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Published: October 11th 2006
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Blog 2
Unreliable shorts and dodgy hats
What a busy time we have had this passed week, after finding our way out of the mountains we headed north towards Bathurst, stopping on route at Young , this town used to be called lambing flat , in 1860 gold was discovered and by 1861 22,000 people , among them 2,000 Chinese , were digging away, the white miners resented the Chinese and drove them out, this in turn led to the white Australia policy. In the museum in Young is the banner the white miners marched under , this is what we had come to see , well that and the jar of canola seeds Bryson had found among the many things on display, the usual stuff flat irons, old mincing machines, the type you clamped on the corner of the table , old singer sewing machines , and there in all its glory was the banner, we then turned our attention to finding the seeds , and yes there they were in a glass jar marked canola seeds.
Next we wandered down the main street our next mission in the footsteps of Bryson was to find the pet shop / sex shop , it was there exactly as he had described it, a man sat discretely at the till halfway down the shop and as we approached the wooden gate it opened and there we were in porno heaven, we explained that we were from England , and did he know his shop was famous , he just nodded , obviously others had made the pilgrimage before us.
And so on to Cowra, We didn’t actually go into the town just the visitors centre , we had to see if the little hologram lady was still there, and she was again we peered up close to the glass to see how this illusion was achieved and again we couldn’t work it out, we were then asked to sit down as others had wandered in and couldn’t see. Cowra was near to a large prisoner of war camp that housed 2,000 Italian prisoners and 2,000 Japanese prisoners, and one night the Japanese staged an outbreak, many were killed, the Italians were content to work on the nearby farms.
After 4 days we had finally arrived at Bathurst we had yet to secure a camp site so we decided to go straight to mount panorama to check it out , we were surprised upon arrival to be sent straight to a camping area , our tickets were never asked for , in fact they are still intact , we never did have to produce them , we watched the last practice on Thursday , settled down for the night.
We awake bright and early the next morning we make our way to the track , set up our chairs ready to watch the qualifying, the atmosphere is great , Now if you could imitate the whispering tones of David Attenborough I will attempt to describe the wildlife that inhabits this area on racing events . Here we have Neanderthal man in all his glory,( I would guess 90 % of the race goers were male ) freed from the guidance of the female of the species, he is dressed in unreliable shorts , the upper plumage is either red ( Holden supporters ) or blue ( ford supporters ) the crowning glory in the shape of beanie hat or baseball cap that matches the colour of the plumage. On their feet they wear thongs. In the known world we have cooler bags here they carry huge coolers on wheels, or barrels mounted on a chassis which is pulled to where they will watch the racing. Down at the track side they set up barbeques , it is not long before the tinnies are produced , and bacon and eggs cooked this is sandwiched between 2 hunks of bread, washed down with beer, this is I might add at 8.0 clock in the morning, at lunch time the barbys are relit and great hunks of steak are thrown on ,these are held by a lump of bread also but just wrapped around one end for the purpose of protecting the hand, the beer has been flowing all morning with great heaps of empties building up around them, it continues until the final qualifying rounds, when any remaining ice is thrown at rival supporters.
They then return to the campsite, and yes they light up the barby, where more meat is cremated and beer consumed, then the younger males jump in their utes and career around the bottom end of the site trying to emulate the stunts they have seen between races, eventually we sleep.
The third morning we rise 7,00am and make our way back to the trackside this is when the top ten qualifiers go for a shoot out to get their grid positions, it is really exciting, the second from last car is a Ford and goes into pole position , the Ford supporters are jumping around taunting the Holden fans the ribbing is all taken good heartedly ,the last car comes out it is a Holden it beats the Ford time, the Holden fans go wild, the banter is wonderful. The ice flies in all directions. We are advised by both sets of fans to get our pitch by 6.00am in the morning for the race ( I think they realise we are new to this the give away may be that we only have a carrier bag for our beer , which we try to keep cool with bottles of water and eat sandwiches carefully prepared in the van , in the evenings we are invited to share their large open fires they look after us. Tomorrow we will don our unreliable shorts, perhaps we will blend in a bit more.( the feeding frenzy is repeated ).
On the day of the Race we are up and down to the track by 6.00 am we get the place where we have been for the last three days the others are pleased to see us, these people are from all over Australia , some are from New Zealand. The area called the Chase , it soon fills up, first there was a V8 super cars warm up, then Porsche race, then a tribute to Peter Brock, and then the great race began it goes down to the very last lap. Those of you who follow motor racing will know Ford win the first time for many years, the crowd are on their feet , the flags are waved it is a sea of blue, the Holden fans shake hands with the Ford fans, what a fantastic time we have had ,we share a fire that night with both groups of supporters the banter is good. In the morning the campsite is dismantled and loaded and we all make our way round the track in our various vehicles , and go our separate ways.
Where do we go from here we decide to go to Mudgee, its just north of Bathurst, there is a campsite with a hook-up, a laundry, and a computer link. what more could we ask for.
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Adam Short
non-member comment
What an adventure...
Hi mum/dad, Chloe and I have been reading your blogs and postcards with great interest. It sounds like great fun. Chloe misses you both very much and often asks when you'll be back. We read the book about the duck-billed platipus the other day and thoroughly enjoyed it. Can't wait for the next blog.