Blogs from Australia, Oceania - page 4852

4 May, Monday: After a late night packing the gear I left this morning about 7:45. On the trip up through central Victoria I used the full tank and two of the three spare cans of fuel. This will give me a range around 780 kilometres, which is well within my longest distance between service stations. It was a long days driving to the border town of Wentworth, which was reached around 5:00 that evening. Did 356 kilometres today was advised by the police at Wentworth not to take the Menindee Road due to recent rains. I booked into a caravan park called Willow Bend, which rests on the banks of the Darling River. Car went well but the weather is overcast. 5 May, Tuesday: The Silver City Highway is great. At Broken Hill I stayed ... read more

I was only 6 weeks old when I embarked on my first trip with my mother. I don't remember it but she tells me it was to Sydney.... read more

Left Canberra with Ken and mum in the front seat. Peter was in the back, cracking corny jokes, and also little Peter Bondfield - who was never a dull moment. Then there was me. We arrived in Newcastle that evening then went strait to our hotel. Gradually all the relations arrived and the night ended with corny stories about our mum and dads past. Controlled of course by Auntie Nancy. Next day we went to the Parthenon milk bar in the morning then the wedding in the afternoon. The reception was without alcohol so Peter Meadows, Dwight and I slipped off to the pub for an hour. When we got back we had some funny looks but that didn’t matter because everything was fine. The night after the reception we went out to the R.S.L. ... read more

Before we left home, my Grade 5 teacher back in Melbourne had given my parents a large pile of textbooks and several reams of school work exercises for me to complete, and I was supposed to spend a couple of hours every day while we were on the ship ploughing through all of this. I have absolutely no recollections whatsoever of doing any study at all. I'm sure my very diligent parents wouldn't have let me off the hook, so I suspect I've just wiped this unpleasant memory from my mind. I do however remember thinking as we got closer to home that this idyllic five month trip was nearly over, and that I would very soon have to return to the discipline and drudgery of school. I was looking forward to seeing my friends again ... read more

Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney were the first stops in Australia on Valene's 1964 South Pacific trip. I'm afraid I have few memories of the large cities of Australia, aside from the Shrine of Remembrance (War Memorial) in Melbourne, a scenic overlook of Canberra and visit to the Australian parliament building there and Sydney with the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, then under construction. In Sydney, we went on a sightseeing drive around the city and visited a local department store, David Jones.The local guide said the happening area of Sydney was the King’s Cross district. In Brisbane we met for a local orientation in a performance or dance pavilion. The local guide here expressed his disdain for rock music (a band was setting up to rehearse) and those who had imported Chevrolet Corvettes.... read more