Griffith September 2003

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21 September 2003
It wasn’t until today that work took me out of Victoria again. I wanted to travel to Griffith by a different route and noticed on my map a straight stretch of road between Benalla and Cobram which I had not travelled on before.
First the roads I drove on were the familiar Goulbourn Valley Highway out of Yea and the Midland Highway that took me into Benalla. About ten kilometres out of that town the road branches to the north. The landscape is fairly flat in this area and farmers have taken advantage of the green pastures, running many head of sheep on their properties. After quite a few kilometres I arrived at the New South Wales border town of Tocumwal where I crossed the Murray River. The weather was uncommonly warm so I turned the air conditioner on which made for more comfortable driving. If you follow the Newell Highway to the end, you find yourself in Queensland.
My work wasn’t in that state and I turned onto the Kidman Highway just after the town of Jerilderie, made famous in the 1800s when the bushranger Ned Kelly and his gang took over the town for three days when they robbed the local bank.
When the Sturt Highway was crossed the road sign indicated there was thirty-five kilometres to Griffith and my five-hour drive was coming to an end.
It was only a couple of months ago that I had worked in this town and booked into the same Budget Motel as last time. I had bought along the computer again and set it up while the jug boiled for coffee and then settled down in the air-conditioned room.
My evening meal was delivered to my room around six o’clock. Watched some TV and turned the light off after talking to my girlfriend on the phone.

24 September 2003
I’m always a little apprehensive the night before I work in a centre that hasn’t had the pleasure of my company. Questions filter through my mind. Are the staff going to be easy to get on with? Are the children going to be shy or outgoing? Is there going to be enough toys inside and outside to vary the shots? With this centre in Griffith I had none of the above problems. A good indication as to how well I worked was the finishing time. All three days I was finished by eleven-thirty.
When the morning session was finished, I left town, drove south until the intersection of the Sturt Highway was reached, turned to the east and followed the road to Narrandera where I joined the Newell Highway. The Urana turn off arrived and I started a stretch of road that could have been anywhere in New South Wales. Every now and again I passed grazing sheep that were enjoying the new grass.
In the streets of Urana I got the video camera out to film the old buildings which stand as testament to the good old days.
It was good three-hour journey to Corowa. Once again I was near the Victorian and New South Wales border. Found the motel just on the outskirts of town and made myself comfortable in the very nice unit. The motel is close to the Murray River and a leisurely walk along the bank took about half and hour, before returning to the unit.

26 September 2003
Another large centre here in Corowa. Both days were busy. In fact I didn’t leave for Melbourne until after two o’clock today. Home for the weekend then back up to this area again next week.

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