal is won.
The Teams (1896) – (1st stanza)
by Henry Lawson


Modern Day Transport 2011

We generally found the “truckies” courteous and obliging, provided we “called them through” on our UHF radio when they wanted to pass us.  The procedure I followed was to call the driver on the radio and advise him to let me know when he wanted to pass and I would slow down for him to get quickly past our caravan “rig”.  I never, repeat never, told a truckie what to do, I always left it up to him; as I learnt several years ago, truckies do not like being told “how to drive”.
During the night the trucks kept rolling all night long and the rumbling noise made by their passage soon became a background noise similar to the sound of waves breaking on the beach.  I slept well; however Marion had a restless night with a sore throat and feeling unwell.  I hope she does not come down with the flu and leave me to do all the work (ha ha ha)!
Sunday, 27 February 2011:  Next morning we were up early and decided to grab some breakfast at McDonalds in Narrabri some 55kms down the highway.  The next town was Coonabarabran which is a large town and seems to be surviving well given the rural crises many communities are experiencing.  Marion still has a sore throat but battles on.
From Narrabri it was on to Gilgandra, home of the famous “Coo-ee” march which took place in 1915 from Gilgandra to Sydney.  At the time the tremendous casualties lists coming from the Gallipoli battlefields in the Dardanelles, where the ANZACS were fighting and dying in horrifying numbers (some 2000 soldiers lost their lives), resulted in a “call to arms” and a recruiting drive was on.  A group of 35 recruits commenced marching towards Sydney picking up more and more recruits as they passed each small town.  It took them from 10 October to 12 November to march on foot to Sydney, upon arrival they marched into history.  The information centre at Gilgandra has an excellent display room where the history of the march and several artefacts such as original flags, items of equipment and copies of newspaper articles from the days of the march, are on display.  Together with other displays of historical aspects of the town and a large display of aboriginal art and weaponry, the information centre is well worth the time spent to have a good look.  We spent nearly an hour there and the time was gone before we knew it.
The original 35 marchers leaving Gilgandra
The numbers increase, near Springwood, NSW.
           
Arriving at Martin Place, Sydney, NSW, 263 men.















1.07pm: The next town we passed through was Dubbo where the famous Taronga Western Plains Zoo is located.  This zoo is noted for its breeding programs and has many African animals exhibited in open space enclosures.  It is a “must see” for travellers and we have visited several times in the past, thus we did not visit this trip.  We travelled on and arrived at Parkes at 2.44pm passing through the small town of Peak Hill on our way.  I was shocked to see how tired looking Peak Hill was with many commercial establishments apparently closed.  What a sorry sight to see this once vibrant little community on the wane; I remember when it was worth a stop to refresh oneself and have a look around.  Coincidently, a talk back radio show we were listening to was broadcasting the calls of persons who were espousing the same sentiments I have mentioned in this travelogue.  Many were calling for Australians to band together to save their heritage and the rural way of life, which they all felt was slowly dying.  The questions were asked, “What will Australians do when all the small farms and diaries have been taken over by the large conglomerates?”  “Will Australia produce enough food to feed its population when all the small producers have left the land?”  I myself wonder what the future holds.  Enough of this doom and gloom!  On with our travels!  Passing through the countryside near Parkes we once again saw the very large communications dish, which featured in the film “The Dish”.  We have previously visited the dish complex and seen the display which features the important roll this dish played in communications with the Apollo Missions to the moon.
3.12pm:  We arrived at Forbes, New South Wales, and turned off the Newell Highway onto the Lachlan Highway to travel the 90km to Cowra our destination for the next couple of days.  We drove along the lovely tree lined highway which runs along beside the Lachlan River, through the rich and fertile Lachlan Valley.  We saw crops, cattle and sheep and even alpacas (originated in South America) as we drove along the highway.
4.24pm:  Cowra at last!  We crossed the Lachlan River, turned right and arrived at the Cowra Van Park, where we booked in for a short stay.  There are some historical sites we wish to see and we will rest up here whilst I carry out some small maintenance tasks to keep our equipment in tip-top condition for our travels.  We will also have to establish if in fact it is feasible to tow our caravan out to Clear Range via Canberra, where my brother Mike lives on his small property in the hills.  Flood damage in this area has resulted in one bridge being washed away and the Angle Crossing over the Murrumbidgee River being closed for repairs to the crossing.  It well may be we have to put off our visit to Mike and Fran until our return from Western Australia.
10.00pm:  I received a telephone call from my brother Mike with a report on the road conditions out to his property at Clear Range.  After discussing the pros and cons and confirming the closure of the Angle Crossing and the Smith’s Road Bridge over the Gudgenby River, we both thought it would be best to postpone our visit until our return from Western Australia.  Decision made.  We will stay here in Cowra an extra day to have a good look around and then head off on the Mid Western Highway towards the Newell Highway and then cross the New South Wales border with Victoria en route to the South Australian border.  It was time to go to bed and sleep on it.  Another day gone!
Monday 28 February 2011:
04.00am BANG!  BANG!  BANG!  Very loud claps of thunder had us leaping out of bed to prepare for the coming storm!  We quickly rolled up the caravan awning just as the rain started coming down.  Anticipating strong winds and heavy rain, we knew that in Queensland where we lived this thunder was normally the precursor of a heavy storm.  Fortunately the anticipated wind did not eventuate and the rain was quite sedate, compared with what we are used to in Queensland it was a fizzer!
Cowra is a large town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia in Cowra Shire. It is located 310 m (1,020 ft) above sea level   and about 310 kilometres west of Sydney on the banks of the Lachlan River. At the 2006 census, Cowra had a population of 12,835 people.
During World War II Cowra was the site of a prisoner of war (POW) camp. Most of the detainees were captured Japanese and Italian military personnel. On August 5, 1944 at least 545 Japanese POWs attempted a mass breakout from the camp. Simultaneously, other Japanese prisoners committed suicide, or were killed by their countrymen, inside the camp.

Japanese War Cemetery, Cowra, NSW.
 The actions of the POWs in storming machine gun posts, armed only with improvised weapons, showed what Prime Minister John Curtin described as a "suicidal disregard of life", and had no chance of success.
During the breakout and subsequent recapture of POWs, four Australian guards and 231 Japanese died, and 108 prisoners were wounded. The dead Japanese were buried in Cowra in the specially created Japanese War Cemetery. This is the only such cemetery in Australia, and also holds some of the dead from the WWII air raids on Darwin.
0830 We are finally learning to take it easy and not worry about early starts each day.  This morning I met a couple who were staying at the caravan park also, and we struck up a conversation.  It turned out Gwen was a member of the pioneer Hodder family.  Her ancestors were among the first settlers to contribute to the birth of the town of Cowra.  She gave me some great information about the early days of Cowra and how she had grown up in the town herself.   Gwen’s husband showed us some original bricks Gwen’s great grandfather had manufactured in Cowra in the early 1800s; they were clearly marked with his unique brand comprising the suits of cards, i.e. hearts, diamond, clubs and spades.  Each brick we were shown had one of these marks embedded into it.  After our talk with Gwen we went and filled up our near-empty diesel tanks (270lts in total) at the local service station; before heading over to the local information centre where we had been told, a very good display relating to the Cowra POW breakout was on offer.  We were not disappointed as we sat and watched a holograph image of a young girl from the times tell the whole story of the breakout, which occurred whilst her fiancĂ© was a POW in Singapore.  The story had a happy ending when her soldier boy returned from the war and married her in Cowra.  Of course the young girl was an actress; however, the whole presentation was very well done.
We then drove out to the site of the POW camp where the break out occurred and visited the Japanese Gardens of Peace constructed by a joint Japanese Cowra effort at reconciliation which has proved successful.  The gardens were nothing short of beautiful and we spent a long time walking around and sitting by running water, peacefully relaxing and watching some lovely little wrens as they hopped about on the grass and in the bushes without a care for our presence.  We really enjoyed our visit to these gardens and I took some good photographs.

Japanese Gardens, Cowra, NSW.
A visit to a replica guard tower and the site of the POW camp itself gave us a bit more of a feeling for the historical aspects of the events that occurred on 5 August 1944.  From there we went to the Japanese War Cemetery and the Australian War Cemetery adjoining each other in a very poignant way.  After our drive to these historical sites we returned to Cowra town and had lunch before returning to the caravan park for a well earned rest.  We were entertained by the ubiquitous gathering of hundreds of Corella parrots in the trees lining the Lachlan River where the caravan park is located.  The screeching and antics of these birds was something to behold!   After sunset the screeching was finally reduced to the odd squawk as the birds settled down to sleep.  We too had a peaceful night’s sleep and looked forward to a nice easy day tomorrow as we retired for the night.

Tuesday 1 March 2011:  Today is a “rest day” I have to do some maintenance on the car and the generator and we will go for a walk up town to have a better look at the shops.  After a light breakfast we walked up town and went “window shopping” before returning back to the caravan in time for lunch.  After lunch I serviced the generator and the car before cleaning the windscreen and filling the window washer reservoir.   The only negative discovery was the probability our deep cycle battery for the caravan is on the way out; not a major revelation as it is several years old and still providing 12volt lighting and water pump power to the van!  I think a new one will be in order once we get to Adelaide.  We decided to prepare for our departure tomorrow morning by hooking up the car and the caravan and rolling up the awning; this will give us a “head start” in the morning and we won’t annoy the neighbours with our noise early in the morning.  For some strange reason, unknown to us, the Corellas did not turn up today and I have missed the photo-opportunity I was looking forward to.  Marion cooked a lovely fillet steak tea for us and we watched television before retiring to bed for the night.  Tomorrow is another day!

 Wednesday 2 March 2011: As planned we left Cowra at 6.50am and drove west along the Mid-Western Highway as the false dawn appeared in the eastern sky with a crescant moon hanging just above the horizon.   We passed through several country towns, including Grenfell where the great Australian author and poet, Henry Lawson was born on the Grenfell goldfields.

Lawson led a discordant live owing to his alcoholism and was at one point jailed for public drunkenness.  However he was a poetic genius and his short stories and poems live on today as part of Australia’s history.  He was and is one of Australia’s favourite sons and ranks right up there with the equally great bush poet, Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson.
 
A short distance on we passed by the Weddin Mountains where Ben Hall the notorious bushranger had his cave “hide-out” for many years.  Hall was as famous as Ned Kelly in his day and led a very rough life in the bush.  He and his gang committed many famous robberies and in 1865 he was betrayed by a local and as he walked into his camp on the morning of 5 May 1865 he was fired upon by eight police and killed.  It is said he never fired a shot and was running away when shot in the back; there were in excess of thirty bullet wounds in his body.  His grave can be seen at Forbes, N.S.W.

Source Wikipedia
 We continued on along the Mid-Western Highway until we reached Hay where we crossed the Murrumbidgee River and briefly joined the Cobb Highway before turning west once more on the Sturt Highway passing through Balranald at 2.15pm.  We reached Lake Benanee shortly at 3.09pm and set up camp for the night.  A beautiful cool breeze was coming off the lake, which was full to capacity.  We had plenty of time to relax before the evening meal, watching some satellite television and reading.  I am currently reading a book entitled “The Voyage of Islita” by Kiki Wheelock.  It is the story of Kiki and her husband Russell’s voyage around the world in the 33ft sloop (sailing yacht) Islita and is enthralling reading.  The Wheelock’s hail from Bulverde, Texas, USA, and we met them on their circumnavigation trip when they called in at Brisbane and stayed for several months.  We have kept in touch ever since.  Lake Benanee is quiet and peaceful and we only have two other campers with us at the moment.  The passing trucks on the highway can only be heard if one listens intently as we are some distance away from the road.  Hurray for a quiet night!
Lake Benabee Campsite, NSW.

 
Henry Lawson 1867-1922

















Thursday 3 March 2011:  Today we are hoping to make Adelaide around lunchtime hence and early start was called for and at 5.51am we were on the road again.  As dawn was breaking we were following alongside the Murray River and Malleefowl country.  We kept a sharp look-out for a Malleefowl but did not see one.

Malleefowl:  Source: Cheryl Ridge: http://www.pbase.com/chezzyr
Arriving at Buronga, NSW 6.55am we decided to fuel up at the BP Service Station as there were a large number of trucks doing the same thing; we figured the price must be right.  As it turned out we were correct in our assumption and got a good price for diesel.  From Buronga we crossed the Murray River into Victoria and the town of town of Mildura.  Mildura is an Aboriginal term meaning Red Earth. The countryside is known as the Sunraysia Region and can boast of wineries, orchards, flower gardens including Australia's only inland Botanic Garden and other attractions; not the least of which is the Murray River itself.  We continued on through this well set out and tidy town; and at 8.55am stopped at Yamba just across the border into South Australia. 
Yamba, NSW.  Fruit Fly Inspection Point.
After taking some photographs of the border crossing fruit fly checkpoint, we pulled into the inspection area and handed over some potatoes and onions Marion had peeled and stored in sealed containers.  This was not enough for the female inspector who confiscated them.  We accepted her decision and did not argue, it was not worth it!  Some years ago when we crossed at the same inspection point we were allowed to keep our potatoes and onions which we had prepared in the same manner; I guess it depends upon the person doing the inspecting.  At least I saw them go into the bin.  We moved on.

At Paringa we again crossed the Murray River at one of the Locks and we had time to stop behind traffic half way across the bridge and take a photograph.  
Murray River, Paring, S.A.

Paringa is 216km north-east of Adelaide and only 5km from Renmark. The road south-east from Renmark is on the eastern edge of the Riverland and the gateway to Victoria including the towns of Wentworth, Merbein and Mildura. You can also enter South Australia from Sydney and Canberra and the Riverina via Paringa.  Paringa is from an Aboriginal word meaning "big bend in the river". In 1913 Paringa became the first Murray town to become connected to Adelaide by rail. The Paringa Suspension Bridge was opened in 1927 and is only one of five spanning the Murray River in South Australia.
On the other side of the bridge we came into Renmark where we had a “Maccas” take-away breakfast on the road.  From here we came upon some wide open flat grazing country which spread out all the way to the hills approaching Adelaide.  The colours of the country side were soft brown and creams of grazing grass and made for some good scenery as we approached the hill climbs up and over the ranges and on into the Barossa Valley.  We drove past wineries and fields of grape vines as we cruised along in the moderate traffic.  The double land highway became the Northern Expressway and took us right into Port Adelaide, where a short drive brought us to our destination, Adelaide Shores Caravan Park, West Beach, Adelaide, South Australia.  I had been worrying about being allocated a good site at this park, as we wanted to stay for some time.  I had telephoned ahead and been told it was unlikely we would get the site we wanted as a long week end was coming up (Adelaide Cup) and all the good sites were booked out.  However when we arrived we were pleasantly surprised to find we had been given the site we wanted – hurray!!  It was time to “set up” the van and annexe and settle in for an enjoyable stay in Adelaide.  The first major stop of our trip had been reached.
Friday 4 March 2011:  We awoke at a reasonable hour and had bacon and eggs for breakfast – joy!  After tidying up and a cup of coffee I telephoned the company who service the Trailer-Mate Caravan Jack I use with the caravan.  I had serviced it myself but could not get it to work.  Not knowing where I had gone wrong I decided to take it to the experts and get a new set of seals and dust covers as well as a service of the unit.  I spoke to husband and wife team Tracey and Sean and arranged to meet them at their warehouse this morning.  Sean serviced the jack and showed me how he did it as he went along; he told me he could not find anything I had done wrong, but maybe one part I had not tightened up enough was the problem.  Suffice to say the jack worked perfectly after he had done his work and I was glad to pay the small fee involved – one less worry for me.  We celebrated by going shopping at the Marion Shopping Centre and arrived back at the caravan in time for lunch.  The afternoon was spent relaxing and talking about our trip.  We have decided to stay in Adelaide until Monday 21 March 2011 and have a good relaxing couple of weeks here.  I made contact with my cousin Jill and we are looking forward to visiting them in the coming days.
END WEEK 1: