Greens Lake revisited (again)

The usual scene of caravans lined up on the banks of the lake.


Lots of relaxing time at the lake.





John celebrated his 79th birthday over a morning tea. Brandt made pikelets. The big one on top was for John.





Mid morning our thermometer showed that we could expect a hot day (the temp reached 41)


So time was spent in the water. (I think I ventured out three times)


This dog, whose name is Pip, became known as Security after parading in his hat.


It was not all R&R. We got tired of struggling to plug into a power sauce under the table - especially when the table was folded out. Others had moved their power points, so Brandt did too. Not only did he relocate them but he doubled our 12v outlets inside the van.


While at Greens Lake we had an early celebration of Brandt's 70th birthday. The planned day for the celebration had been declared a total fire ban so the camp oven stew was cooked on the previous night (before the ban came into force).


Dave decided Brandt needed a wig!









So now it is home to New Zealand until March/April next year.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Homeward bound

From Canbera we commenced our return to Melbourne.
We called in on friends at Nowra and Tathra. Our stay at Tathra was extended by a week as I had a severe nose bleed which resulted in a few trips to A&E. In the end I had a "balloon" up my nose for three days, after the one inserted overnight failed to stop the bleeding.


The second balloon was inflated with 8ml of air, double the amount of the first balloon (pictured above), which distorted my nose even more. My eye kept weeping and I couldn't stand wearing my glasses. On the 2nd day Brandt deflated the balloon. There was a lot of relief when the balloon was removed and there was no sign of any bleeding. I have hardly blown my nose since and have learned to sneeze with my mouth open.

We travelled south via Gippsland driving via Lakes Entrance.



The weather was quite wet, so we made a detour to Rye, stayed there 6 days,

One day we noticed a funnel web spider's home, but on investigation found that it was empty (evidently they can be quite vicious when disturbed so maybe it was just as well the home was vacant and I have to make do with online images of the funnel web spider)


We then went to visit a friend at Werribee. Finally, we made it to Greens Lake to catch up with Grey nomad friends who were waiting there for us. Greens Lake is a free camp with toilet facilities only and it is where a lot of our friends spend the summer months.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Canberra

The main attraction for us in Canberra was the Australian War Memorial Museum.
The view from the main entrance is looking down Anzac Parade towards the Houses of Parliament.


Also near the main entrance is the statue of Anzacs with their trusty horse.


The tomb of the unknown Soldier is housed in its own section.


The main building houses many displays of what active service life was like






We were parked in a 4 hour park. Luckily no one seemed to check as we were there for about 5 hours.
Then we decided to drive down Anzac Parade and take a look at parliament.


The view looking back to the museum is not as well known and the museum looked a long long way off.


We were allowed to walk the halls of parliament. I could take photos of the senate, but only because there was no one there.
The House of Representatives was another matter. They were debating a bill currently before parliament. We had to "cloak " our cameras and phones before being permitted access to the public gallery.
It was very interesting to view.


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Griffith

The primary reason for our visit to Griffith was to catch up with a Young Farmers Exchangee who had stayed with Brandt's family in the 1970s. On previous occasions he was away on business when we phoned to organise meeting up. This time, however, he was home long enough for us to spend an evening together.
As we drove into Griffith, we saw that the Main Street was festooned with sculptures made up of oranges. We found a camp site next to a lagoon. Note the heads of children swimming there despite the sign.





Then we walked back to the Main Street. We had arrived in the middle of the citrus festival.















Next day we drove to the lookout.














- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Narromine revisited

When we visited Jack and Christine in 2013, we were shown around the cotton processes. This visit there was no cotton, but instead grain....



green canola seeds.......


ripe canola seeds ......



chick peas ....


barley ....


and wheat.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

White Cliffs

White Cliffs is an opal mining town. The road from Tibooburra to White Cliffs is mainly dirt road. We were almost there when Brandt said, "I suppose we should have covered our vents". Sure enough, there was a layer of red dust over EVERYTHING!




Like Coober Pedy, there are mounds everywhere. This is the discard from the mining process.
At 3 pm we lined up with others, paid our money and enjoyed a tour of an underground working mine. Before departing headquarters we were told a little history of opal mining in White Cliffs plus were given tips on how to detect opal in a rock.


Then we were taken underground. We were encouraged to look for opal but anything found underground was the property of our guide. Anything found above ground we were entitled to keep. (We didn't find anything for him)


The next photos show how he is digging with a mini excavator.





Next day we went out to fossick around on the discards. We do have some raw opal, but if I want any opal jewellery I will have to buy it.





Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Corner Country

Once at Tibooburra we booked in to the Granite Caravan Park. Tibooburra is nestled amongst granite boulders.








Then we walked along to where, upside down on a pole, is a replica of the boat Sturt toted with him looking for the inland sea, which he never found. The boat was abandoned nearby.

Next day we took a trip to Cameron Corner just to say that we had been at the point where three States meet. We took the 4wd route having been told that it was both more scenic and in better condition than the main road. They were right in that it was very scenic.








I think we averaged a speed of about 60 kph. (No speed cameras out there)


To get to the "corner" marker we had to go through the dingo fence and into SA, then to get to the "Corner Store" we went into Queensland.



The only way I could see to be in three States at once was to climb on the marker and sit on it. Brandt supports my right foot while I dragged myself to the top ..... and there I sat!







There was another drive that we did. It passed a pastoral museum,






a couple of lookouts, one of which entailed a 4km hike




And, yes, the flies were bad. They were thick on Brandt's sleeve, but disbursed once I took my camera out. However some did return to "drink" moisture on his fingers, but believe me they were thicker than this.



Posted using BlogPress from my iPad