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Published: October 28th 2011
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Monday 24th dawned after a pretty comfortable night. The Colour City Caravan Park had proved to be a little “gem” and, in terms of value for money, is one of the best parks we’ve stayed on. We didn’t have a lot to do to get ready to move on but, because of my very late night, what with the rugby and the Skype chat, I chose to have a morning shower. This made our departure time a little later than it might have been but it didn’t matter too much as we had a choice of two places to stay tonight depending on what sort of progress we made. We battled through the rush-hour traffic – a pretty unusual phenomenon for us – but it gave us another chance to appreciate the city centre. Wherever we are, and with a realistic and practical assessment, we always imagine what it might be like to live in the places we have visited. For so long, Warwick, where David lives, has been a favourite and Armidale, a NSW city, has come close. Now, Orange, too, must rank very highly - it’s a pleasant city with a prosperous feel to it and the surrounding countryside
Time for a quick cuppa before we went round the garden
through one of the sculptures outside in the parklands is just to our liking. We think we could easily live there. In truth it reminded us of home which probably should tell us something! Our route out of Orange towards Cowra was not the intentional one, ie the main road. With the help of sat-nav we happened upon a very rural route passing through the small towns of Cargo and Canowindra. The countryside was magnificent – very undulating with wonderful far-reaching views reminiscent of our home county of Gloucestershire. It put poor PIE under a bit of strain and on some of the hills we had to go down through the gears. Ironically, on arrival at Cowra we had covered considerably less kilometres than if we had gone on the main road.
We remember Cowra fondly even though our only previous visit many, many years ago was wet from start to finish. It has the most special of Japanese Gardens commemorating the death of over 200 Japanese prisoners of war in August 1944. The deaths occurred when about 1000 Japanese soldiers felt that dying in battle was more honourable than being kept in a prison camp so they staged a mass break-out. The way the Australians handled the
subsequent tragic events of the time was well respected by the Japanese and it forged an unusual friendship which has lasted ever since. In the 1970s a famous Japanese garden designer was invited to design and construct a garden of remembrance and the garden we were to visit again today is the result. We thoroughly enjoyed our first visit, even though we were plodding around in the rain, but today’s weather was excellent – clear, sunny and warm. The gardens seemed even more wonderful today and, perhaps because it was a Monday, there were just a handful of people walking round. We decided to have lunch in the splendid restaurant they have there – fortunately chop-sticks were optional. The restaurant was very busy – it must be a popular place for the people of Cowra to eat even if they don’t tour the gardens.
We might have stayed overnight at Cowra – it was one of our two choices. But after a brief visit to the Cowra Information Centre, where I watched a video about the war-time incidents, we travelled on towards our other choice, Yass, where we thought to stay for a few days if the caravan park
was reasonable and if they had space. The journey was much like the morning one – undulating, not much traffic and some very pleasant views. On arrival at the Yass Caravan Park, it looked pretty good. It was un-attended but with a notice advising us to find a site and to pay later. It gave us a chance to have a thorough look around and we decided we would be happy to stay for at least three nights. Yass is well placed for visiting Canberra and we hope to spend a couple of days touring Australia’s Capital City. We may have to plan our visits carefully as a certain lady (HRH) is also visiting Canberra for a couple of days. Our only previous visit was a brief one so we thought we would try to see a bit more of the place. Also, some more friends of Sarah and Darryl, who “blogged” under the name of Kangaroojack, have settled there and, following the successful time with Jane and Tony, we thought we would see if we could track them down. However, we know they often work away from home and also they are regular travellers and have a brand-new camping
This 'Chrysanthemum Stone' is thought to be at least 70 million years old
it was a gift to the centre. Natural crystals in the near perfect forms of chrysanthemum flowers are embedded in the stone “ute” to put through its paces. So the chances of success may be slim but we’d like to give it a try. Meanwhile, here at Yass, we had to take shelter from a sudden heavy storm. It dried up later and we were able to walk into the town while it was still light but only for a quick look at the river-side parks which were very attractive. Later in the evening I attempted to make contact with Kangaroojack and was delighted when I got a text message from Caroline inviting us to meet up with them on Wednesday evening. The finer details still have to be established but we look forward to meeting them and discussing their many travels around Aus.
As night fell the temperature dropped markedly – so much so that I fished out a long sleeved top and some pyjama trousers. We were so pleased to have our lovely quilt to keep us warm so were soon snuggled beneath it as warm as toast.
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