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Published: January 4th 2011
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Blog 17
Another visit to Canberra
We had some business to attend to in Canberra, so we booked a couple of markets to do while we were there. We were invited to stay with relatives of relatives of relatives so we gratefully accepted. Jennifer and Lindsay have a large home with a separate, self-contained flat in an outer suburb of Canberra. As well as the business we had to attend to, we visited some of the tourist attractions of the National Capital. Peter had never been to Old Parliament House, so that was on the top of the list. We visited the “young” parliament house (can’t really call it “new” as it’s 22 years since it opened!). The Da Vinci Machines Exhibition in Commonwealth Park was very interesting. We went to the Royal Australian Mint which was OK but they didn’t give free samples. The National Portrait Gallery provided more opportunity for plenty of reading all the information, as well as the amazing art work of course.
Gorman House Markets were VERY disappointing, and VERY cold. We would have loved to have been at Hall Market, but our request was declined as there is already someone with similar products
Gorman House Market
pretty setting, but way too cold! to ours who is a regular stall-holder there. Tuggeranong Homestead Markets were threatened by forecast rain. The skies were grey and heavy with early morning mist and low cloud. The location was quaint, with a friendly organizing team and stall-holders. The rain held off for quite a long time. When it DID start, it was light showers. The customers were still happy to browse. Then DOWN IT CAME! The organizing team called a halt to proceedings as they had seen the weather radar! We packed up as quickly as we could while staying as dry as we could. There was a break in the precipitation allowing us to pack the car and stay dry.
We took our bikes to the banks of Lake Burley Griffin to ride into town and go to the movies. As Peter took his bike off the rack, he noticed that the rear bearings had collapsed leaving him with virtually NO gears. Nevertheless we rode into town, with Wendy out in front for a change. Peter was really struggling. Canberra has a wonderful supply of bicycle shops so it didn’t take us long to locate one. Peter had reluctantly decided to purchase a new wheel
Da Vinci Exhibition
The predecessor of the modern day "tank" to tide him over. (His true desire was for a brand new bike – for each of us) This shop would have to order a wheel in, and it would take a week to arrive. We tried another shop. The mechanic took one look at Peter’s clunker and advised us that it wouldn’t really be worth spending the money on, better off to put the money towards a new bike (or a second-hand one – like this one he just happened to have there in the front of the workshop.) After some discussion and consultation we decided to get the used bike he showed us. Peter was a very happy cyclist on the return trip, although Wendy still passed him on a slight hill on the way back to the car. His excuse is that he was getting used to the new gears!
Mt Stromlo is a world-class mountain-bike course which was crying out for Peter to test his new bike (and his physical stamina!) Peter had ridden one of the courses there with our son Tim, a few years previously, so he had some idea what was in store. Wendy was content to start with the level 1
course. Long story short – flat tyres, repairs, valve pulled out of tyre and Peter was on his way, leaving Wendy to walk course 1. It was a warm day so Wendy was grateful that we had driven the motorhome to get there. She was able to do some reading in relative coolness and comfort. Peter had experienced some difficult parts of the track and had only been tipped off his bike twice, but returned to the car park with a very wide grin on his face!
En route to Bathurst we spent 3 nights at Cowra. What a pretty place! There are numerous parks and gardens which were an absolute picture after all the rain that has fallen there and the fact that it was springtime. Cowra is the site of the Japanese prisoner of war breakout in August 1944. If you are interested in finding out further information please go to http://www.anzacday.org.au/history/ww2/anecdotes/cowra.html .
We briefly visited Young and being well into cherry season we just had to sample the local fare. Yummy cherry pie for morning tea was delicious! As we indulged, we watched the cherry sorting team with envy.
Bathurst Showground was green and grassy
Mt Panorama, Bathurst
We HAD to drive around the track. with a helpful caretaker, so our stay there was pleasant. Although Peter, who is allergic to horses was not fond of the daily training schedule for the trotters. We met some lovely people who were also holding a market stall during the 2 day “Bathurst’s Biggest Expo”. We met up with a guy we got to know whilst doing Counrty Music Festival in Tamworth in January ’09. The weather was warm and sunny – a nice change! Our next planned market was in Singleton (yes, we’re on our way back to the Central Coast for Christmas). This was planned to be a twilight event on the Thursday evening and it turned out to be a pleasant and profitable event. We are really fond of Singleton markets because the customers simply approach our stall and (usually) say, “I’ll have one of those!” We then travelled over to Forster to do a market at Tuncurry on Saturday morning. Now Wendy’s Mum is a bit of a traveler as some of you know, and she was going to be in Tuncurry at the same time. Wanting to surprise her, and not quite sure which caravan park she was staying at, we visited 4 parks in Tuncurry with no success of locating her. Wendy called her, and found that she was actually in Failford. Plans were made for Mum to visit us at the markets. Our marathon market adventure led us to Cessnock for a Sunday market. Once that was packed up we made our way “home” to Jilliby.
That was 28th November. Since then we have celebrated Peter’s birthday, visited friends, had fun times with family over Christmas, babysat our 3 granddaughters, bought Wendy a new pushbike, had friends come to visit us with their new motorhome, and generally had a great time. It’s time to move on. On Monday 10th January we head for Stanthorpe in QUEENSLAND to take up positions as “Park Assistants” at Top of the Town Tourist Park, through to Winter.
We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season and that 2011 will have you living your dreams, or at least knowing that you are “on track”.
Come and stay with us in Stanthorpe – great National Parks, wineries, fruit orchards, …. And US!
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Lee
non-member comment
you're getting to know NSW very well. :o)