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Published: September 2nd 2008
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The road to Sydney is paved with many things….unfortunately none of them gold, but there you go!
So our first stop was in a tiny town called Glenrowan. Now on paper this is not much more than a one horse town between Melbourne and Sydney, but throw into the equation the fact that it was the place where the infamous Ned Kelly was finally arrested on the 28th of June 1880 and it seems you have a licence to print money.
Quite why this man is so famous for being the leader of a gang who robbed people and killed several, including some of the police officers involved in his arrest we haven’t quite worked out. But it seems it is not for us to question why. Now this is a town making the most of a bad situation……..everything, and we mean everything, in town is named after, refers to, or was owned by, touched by or looked at by Ned Kelly himself.
All of the shops on the main street were called things like Ned’s Autos, Kelly Motel, Kelly Gangs Muffin Emporium….you get the picture. But it didn’t stop there, we decided that we’d stop for lunch….I
Don Bradman
Can't beleive they ask this question to decide if you can live in Australia or not! ordered a Ned Kelly Special…..pie and chips by any other name! We can, without a doubt say that we have never seen so many souvenirs made to commemorate one person, magnets, t-shirts, badges, hats, soft toys, tea towels, Blackpool rock (I kid you not!) Princes Di has got nothing on this fella!
Moving on from Glenrowan was a little daunting, how could anywhere else compare? Still onwards and Northwards we head.
We decided to stop overnight when we reached Wagga Wagga, partly because of the cool name (another one to tick off the list) and party because our little book of knowledge for campsites said there was a free site just on the edge of town. And so we arrived, in a kind of park area by the river, nice enough with free BBQ’s and a loo block. There were no other campers around but we did spot a chap sitting in his car eating his Sanga’s and decided it was a nice enough spot. Terry went walking off the half mile to town to buy a paper while I put the kettle on. A little “Yap” at the door alerted me to a visitor in the shape
of a very bedraggled looking boarder collie, I went out and introduced myself and noticed that although she was very friendly and obedient she appeared to be skinny and full of mange and looking quite lost. There was no one around, apart from Mr Sanga man and a few guys pulling in and out of the car park to use the loos. By the time
Tel got back my little friend was still hanging around and looking like she was all set to stay with us. After having a good look round for possible owners we decided that she was most probably lost. Not being able to find a number for a local vet, we decided to take her to the police station. She seemed quite happy to get into Tilly and seemed to enjoy the mile journey to the cop shop. We explained our predicament to the police officer on the front deck who informed us that the police do not deal with lost dogs and maybe we could keep her for the weekend and take her to the pound first thing Monday (this was Saturday) When we told him we were just passing through and would be leaving
in the morning, he very kindly offered to take the dog out the back and shoot her for us. I think he was only joking?!
So off we trotted back to the campsite with the dog in tow intending to see what happened, maybe someone would come looking for her or something. As we arrived back she jumped out of the bus and was greeted by two other dogs, who also appeared to be on their own (despite all three having collars) and run off playing without so much as a “thanks for the ride”….bitch!
Now we had rid of our newly acquired responsibility we sat having a look at our surroundings, Mr Sanga was still sat in his car paying the occasional visit to the little boys room, and there was still the occasional car pulling into the car park for a nice young chap to use the loos…….hang on…..Mr Sanger either has a Prostrate problem and a phobia of using public loo’s alone, or there is something entirely different going on here.
Five minutes later we had packed up and driven round to the nearest caravan park to book in for the night!
Our next
stop was in a town called Cootamundra. This was the first place in Australia that Tel had ever heard of when he was little. A friend of his family moved here from Herford. (although moved back to the UK years ago) So we thought we’d stop in and have a nose. There is not really anything to say other than it is a pleasant enough little town, its only claim to fame being that Don Bradman was born here…….you don’t know who Don Bradman is?? Well you wouldn’t get a visa to live in Australia as his name is the answer to one of the questions in the immigration exam!
We couldn’t pass up the photo opportunity that Goulburn gave us with the “Australia’s largest competition” And so swung by town for Tilly to have a photo with the biggest ever Marino sheep!
Our arrival in Sydney was a little surreal, as the main highway goes straight over Sydney Harbour Bridge, you really do feel like you’ve been dropped into a postcard, also adding to this feeling was the fact that the sun was shining and it was about 22c the warmest we‘ve been in weeks! We stayed
about 20km north of the city centre in a suburb called Narrabeen. The journey into the city was a short bus trip to Manly Beach and then onto the ferry across the harbour, which was a great way of seeing Sydney and much cheaper that the tourist cruises.
Ten minutes up the road was Palm Beach, not that anyone would recognise the name, it is better known as “Summer Bay” aka Home and Away! Well yes, we were sad enough to take a drive up there to have a look. Although neither of us has watched the programme for years (honest!) we did spot some familiar sights! There unfortunately (?) wasn’t any filming going on while we were there but it did mean we could have a good nose around and take some “sad but you got to do it” photos!
So Sydney….what can we say, that hasn‘t been said a million times already?….Went to the Opera House (fantastic outside, like a dingy dungeon inside) Looked at the bridge, went on a boat on the harbour, had dinner in China Town, watched some cockatoo foreplay in the botanic gardens and saw a film at the IMAX. Even though,
as you know, I’m no a city girl, if I had to live in a city it would probably be this one, (although we’d never afford it!) I guess it’s the fact that you can be in the city but at the same time right on the beach, best of both worlds eh?
We’ve now made our way up past the Great Lakes area which was stunning scenery although the weather has been rubbish once again. We are planning to follow the coast north a little further, maybe just into Queensland (which will be our 6th state) and then inland back down through New South Wales and back to Melbourne. We have exactly one month left in Oz (although trying not to think about that too much) and are determined to make the most of it!
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