Blogs from New South Wales, Australia, Oceania - page 7

It was just as well we took our photos of Mount Panorama yesterday afternoon because this morning it was foggy. Not to mention that the temperature fell to -2°C overnight. Brrr, it was cold! After re-packing the truck we headed into town to visit the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum. Housed in the old public school buildings that date to 1874 the museum permanently houses the fossils and minerals collected by Warren Somerville AM. After spending a lifetime amassing the collection he donated it to the museum in 2002 so that it could be preserved for future generations to enjoy. Now I am quite familiar with the Melbourne Museum’s Dynamic Earth Gallery and I have to say that the collection here in Bathurst is as good or better than that. Not bad for a regional museum! ... read more

This morning we travelled ten kilometres east on the Sturt Highway to Forest Hill to start today’s sightseeing at the RAAF Wagga Aviation Heritage Centre that is housed in the old Guard House at the entrance to the RAAF Base Wagga (even though, technically, it is at Forest Hill). Before heading into the guard house to view the smaller exhibits we wandered around the well-preserved aircraft outside. The heritage centre is home to an F-111, a Mirage, a Korean War Meteor and a Vietnam War Canberra. Also located outdoors is a memorial to the Empire Air Training Scheme which saw thousands of aircrew trained to contribute to the WWII war effort. More than 200 training bases were constructed throughout the Empire, with 27 in Australia and nine across the the Riverina and surrounding districts. Mural artist, ... read more

Left hotel just after 5.30am. The hotel had given us packed breakfasts which we ate on the way to the airport. They had to put my big bag and Peter's big bag on the roof rack. Initially they put one of the small bags in between and they only used one rope across so that it was easy to imagine the small bag flying off as we sped along. We told them to bring it down and put it inside. We made it to the airport with all our luggage intact fortunately. Because of earlier experience flying to Varanasi, we knew that we would have to remove all electronics or anything hard from our bags, so we got through security with minimal fuss this time. We had 800INR left and ended up buying some more ... read more

In 1797 George Bass and Matthew Flinders surveyed the bay at Eden for the first time, which is one the deepest natural harbours in the world. The first whaling station, for shore whaling, was established in the area by John Raine in 1828. Initially the prevalent orcas were seen by the whalers as a nuisance, however, the Yuin aboriginals employed on the boat crews refused to kill orcas, and a new policy encouraged collaboration between whalers and the killer whales. The killer whales would trap humpback whales that entered Twofold Bay, the whales would then be harpooned, and the orcas rewarded with the tongue and lips of the humpback carcasses. The whales would then be hauled ashore, their blubber cut up and boiled to extract oil. Whales were a valuable commodity for colonial NSW, with an ... read more

The name Narooma is said to be derived from a word in the local Yuin Aboriginal dialect meaning "clear blue waters", and it certainly lives up to its name. A township was surveyed at the present location of Narooma in 1883 and given the name Noorooma, which it held until 1972. It was declared a port in 1884. We were initially disappointed with the location of our Discovery Caravan Park out of town heading south, however, a short walk through the park to Handkerchief Beach put paid to any disappointment. The beach was clean, the water was clear and blue, there were hardly any people on the beach and at the right hand end of the beach was a tidal creek running from Nangudga Lake. Eurobodalla Shire Council and NPWS have done an excellent job with ... read more