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Published: November 27th 2008
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from the road...
Mt Kaputar National Park - the only thing on the horizon for hundreds of kms after Moree This is a land of contrasts in more ways than one - we’ve gone from crispy dry 37 degrees to windy damp 7 degrees in the space of three weeks. Deviating from the Newell Highway on our way down to Melbourne, we are now in Canberra, ACT (Australian Capital Territory - a state within a state). I wanted to see the famed city designed by Walter Burley Griffin and we were virtually next door - only three hours drive away.
We had already detoured to visit the wine region of Mudgee, where Rhys blew the budget and we spent twice as much on wine as on food, then Bathurst where he wanted to scare the pants off me driving around the race track. This he achieved very successfully even though there is a speed limit of 60K on the track - which is a normal road up Mt Panorama when it’s not being used for car racing. How they manage to race cars up and down the mountain at speeds of up to 300k is beyond me - we hit the brakes going down the dipper at 45K.
I also sulked lightly to get Rhys to drive 100km to Katoomba
Guess what...
We sort of exceeded the wine budget in Mudgee, but all the vineyards were so beautiful! in the Blue Mountains - I’ve only ever seen them hazily in the distance and they have a romantic allure. Hopefully a couple of photos can do the majesty of this part of the Great Dividing Range some justice. A tip - if you go to see the famous Three Sisters rock formation, do so as early in the morning as you can - nothing to do with sunrise or the light...you need to get there before the hoards of coach tours or you risk not being able to see them at all through the throng of international tourists taking photos of each other with the Blue Mts in the background.
We needed to start heading west again and had been told of a lovely van park at Cowra, 2hrs SW of Bathurst. It backed onto the Lachlan river, was right in town and had grass - something of a commodity in Oz caravan parks. Canberra was not set on the itinerary, but as the city lies between the Blue and Snowy Mountain ranges, easily accessible from Cowra, it didn’t take too much whining on my part.
But the eastern regions have been hit with storms and rain for the
last week. On our first day in Cowra we drove out to the local dam to check out a camping ground there. It was pretty barren with only 10% of the water capacity and looked nothing like the water playground in the tourist brochures. Australia is still officially in drought and the dam had not been full since 2001. However the next day it started to bucket down. We kept ourselves busy in the cosy confines of the van, reading and doing up our budgets (scary!). Fortunately no more leaks in the van! Watching the news that night we counted ourselves lucky as several places we had stayed at in Queensland had suffered bad storms and flooding. Brisbane was hit particularly hard, reinforcing our theory of being south of Brisbane after October when the summer storms begin.
There was no tropical thunder and lightning storms with hail the size of golf balls in Canberra, but a cold front coming straight up from the south and snow was forecast for the Snowy Mountains, a few kilometres away. It was back to jeans and fleecies but with National Galleries and Museums on every corner it was good to be inside. Aussies often
Bathurst - oh yearh!
Rhys takes a spin on the great track - reaching top speeds of 60km!!! take refuge in shopping malls because of the air conditioning to keep cool, but these wonderful buildings were thankfully warm when it felt like it was going to snow any minute!
We saw snow on the Brindabella hills around Canberra the next day and it does snow in the city in winter - but this is November!
No matter - I was a very happy little bunny with the fabulous National Art Gallery full of impressionists, modernists, surrealists and every ist any art lover could want. Fortunately the gallery cafe had good coffee for Rhys. When the weather cleared on our third day we visited the outdoor sculpture gallery with its wonderful Henry Moore, Rodins and Australian sculptures.
THEN there was the Canberra Gallery and Museum, the National Museum of Australia (in the style of Te Papa but not quite so confusing) and the National Capital Exhibition, which sounded a little dry to me, but not finding much about the Walter Burley Griffin thing at other institutions we poked our noses in during the 7km walk around Lake Burley Griffin - the centre piece of the city’s design. The National Capital Exhibition is relatively small but excellent - make it
Bathurst
Has many old buildings still in use from gold rush times and very English public gardens your first stop when you visit Canberra.
An international competition was launched to choose the design for Australia’s first federal capital in 1912 and architect Walter Burley Griffin from Chicago, who had studied under Frank Lloyd Wright, won with his symmetrical but topographically sympathetic design. The lake is a dammed river and forms a ‘water axis’, with vistas to Capital Hill where the new Parliament House sits grandly surveying its domain, creating a land axis.
Canberra is a city on a very human scale - no real high rises, brilliant traffic layout, parks everywhere with cycle paths, designated precincts for government (or ‘the pollies’ as Aussies call them) education, business and shopping...speaking of which the Canberra Centre is the most amazing shopping mall - we wandered around for ages looking at all the glittering shops in their Christmas outfits.
So yes - I loved Canberra. But Rhys wanted to press on in search of better weather and the perfect camping ground with grass, free BBQs, shade, friendly people AND good showers.
Now we are in Gundagai, a big village/small town on the Hume Highway famous for being referenced in many a bush poem and ballad about the lives of pioneers,
In the Blue Mountains
Finding a gap in between all the tourists swagmen and drovers. Most famously there is the poem about the unlucky bullocky whose wagon got bogged in mud. The final verse lists all his problems and ends “Then the dog sat on the Tucker Box, Five miles from Gandagai.” Which we didn’t see as such a fatal tragedy, but we thought we’d better make the pilgrimage 8km (five miles) north to the statue of The Dog On The Tucker Box.
It’s all a huge tourist hype - take away bars, souvenir shops etc but there is the remains of an old stone inn...and...interpretive signs, one of which listed the famous verses and indicated the actual wording of the last line...”Then the dog shat on the Tucker Box” which of course is a completely different kettle of billy tea and explains the huge success of the original bush ballad. Crikey these Aussies - they sure do love a good laugh.
Tomorrow we go due south - on a tourist route alongside the Snowy Mountains suggested by Ron the ‘friendly’ camp owner. Wish us luck! This is of course if Rhys has survived his game of golf - he left 2 hours ago under brilliant blue skies and it is now
The Three Sisters
But the views are amazing raining, thundering and lightening. Love this continental climate.
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