1. – 10. April

We decided to have a look at the Aerobatics in Parkes – a flying event held over the Easter Weekend. But unfortunately it was not so good as there was no commentary or big screens. The planes took off (the small planes make more noise than a jumbo jet when starting the engine), did some things in the air and landed again. It was helpful if you’ve played some PC games then you could recognise some manoeuvres but for me it was just a small dot in the air. Just a little note: it was not raining we had beautiful sunshine but a lot of grasshoppers in the air.

Just 100km west of Parkes is a nice free camping area – Gum Bend Lake.  This is a really good camping area with lots of space, hot showers and electricity. But it’s a funny place as well – the lake is hand-made and has to be filled with the river water so it hasn’t been filled for over five years when they had a speed-boat event. You can do the 3km walk around the lake, watch sunsets or the eagles soaring in the sky.

Utes in the Paddock is a crazy place. You’ve to get some km off the highway and you’re finding several Utes in the open in some kind of art display. There are probably 10 cars all painted different. Sometimes it was quite hard to recognize the Ute when it was standing upright more looking like a bottle or showing Dame Edna in the dunny or being a robotic-kangaroo…

There are several free camping areas (all offering showers and electricity) so we had a hard choice where to stay so we made the best and stayed at all doing some kind of circle. Lake Cargelligo is not far away and it’s a natural lake and now filled by 40% so the first guys are out and about doing waterskiing.  Then we headed to Temora to have a look at the aviation museum which has several Spitfire, Tiger Moth, a Canberra on display. All airplanes are still used and in the air especially at flight weekends. You definite could smell and see the oil leaking of the bearings. One area was dedicated to the Emergency Exit Seat – it had one on display and was showing how the seat was developed and evolved over the years (it’s already in its 15th or so generation).

 Let see when we talk again.

Cheers, Tom and Anja

24. – 31. March

Arriving in Dubbo we organised the appointment with the chiropractor which was a big surprise for a friend as she is working in Dubbo since January. We didn’t go to the Western Plains Zoo or the Old Goal as we’ve visited these attraction on earlier visits. We had a look at Traintasia instead. This is a little workshop dedicated to miniature  railway – you can buy the building material or just watch their scene. Of course we had. They built five different scenes a little mountain village with a small railway connection; a bigger town with dancers and waiters; a Luna Park with screaming kids; a city with churches and even a house fire plus a snowfield with working skilift.

We camped in the Goobang National Park which is between Dubbo and Parkes. This National Park has two campgrounds which are connected by a 4WD track. The track starts as a slippery sandy road and then it becomes gravel and stones up to rocks. It goes up and down the hills. There were even several tracks closed so we couldn’t go the most direct way between the camp grounds. The campgrounds are quite different – one is much larger and has a picnic shelter but you’ve to carry your tent inside. In this National Park over 200 different kind of animals (some like a little mouse only in this area) should live but we saw only some kangaroos, emus and of course the birds, ants and mosquitoes.

 

 

Finally we arrived in Forbes to have a look at the fireman’s state championship. They tested themselves in partic11 different simulations but we just watched 2. One was ‘how quickly can they extinct a fire using the suction pump if no town water is available’. The fastest team needed 25 seconds. To get to this fire they had to connect two hoses and run around 50m. Several towns offer such training places which are connected to the town water and have drains to recycle the water. There should be 40 within NSW. This time they had teams from Tweed Heads, Bourke, Bega… participate. As I’ve taken some pictures I was even allowed to step up the referee tower and got some background information.

We had a look at the McFeeters car museum in Forbes – a private museum showing over 60 cars from 1910 onwards. Firstly we were guided through the exhibition to get the background information and then we had a closer look to take pictures. They had several Rolls Royce on display some with the black and some with the red  RR sign as well some with the Emily in different positions. The colour of the RR sign was changed after the founder Rolls and Royce were dead. Then they had a Japanese funeral car – I don’t know how this car could get exported but it arrived well at the exhibition. If you  look from the outside at the car you think it belongs to a festival and if you just have a look at the inside you think you’re standing in a church. A Barbie car and bicycle were shown – this car had the doors bolted together so you have to jump into the car and it was painted in pink and yellow. Most cars are in roadworthy conditions except the rubber car. One car was completely made off plastic and is a left-hand drive vehicle. This car is a prototype from KIA and the only one not destroyed. The car was‘produced’ for the American market but were never launched.

Cheers, Tom and Anja

19. – 23. March

Finally it was time to say good bye to Sydney again (and not only for a week…). We decided to go to country NSW so we drove through the Blue Mountains and stayed at a camp area between Bathurst and Orange. It was a huge area in a State Forest and it was for free.

In Orange we drove to the Borenore Cave which is actually just an arch but you can walk through on your own and could feel like a little explorer. You had to crawl over several stones, underneath the sometimes low ceiling… It was fun. As this arch is mostly open you can’t see many formations but it was still dropping water from the ceiling so there might be more stalactites coming…

The next stop was Lake Canobolas and Mountain  Canobolas where we camped for the night. The mountain should be the highest peak between Sydney and Perth and we had luck enjoying the view. We could see some fires burning but they were just back burning so no big  fire could start next fire season. We camped halfway up the mountain and got the fire to prepare our dinner. Next day we walked the little loop walk (3km) through the forest to the waterfall. But we just had a look at the top of the fall – not much water in that area. After the walk we went back to the lake to have a quick swim and read in the sunshine.

Our next task was gold panning – actually we didn’t pan but we could have. We drove just 20km east of Orange to the area called Ophir. The first gold in NSW was found in this area and there are still some gold mines in operation. You could even pan in the river and find little pieces. We drove along some 4WD tracks along the old gold mines and the cemetery as well as walking. The walk was done with our torches so we could explore the mine tunnels – yes you can crawl or walk (depending on the height) into some. The best part is some tunnels are connected so start at one point and end up at another depending which turn you took. In the evening we sat around the big campfire with the caretaker and his friends.

Cheers and until next time, Tom and Anja

12. to 18. March

We are on the way to Canberra and have a look at the festival. We got up early and hoped that the hot air balloons will raise and they did (just the second time during the last 7 days). There were some balloons from the Royal Air Force, the EU. We wanted to have a look at the special exhibition in the National Gallery but the queue was much too long even 30 minutes before the doors would open. Later we discovered that the exhibition was sold out for the Saturday and we’ve to return another day.

Instead of the gallery we walked through the Sculpture Garden which is adjacent to the Gallery Building. The Garden features several sculptures created by different artists. Some sculptures have even a story to them – like the heads flowing in the pond or the wooden boat just offshore. Several times you had to watch closely to see the sculpture – they were well hidden.

So we had enough time to explore the Glassworks. At weekends they offer workshops to the public – you can build your own glasswork. We watched how paperweights were created as well as different kind of vases. It amazing how quickly the tiny bits of glass are formed into a vase. I guess I wouldn’t have the creativity to do any of it. In the afternoon we enjoyed the sunshine over Lake Burley and Griffin as well at Mt. Ainslie. The National Sound and Film Archive was on our list as well as the CSIRO Discovery Centre. In the discovery centre you could see how well you memory is still working, what bio-diversity means, how to get energy using water… The National Sound and Film Archive stores films, radio scripts, ads… from the early days onwards. We watched the presentation of their work and they showed us an ad from 1950 starring a blonde girl with lots of boops (nothing has changed really), then we saw a little bit of Skippy – the bush-kangaroo. They even demonstrated how films were created in the early days. After the presentation we walked through the exhibition and could see some things of the presentation much closer.

The special exhibition in the National Gallery was our destination for Monday but we still had to wait two hours before we could enter. It showed several pictures from impressionist like van Gogh, Sauret, Bernard and some unknown artist. These pictures were on loan from the Musee d’Orsay in France.

 

 CU later, Tom and Anja

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. to 11. March

We decided to drive to the Snowy Mountains and hopefully could try some 4WD tracks. Our first night was spent in the southern part which was already a gravel road up and down the mountains. Some years ago there was a big bushfire and you could still see where it went through. It should have been so huge that it created its own thunderstorms which started further fires. But as the forests are used and need some bushfires it started to recover. We camped close to the road and a creek with possums as closed neighbours.

The next day we drove the Alpine Way through the middle of Kosciuszko National Park. We didn’t stop on our way as it was rainy and you couldn’t see for more than 100m. There are several camp areas along the way but you would have to pay the day fee for the National Park so we decided to go further north where you could camp for free and no day fee. This night was our first night we slept in the car due to the rain and no possibility to pitch the tent.

  Hopefully more luck with the weather on the next morning – but it was still rainy, foggy or the clouds were sitting so low that we’re in the middle of it. We decided to go to the Yarrangobilly Caves and enjoy their thermal pool (it should be 26degrees warm). We headed straight to the pool and jumped in but I’m not sure if it was 26degrees or colder. Anyway it was good – you could even do some laps or get a little massage in the second pool.

Then we went through the self-guided cave which is around 500m long and quite chilly. You could see several formations (stalagmites, stalactites or flowstone). The cave is still active- several drops were coming onto our heads. It is around 50m high and the experts are certain that this area will collapse one day. The best surprise was actually when we left the cave – the sun was out and it was warm. So we drove to the next camp area and pitched our tent before it started to rain again.

Of course it rained during the night and we had to dry our tent the next morning. Luckily the picnic shelters at the caves are roofed and offered electricity. I had a look at another cave which shows more formations and narrower. The earliest tours took place at around 1910 and they even build some formations into the cave. Unfortunately we had to return the same way we entered – the alternative exit was closed. Finally we pitched our tent under a bridge as it started to rain again…

Cheers, Tom and Anja

 

5. to 28. February

We drove into the Blue Mountains – to see the waterfalls with more water… but we couldn’t see the Wentworth Falls as the walk was closed due to the recent rain falls. Anyway we had a great day including the crumble cake, the winding road from Blaxland and the Three Sisters.

Penrith was worth a visit as they even have a further sport attraction. We knew about the White Water Rafting, Slalom Kayak and Rowing and now you could go for Waterskiing without a boat and the river. They opened the Cable-Wakeboarding-Park again. We watched some events before I had a go on a kneeboard. Unfortunately I was not really good at it – I had my falls before finishing one complete round but it was fun and I would do it again although my arms were sour for around two weeks, most likely from holding onto the line and carrying the board back to the starting line. 

Finally, I really have to say finally as we never managed to do it while living in Sydney, we went up to Wiseman’s Ferry. We relaxed at the riverbank and watched a waterski race. We actually saw them already from the lookout. After the race we took the ferry over the river (it’s nice to use a ferry and don’t have to pay anything for it) and drove on. We did a big circle in the region and returned via an unsealed road to Wiseman’s Ferry and returned.

Then we went on one of the known 4WD tracks in the Blue Mountains – towards the Glow-Worm-Tunnel. The way is through the old railway track (some 2WD cars are going there as well but I wouldn’t dare). During the way you have to cross one tunnel of around 100m completely within the rock so it’s just dark and you don’t have much space to right and left. Finally at the car park we took the torch and walked the last meters. The Glow-Worm-Tunnel is also an old section of the railway just a bit longer and wetter than the one you crossed by car. We walked inside and switched the torch off to have a chance seeing the glow-worms and there they were. Thousands little dots at the walls, the ground and the ceiling.

CU soon, Tom and Anja