To Milton Keynes and the Grey Mountains

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We left our coastal paradise of Merimbula last Friday (13th). Hard to make progress up the coast to Bateman's Bay as every 4 or 5 miles there was another amazing bay/beach to explore. For the record, Kianga, north of Narooma would get our vote. Resisted temptation to ride the surf - had a drink and a cig instead.

Didn't give Bateman's Bay much of a chance to impress - drove straight through, so we could drive the highway up to Canberra in the light. This was Friday afternoon and the whole of Canberra was rushing over the divide to the sea for the weekend. The government workers had had a busy week, I suppose, and needed a break. Some Victoria fires still burning, northern Queensland towns being flooded even more and prospect of floods around Sydney. As if Sydney hadn't enough to worry about, what with two shark attacks in the same week. Oh, yes, and the government trying to push through the national financial rescue package to stave off economic collapse and mass unemployment. Makes you glad you're retired, don't it?

Canberra didn't impress at first. R thought she was driving around Basingstoke as we hit the national capital. Our motel was fine, but the panoramic view from room of a brick wall didn't help.

Our planned full day in Canberra made the brick wall irrelevant. Quick visit to VIC (Visitor Information Centre) swiftly followed by great breakfast in empty cafe looking down Anzac Parade. Canberra's Champs-Elysees without the traffic and the car show rooms - in fact no buildings, just impressive memorials either side of avenue leading down to central lake, with Parliament and all its bits across the lake. Mountain backdrop. It was going to be a good day. Both good bits and not so good bits of Canberra made Milton Keynes spring to mind, but MK has few eucalyptus trees (please correct me, D & D!) but is not threatened as much by bushfires. Plenty of nice places to walk, particularly lakeside, but you've got to drive there first.

I like museums and have been in a fair few. There was little to criticise in the Australian War Memorial and Museum. Thanks to Winston Churchill's cunning plan ,thousands of Aussies sailed to Turkey and died at Gallipoli, or to France and died at Ypres. The commentary was pretty restrained, I thought, only referring to the Gallipoli plan as 'ill-conceived'. The museum manged to personalise the experiences of ordinary Aussies fighting for King and Country whilst being pretty pissed off at losing their lives or their mates, and at the same time providing the big picture. The same could be said about the National Museum of Australia. Vast spaces, with few straight lines, lakesde promontory location and brilliant displays. Lots of trivia, but nothing trivialised. Starting point (as any good museum should do) was to tell stories of individual people, of all kinds. The dodgy question of 'whose country is this?' was raised time after time,with the stories of individual Aborigines and communities, and their relationship with the land pretty prominent.

One of the most arresting bits of the museum was the ‘Fire’ section. Bushfires are an annual event in south-east Australia and the last monumental loss of life and property before the current situation in Victoria was in Canberra, 2003. The fires on the edge of Melbourne are still burning - some still not ‘contained’. The media seem to be doing a great job in reporting, discussing and organizing responses - practical and political. Amidst the grief and suffering, the attitudes of the affected seem amazingly positive. This is not a catastrophe that was totally unexpected, even though the speed and ferocity of the fires were unprecedented. Just like shit happens, fires happen. For thousands of years before white men settled here and built houses, the previous, now mainly displaced population, lived off the land, regenerating the land by regular, controlled burning.

Those who choose to live in or near the bush know the dangers and seem largely determined to go back and rebuild. Moving speech from a moved PM, Kevin Rudd,: ‘We’ll help you rebuild, brick by brick, house by house, school by school….’. Massive and immediate response from the public, e.g. via a Children in Need type Telethon and by promises of state and federal aid. Meanwhile about two thirds of Queensland is under water, many of the homeless providing help to affected Victorians. Very impressive. Sadly, the anniversary of the official PM ‘apology’ to Aborigine people for ‘wrongs of the past’ was overshadowed by the current fire and flood situation. As if that wasn’t enough, the media are still making space for crocodiles in Queensland (finding their habitat and feeding ground suddenly enlarged in tropical townships) and sharks in Sydney Harbour. Reports of an 87 year old woman who survived a double bite from a funnel-web spider (it was waiting for her in her gardening glove) are a reminder that Australia is an exciting place to be, especially if you’re a spider.

Day 18 Sunday 15 Feb Canberra to Blackheath

We left Canberra feeling much more positive about the place than when we'd arrived, thanks to the great museums and discovery of a lovely and lively corner of the city - Manuka - where we ate well and saw Leonardo and Kate W in Revolutionary Road, and ate the most expensive Maltesers ever.

First stop on way north to Blue Mountains was Goulburn. Goulburn was the first inland town in Australia. It was built on the wool industry. It still is, as the giant plastic Merino sheep on the highway coming into town reminds you. Ironically, in the wool town of Australia, we shopped briefly for some cheap Made in China cotton teeshirts and socks, which cost less than breakfast. Goulburn’s annual Australian Blues Festival had commandeered all available venues in town. Wannabee Claptons were heard wailing from the back rooms of cavernous pubs. Open mic session (Sunday 12-4) was in full swing, prior to the big names plugging in for the evening. Sorry, John P & Oliver - we didn’t stay.

Mountain roads in the rain followed - a 3-mile 1 in 4 stretch (approx) through the bush got us over the Great Divide and into the Blue Mountains, one of Sydney’s weekend lungs. Shame about Blackheath - the motel and the adjacent golf course (what a surprise) would have been perfect for Monday, if it hadn’t bucketed down. The golf club chef had even fixed me up to play with his mates. If you’re reading this, Graham, sorry I didn’t turn up. It was cold (13 degrees), windy and still raining when we decided to pack up and get to Sydney a day earlier than planned. Managed a quick peek from Evans Lookout and Govetts Leap, the reasons why non-golfers visit Blackheath. Even on a grey morning the 1500 feet vertical drops to the valley floor were worth the effort, even though I was pissed off at being deprived of a game of golf and losing a ball or two into the Grose Valley. A plaque to Charles Darwin,who visited the area in 1813, made me wonder if he wrote ‘Origin of Species’ cos it was too wet for golf. ‘Are you taking your clubs to the Galapagos, Charlie? You know they go free with Emirates, and you can stuff a few specimens in the side pockets…’ ‘Naa, those turtles’ll probably make a mess of my new putter…’
We left Charlie, Evans and Govett (never did discover what he leaped into or over - next stop Wikipedia) and set off down towards Sydney.

Postscript: The descent to Sydney (like most descents) was a quick affair. Too quick for the liking of NSW Police. One of their speed cameras clocked me doing a few k over the limit and added to the cost of the trip. Only discovered this when we'd got home when a letter from Hertz, informing me of a charge of $30 or so. Unfortunately this wasn't the speeding fine, merely their admin charge for grassing me up to the police. The speeding fine was a less than amusing $150. Top tip: Hit your brakes a bit on Bell's Line of Road between Kurrajong Heights and Little Wheeny Creek. At least the location sounds a bit more interesting (and is) than the last place I got busted - on the A27 in Fareham.

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Comments

[Alan]

What about a few photos?
Mind you who needs photos when you can use your mind's eye, based on Mike's superb descriptions? Keep 'em coming