Goulburn to home

As we departed Goulburn, we passed the giant Ram marking the gateway to the city.

Our drive to Gundagai was uneventful but at least the day was fine and warmer than the day before. We stayed at a very nice caravan park and actually sat out in the sun as it was quite warm. We toured the town and visited the “Dog on the tuckerbox” statue referred to in the song “The road to Gundagai” written by Jack O’Hagen.

We only stayed one night and were off the following day to Albury/Wodonga where we camped on the shores of Lake Hume. Magnificent camping spot with loads of wildlife.

We first visited Albury which is in New South Wales and then travelled the few kilometres down the road to Wodonga which is in Victoria.

Our next stop was Benalla where we travelled to Wangaratta to see where a distant relative lived many years ago and found his gravesite, which just happened to be close to Brown Brothers winery so in need of some refreshment we called in. Leaving with the car slightly heavier, we travelled through Glenrowan, where  Ned Kelly had his final shootout with police.

The next day we visited some distant relatives of mine in Benalla before heading off to Kiabram to see some friends I hadn’t seen for over 25 years, John and Janice Hosking. John was a Venturer Leader in Werribee, Victora who I met in 1977. He joined the ministry and was a Uniting Church minister in Tasmania for some years before being transferred to Kiabram. We parked the caravan on their front lawn and spent a very pleasant evening with them.

It was then off to Melbourne where we spent the last two nights with friends before boarding the ferry. Photo of Port Melbourne taken whilst waiting to board the ferry.

The following morning we were first off the boat at 6.30am and after stopping for breakfast at Campbelltown, we were home by 10.30am. The next few days have been spent emptying and cleaning the caravan and catching up with a few urgent jobs. A magnificent journey and great experience but glad to be home.

Armidale to Goulburn

Sorry about the long delay since the last blog.

Well, we arrived at Tamworth, set up in a caravan park and did some shopping. The following day the weather wasn’t too good so we went to see “Mrs Brown’s Boys – The Movie” and afterwards visited a few local attractions including the Golden Guitar. (Tamworth is the country music capital of Australia).

It was then off to Muswellbrook where we stayed at the Showgrounds. There are many old character homes here so we toured the town gathering its history. The next day it was off to Newcastle to stay with Phil, Kristie and newborn Madison for a few days. Luckily Sophie was staying that weekend so we got to catch up with her also.

I got to meet my new granddaughter Madison when we arrived in Newcastle.  She was only 4 weeks old, and I managed to get in quite a few cuddles which was lovely.

We were also lucky enough to spend some quality time with Sophie. Brian and I took her out shopping so she could buy her dad a birthday present, plus we also took her to Morpeth which is a lovely little place just outside Newcastle with lovely old buildings.  It was lovely to be there for Phil’s birthday too (first time in 11 years)! On the Sunday we all went to Annies Beach for lunch.  The beach looks like a desert, especially with the camels giving rides along the beach. Apparently this beach was used in a Star Wars movie.

Whist in the Newcastle area we gain visited the Hunter Valley and, you guessed it, we bought more wine - there’s no helping some people. We also visited Nelson Bay and took in a Whale Watching trip from Port Stephens. The weather was starting to break up and the sea was rough but we did actually see some whales although nothing close up.

It was then down to Sydney where we stayed at the Baden Powell Scout Centre at Pennant Hills. We caught the end of the very wet weather that caused severe flooding in the Sydney area so the first few days were a bit dismal.  We were lucky enough to be able to catch up with one of Adele’s friends in Sydney – we caught the train in to Kings Cross on the Friday afternoon/evening and had a great dinner with her, then we bought a gelato ice cream where there was quite a long queue.  I had rhubarb & peach !  Anyway, we did get up into the Blue Mountains where we saw some spectacular waterfalls

and another trip up the Hawkesbury visiting Richmond along the way. Ferry across Hawkesbury River.

We stopped for lunch by the river and were entertained by a series of powerful power boats screaming up the river towing water skiers. The boats were so loud, they sounded like aircraft engines and I have never seen water skiers travelling so fast. Our last full day was glorious so we caught the train into central Sydney and wandered around Darling Harbour

where we had lunch before boarding a ferry out to Olympic Park and back again. We purchased a pensioner day travel ticket which cost $2.50 (about 1 pound 20p) and covered our rail fare, both ways, plus out trip on the ferry. Great value.

We then packed up and headed for Goulburn. Along the way we stopped for lunch. One of the great things about a caravan is that you can stop, make lunch and boil the kettle for a cuppa.

It was 23 deg when we left Sydney, arriving in Goulburn to 17 degrees. It was very the first night and yesterday it didn’t get above 10 deg. We travelled 35km to visit a National Park only to find it was closed. Why would you close a National Park? Anyway, we learned from the information centre that there was a specialised driver training complex at Marulan about 20km out so we headed there. Guess what? It is closed on Tuesdays. After looking around the centre of Goulburn and visiting the cathedral and another old church, it was cold and wet so we headed back to the caravan to view some DVD’s and read. After an even colder night last night, we are off today “along the road to Gundagai”. At least the sky is blue and the sun is shining but still very cold.