Our Travels

It’s time to leave our great capital and head into the snow country. I had selected a campsite just on the edge of Kosciuszko National park. There was not a lot of detail on this site and many of the sites in Kosciuszko National park are closed for the winter, this one was supposed to be open. First stop was Cooma and it was not hard to guess what this town was about, there were ski hire stores everywhere and every second store had a snowman on the veranda awning. It was lunch time and after looking at a couple of take-away places we decided that the $16 roast at one of the pubs was the ideal lunch on a cold winter’s day.

From Cooma we headed to Adaminaby, a small town on Lake Eucumbene. The town was relocated to its current position in 1957 when the lake filled. We filled up and headed to the National park, the campsite was supposed to be just outside of this town. After about 10 kms into the park there was no sign of the campsite I was looking for. We stopped at a couple that were marked but they were all closed. As we got higher into the national park we could see snow on the mountain peaks and there was also quite a bit on the side of the road and in the open spaces near the road. We stopped at one of the emergency mountain hut for a brief look.

Kosciuszko National park Mountain Hut

It was becoming obvious that we would not find a spot in the national park so we continued on towards Tumut. Jacky was becoming a little distressed over the number of wombats lying on the side of the road with their short legs in the air, a total of 12 through the national park. Just before Tumut there is the Blowering reservoir and there are a number of campsites along the reservoir. We pulled into Yolde camping ground and it was a nice, fairly seclude bush site just back from the water. The main drawback was that we were now nearly 100 kms from the nearest snowfield.

Our first stop today was the Cotter Dam and recreational area just up the road from where we were camped. Then we headed back into Canberra. Jacky wanted to see the Cockington Green gardens with all the miniature English houses and villages. The houses are built to 1/12^th scale and the attention to detail is amazing.

Cockington Green Gardens

They have recently extended it to include a large international section that had a significant building from about 20 different countries.

Petra, Jordan as featured in the Indiana Jones movie

Phillipines

Jacky was in awe over the doll house display in the shop. It featured an Edwardian manor house on four levels, it was pretty impressive.

Edwardian Doll House

After lunch we headed over to the Australian War Museum.

Australian War Memorial

Wall of Remembrance

We explored the aviation section and watched a multimedia presentation of a simulated bombing run over Germany in a Lancaster bomber. It was getting pretty late and we had seen less than a quarter of the museum but we wanted to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier before we left.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

It was certainly not what I was expecting. The ceramic displays on the walls, the dome ceiling and the stained glass windows were all extraordinary.

As we were leaving they were setting up for a memorial service. Apparently everyday they have a service and read the story of a particular soldier who died, and then they lay wreaths at the Pool of Remembrance and play the last post. Family members are invited to lay a wreath as well as selected school kids. It was quite moving.

Today we headed into our nation’s capital to pay our respects to the seat of democracy in this great country of ours, Parliament House. In the climate of free speech that exists in this great nation, the Assyrian Christian community had a huge gathering on the lawn outside Parliament House to protest over the treatment and murder of their compatriots in Iraq by the Islamic Statehood fundamentalists. I’m not sure what they hoped the Australian government could do about it but it did mean we had to park quite a distance from Parliament House and walk.

Our first stop was the Old Parliament House building. As we entered we were able to tag along with a tour group.

House of Representatives, Old Parliament House

What was a bit of a surprise was the size of the Prime Minister’s offices. The actual Prime Minister’s office was a reasonable size but all the offices off the corridor were like cubby holes and apparently there were up to 30 support staff working there. Bob Hawke was the last Prime Minister to occupy the office. The guide pointed out the lack of thought that went into security when this building was designed.

Prime Minister’s Office, as Bob Hawke left it.

The Prime Minister’s office has large glass windows visible from the street giving anyone to opportunity to take a potshot.

Jacky in the Big Seat, with all her classroom experience she would make a good Speaker

From here we walked up the hill to the new Parliament House. Security has improved and they take it seriously, just to get in, all items out of your pockets and a full x-ray and metal detector. They wouldn’t let me take my pocket knife in. We explored what we could, went up to the roof and took a few photos.

Parliament House

Parliament was in session but the House of Reps wasn’t open to the Public until 2pm for question time so we decided to go and sit in the Senate for a while. All phones, cameras, bags, etc have to be checked in to the cloak room. It was good to see how well our taxes are being spent on our Senators’ salaries. There was one senator from the Greens giving a speech on Op Shop week to a total of 4 other senators who all looked like they were working on something else completely different.

After that exhilarating experience we worked out that we had time to go to the café for lunch and still be back in time for question time, the real highlight. After lunch we again checked all our gear in and went to see the real action. It was good to see nearly a full attendance. It was classic school classroom antics with the speaker warning some of the interjectors and when that was ignored standing to her feet and waiting until she everyone attention before allowing the debate to continue. Of the 10-12 questions that were asked about 3 were seeking real information, the rest were each party setting up their own ministers to praise their own policy or berate the other party. Once question time ended the Prime Minister and over half of the members left the chamber leaving a few of the smaller fish to debate the legislation that was in the process of going through Parliament. Once again giving you a real, warm fussy feeling of our well our taxes are being spent.

After all this excitement it was time to go back to camp to unwind.

We said our goodbyes again to Delcie and Alan, thanked them for their hospitality and headed off to Canberra. It rained for most of the trip. We stopped at Goulburn for a few supplies and a late lunch then drove around Canberra to a campground called Cotters, it is part of the Cotter Dam recreational area. The sites were crushed blue metal and didn’t look inviting. On the first site the blue metal was finer that the other sites so I gave it the “peg test”, that is, could I bang a tent peg in to it? It turned it wasn’t too bad and it was just over the road from the amenities where they had flushing toilets and hot showers. The rain had stopped so everything was looking good.

Another extra day in Sydney: Today I wanted to show Jacky the famous Bondi Beach. The weather was pretty good, just a few clouds and no rain. Adele was heading for Victoria so we agreed to take her to the airport. After a few mistakes with the GPS we managed to get her there and hour before her flight, fortunately we gave ourselves plenty of time to get there. From the airport we headed out to Bondi. The sun was out, the beach looked good, there plenty of surfers in the water a few brave swimmers. Even though it was a little warmer than it had been it was still a long way from swimming weather. I strolled up and down the beach and took a few photos while Jacky had a cuppa and read her book. After that we walked down to the end of the boardwalk and then back u the main street for lunch at HJs.

Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach

After lunch we headed back to Penrith, the repairs on the Landcruiser were almost finished and we wanted to find a laundry to catch up with our washing. I dropped Jacky at the laundry and went around to the workshop to see how the Landcruiser was going. It turned out that the front brakes were nearly on metal as well. This may have all been avoided if I had of persisted in trying to locate a workshop last week. When I first arrived in the Blue Mountains I called about 4 mechanical workshops but couldn’t get a service done until Wed of this week so I gave up. Perhaps I should have called 13 11 11 then for advice. It took about an hour before I had the trailer hitched, the hire car returned and all the paperwork completed and when I got back to the laundry Jacky was taking the last items out of the dryer. She had an enjoyable time there chatting with the manager on duty, the manager was even helping her fold all the clothes as they came out of the dryer. Apparently you can leave your washing there and picked it up clean and folded later for not much more than the cost of using the machines.

We headed back to the Blue Mountains as the rain started to come down again.

Extra day in Sydney: We decided to head to Hillsong Church to see what the fuss was about. We arrived for the 11:15 service, the 9:00 service was a little early for us, and the place is huge. The auditorium seats 3300 and it was close to full. One of the volunteers picked us out as visitors, must have been the beard and the hillbilly clothes, and invited us to have a coffee afterwards. He was originally from Balcatta but had been living in Sydney for the past 20 years, so we reminisced about what Perth was like in the 60s & 70s.

From Hillsong we headed into Paddy’s Markets in Sydney. We found a nice Japanese spot and had Chicken Teriyaki for lunch. After lunch we explored the markets for a couple of hours and found a couple of gifts for the family back home. There are several hundred stalls there yet there were at least 20 phone accessories (covers) stalls and the same number of T-shirt and souvenir stalls. It was a wonder how they all made money.

Paddy’s Markets, Sydney

After the markets we headed down to the Harbour Bridge and the Rocks. We were a little late so most of the shops were closed but the bars and cafes were doing pretty good.

Sydney Opera House

As it got dark I took a few shots of the Harbour bridge and the Opera House then we found a Chinese restaurant on the harbour side that was offering a special that was affordable. Jacky was a little ticked off with the service, we ordered an entrée and before she had finished the guy was standing there with the main meal in his hand. We had satay chicken but it was pretty bland.

After tea we found a spot for an ice cream and then it was the 90 km drive back to the Blue Mountains.

It’s time to leave the Blue Mountains and head to our Nation’s capital, Canberra. We took a while to pack up in the rain and say our goodbyes but finally we were on the road again, back to sleeping under canvas. About 10 kms south of Penrith there was a bit of vibration in the back wheel, I stopped, got out and check the wheels but couldn’t see anything wrong. I then noticed the “cat eyes” were on the edge of the road as well as down the centre so I assumed that was what had made the vibration. I headed off again but the vibration was still there and I definitely was not hitting the “cat eyes”. I stopped again and had a much closer looked and soon found the problem. Two wheel studs had sheared off and the remaining 3 nuts were hanging on by the threads. I thought about jacking up the car and tightening the remaining 3 nuts but I had no idea where I could go to get them replaced on a Saturday afternoon. Fortunately I had upgraded my RAC membership before I left Perth so I decided to take advantage of it and I called the NRMA. I figured they would at least be able to advise me where I could get it repaired. The mechanic showed up in about 30 mins, he tighten the nuts and suggested I follow him back to their workshop. If I was to wait for a tow truck the workshop would be closed. We followed him back the NRMA Penrith workshop which also had an office for Thrifty car rentals. It turned out that the workshop could do the repair but not until Monday and as my RAC membership covered car hire we were able to drive away and head back to the Blue Mountains to wait for the Landcruiser to be repaired.

The rain had eased a little but the clouds were still low in the mountains but we had to get out. First we went to a lookout near Blackheath, to the east there was a bit of a view but to the west it was cloud nearly to ground level.

Hargraves Lookout, Blue Mountains

From there we went to the historic Little Hartley Village, most of the shops were closed except for a small café but after a quick dash through the rain to the loo we decided to move on. We drove through the Hartley Valley toward Lithgow. We stopped at the Zig Zag Railway but the train wasn’t running so we headed up one of the forest roads near there to the Clarence Colliery. Then it was back to Lithgow to find a late lunch.
After lunch we went looking for the Glow worm tunnels but we never found them, we did however get a little look at the old Lithgow coal mine but the main museum was closed.

Mining Cage, Lithgow State Coal Mine

We then continued out through numerous forest tracks nearly as far Wollemi National Park when we decided we should try and head back to the highway. Putting our faith once again in the Hema GPS to lead us out of trouble, we turned back towards the highway. The main problem is that most of the forest tracks are not marked in the GPS and after a few wrong turns we ended up heading down this narrow track that required low range to negotiate the rutted hill on the way out of the valley. The one advantage of the GPS is that it shows you the direction you are heading and even if the tracks aren’t marked, by choosing tracks heading in the general direction you wish to go, in most cases you will eventually get back on to the main road. We eventually came out on the logging road we had been on earlier in the day and then it was an easy run back on to the highway. The 100 series certainly looked like it had been through some mud.
The plan was to head down the Bells Line of Rd to Richmond and to have tea at the Hogs Breath except the Hogs Breath I had tea 7 years ago was no longer there. A quick check in Google and we found that the nearest store was in Penrith. We enjoyed a nice steak before heading home to the Blue Mountains.

The rain continues!! Today was supposed to be our day to explore Sydney on the trains. It required catching the 7:00 am train but when we woke and could still hear the rain on the roof we decided to stay a little longer in bed and have a day of rest. During the rain breaks we defrosted the fridge and did a few maintenance items but most of the day was spent reading. With Delcie working today we decided to splurge and buy Chinese for tea.

The weather cleared a little today so Jacky and I continued our exploration of the Blue Mountains. The first stop was Wentworth Falls.

Wentworth Falls

We walked to several lookouts that gradually took us closer to the falls. With the recent rain there was a fair amount of water going over the falls. From the lookout I walked down to the top of the falls and then over to the other side via a series of concrete blocks set into the rock. The ledge that had been cut into the rock on the other side was quite impressive. There was a photograph there of people walking along the ledge in 1912.

National Walk, Wentworth Falls

The walk track was built in 1908 and goes from the top of Wentworth Falls down into the valley and around to the Three Sisters. It includes the Grand Stairway which is the largest outdoor rock carved staircase. It was all built with picks and shovels and a little bit of dynamite.

From here we went back to Leura Cascades, had lunch and I took some more photos of the cascades.

Leura Cascades

After lunch we headed up to Katoomba again as I wanted to walk down to the Three Sisters and with the sun out there was better opportunity for some good photos. The walk goes down to the first of the Three Sisters and to where the Grand Stairway descends to the valley floor.

Three Sisters, Katoomba

There was a small bridge that takes you over to a small ledge on the rock face of the first of the Three Sisters. I had a look at the Grand Stairway but had no inclination to go down it. The stairs down to the Three Sisters were more than enough.

We called in at Scenic World and had a brief look at the Scenic Railway and the cable car but the cost was a little prohibitive and we were running out of time. I had to be in Penrith before 5 pm to pick up the replacement snorkel top. The rest of the afternoon was spent driving down to Penrith and enjoying the rush hour traffic back up the Mountains.