31st December, 2024
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Bloggies
Its hard to believe that another year has flown by, it only seems like yesterday that we embarked on this grand tour, but here we are. We left again for the third time on 3rd of December after acquiring an almost new Colorado with all the bells and whistles we could ask for, talk about the universe looking after us. It was clear that the trip was not over, contrary to what we originally thought when we limped home with the van and hired truck. There is always another reason for things happening that we aren’t aware of. Hopefully this time we will be able to travel with no problems.
Our first stop was in Maclean to visit Ian’s brother John and his wife Suz whom we had not seen for quite a while. It was a great catch up and good to connect with them again. From here we travelled the road from Grafton to Glenn Innes for the first time. What a beautiful drive, the scenery as you rise higher up the Great Dividing Range is magnificent and the road is much easier on the rig than the Casino/Tenterfield road or the Cunningham gap road. The cicadas on that road were deafening, as we have found all along so far, we don’t remember them being this loud last summer. We did read somewhere that they only come out in great numbers every few years and that this year was one of them. The sound in the rainforest going up the range was incredible, you could hear another octave and feel the frequency right through you as the pitch rose and fell and rose and fell, it was like a heartbeat.
There was no room at the inn in Glen Innes so we ventured on to Armidale. This place has bad connotations for us now, as you can image from our last stay. We booked into the showgrounds for two nights ONLY, and believe it or not we got the same spot as last time. There was no way we were going to stay any longer than necessary.
After Armidale we headed for Uralla where we thought we would stay at a free camp, but it looked a bit dodgy so we left and went back into town to investigate the activities that were going on there. They were having a Fairy Festival, we were told when we enquired, which explains all the tutus and fairy wings being worn by children and adults alike. Apparently, it all started in the covid lockdown when the adults realised they needed something to distract the children, so someone came up with the idea of making Fairy doors which they placed in out of the way places in the main shopping strip. Children could be taken for a walk, with an activity to do, that they could social distance from one another. How sad that children had to be kept apart from each other, it’s just despicable when children didn’t even get the so called ‘covid’. Anyway, it was a pleasant walk amongst the locals and stalls, and watching the like ones have fun, and see the delight on their little faces. After this we travelled on to Bendemeer for the night.
The next day we took a different route south after Tamworth, out through Werris Creek and on to Coolah. Coolah is a place I last went to when I was fourteen. Its amazing how faulty our memories can be, I could have sworn that the station and railway house, where my cousins husband was Station Master, was on the northern side of town, and that there was a lot of land between the house and the station. We went looking for it and found the remains on the southern side of town and the house was a whole lot closer, and orientated a different way to how I remember near the station. There are only foundations and a few trees and shrubs left now. We stayed at the Sportsman’s club on the golf course for three nights. Very pleasant outlook. We went into the club for a drink and dinner on the first night and this old guy called Chris Newman came over and sat at our table and asked me to read this multi paged poem that he wrote about ageing. A bit random. Anyway, I read to poem out to Ian and Chris and it was actually quite good and funny, sadly we could identify with a lot of it. Chris and his wife came up from Ulladulla to escape the tourists a few years ago. Chris was known for his writing, he was a journalist and has published a couple of books, none that we have read though. Anyway, he was an interesting and friendly guy.
From Coolah we ventured forth to Orange where we thought we’d stay a few days and have a look around. You can stay at the showgrounds overnight for free but no longer, and it was apparent that they policed this, so we only stayed one night. We went for a drive around town in the afternoon and it is a thriving prosperous town, more economically healthy than anywhere we’ve seen so far. The old houses have been bought up and restored, as well as their garden, and they are beautiful. There were heaps of them as well. We think a lot of Sydneyites go there for a tree change, which would explain its prosperous feel. We decided to treat ourselves to an ice cream and found this amazing gelato shop which was full of people inside and out, so we just had to partake. OMG the gelato was delicious, slurp slurp.
From Orange we travelled to Canowindra, the town with the curvy main street. We set up at the showgrounds and headed into town. We were walking down the street when I noticed an older lady (about the same age as me, lol, but I’m not old) had fallen over in the gutter. Her two female companions were trying to get her up without success. I said to Ian, we have to help her, so off we went to give her aid. The poor darling, her knees went to jelly as she was trying to step up the unusually high gutters here. She and her sisters as it turned out were meeting several of their other sisters, at this grand house behind us for a Christmas lunch. Ian lifted her up out of the gutter, causing great pain to his neck for the gallant act, for days to come. I took her under the arm to assist her to walk into the house whilst Ian carried her packages. This house was amazing. A gay guy owned it and has decorated it in the most luxurious and luscious way and the lady we were helping told us to take her into what was evidently the dining room. It had a large table that was set up for a fancy Christmas lunch with all the beautiful table trimmings and Christmas decorations around the room. It was like something out of a fairy tale. The owner heard us and came in saying no, no, this is not where you are supposed to be and ushered us back to another, room that was beautiful but not as beautiful as the first. We chatted with the ladies for a while, wished them a lovely lunch and a merry Christmas and left. If we hadn’t helped that lady we wouldn’t have been fortunate enough to the see the inside of this magnificent old mansion. From here we went on to more mundane matters, like going to Cowra to do our washing. Three days in Canowindra were enough so off we set again.
We got as far a Yass where we stayed in the showgrounds here for a couple of nights. There were a lot of bunnies who came out from under the shed across from our van every night to munch on the grass. They were so cute, mum would come out and then six or seven of her babies would come bounding out, playing, and wrestling each other, it was so delightful to watch. It’s unfortunate that they are a pest, they are so cute. We took a drive out to Wee Jasper one morning, what an interesting and hair-raising drive through the hills. It followed the river that fed the Burrinjuck dam. The geology of the mountains was interesting to say the least, great slabs of rock that were either thrust up or laying completely bare on the side of hills, the folding and heat processes that occurred millions of years ago are evident everywhere here. Wee Jasper is a small village with nothing much to write home about, but the drive out there and back was interesting.
After Yass we headed for Bungendore where we were staying at the showgrounds for four days. We were going to stay in Canberra but Epic was closed for the Summer Nat’s preparations and the caravan parks were way too expensive. It was peaceful and pleasant out at Bungendore. We walked around the village centre and came across a woodworking gallery. Normally we wouldn’t be interested in wood working but we decided to have a look anyway. The wood working art and paintings on display were incredible, so were the prices I might add. There was a wooden rocking chair on sale for $37,000 and a clock for $42,000. All pieces were extremely expensive, probably because cashed up Canberrans come out here to spend their surplus cash. I was taken by some smaller art pieces made from the burle of a tree and resin, and believe it or not Ian surprised me on Christmas morning by presenting me with the small pear that I liked best of all. What a surprise and so special. We both really enjoyed the paintings by Maynard Waters which have inspired both of us, but mostly Ian which I’m pleased to say. We were taken by the texture and colours of his urban and rural landscapes, the only issue we had with them was the people he painted, they weren’t right aesthetically, and the perspective of the people, in conjunction with the whole painting, was wrong which was a shame, but they don’t overshadow the beauty of the work. I’m sure many people like it that way.
On Thursday 19th December we went to Canberra, first to bloody Suncorp because they had locked us out of our phone app which was a nuisance and we had to get that fixed which messed up our plans for the morning. Then we went to Ian’s sister, Anne and brother-in-law Dave’s place for lunch and some op shop trawling in the afternoon. I got a couple of small items that are perfect for my miniature work (more on this later). We stayed with Anne and Dave for dinner and Andrew, Ian’s nephew, came over with his lovely lady, Becky. We had an early Christmas dinner thanks to Anne’s hard work. It was a pleasant evening and great to catch up with everyone again after such a long time.
On Friday we took a drive to Braidwood which we hadn’t seen for twenty years and then to have a look at Lake George with water in it. When we lived in Canberra Lake George was empty the whole time, Ian would tell me about it being full and what it looked like but the girls and I never got the opportunity because the great drought was on at the time. There is something special about Lake George, it’s a different kind of lake to the normal ones apparently and only fills when the conditions are right and it fills from underneath, probably something to do with the water table. Well, it ticks another item off the bucket list for me, to see it full of water. Last time I saw it there were cattle grazing on the grass that filled it and there were fences and fence posts as far as you could see, but not now, we saw only one fence post and it was close to the edge, so it must be deep out there. Well, that was an experience I finally got to witness.
On Saturday we went into Canberra to do our Christmas food shopping and to go to Ikea for a new dish drainer with tray. Usually, it’s me who drags the chain in Ikea looking at everything, but this day Ian was taking his time, checking everything out. We did some measurements of wardrobe inserts because we are planning to revamp our walk-in robe when we get back. We always come home from these grand adventures full of ideas for upgrading the décor, and this trip will be no exception. In the afternoon Anne and Dave came out to visit us at Bungendore showgrounds and we spent an enjoyable couple of hours talking in the shade of the beautiful trees there. Remember I spoke about the bunnies, well there were dozens of them here and they came out every afternoon bouncing all over the place. Hmmm, it might be time they thought about doing something about these furry little bundles, because they are growing in numbers sadly.
On Sunday we left Bungendore and started heading for the snowy mountains. We stopped at a free camp behind the pub at Bredbo. Not a bad stop, freezing when we got out of the car and within half an hour it was boiling hot. We had dinner at the little old pub that night to contribute to the local economy. That day though, we went to the Christmas Barn, Ian under sufferance though. It was a magical wonderland of all things Christmas; the place was choc a block with decorations for sale. We first encountered this shop the first year we moved to Canberra which was late 2001, it was in the Woden shopping mall then and the girls were with us. I remember the looks of sheer delight and wonder on the girls faces as we entered this magical wonderland, they didn’t know where to look first. We purchased four Christmas decorations that year, a bauble that was a fat circus man made of porcelain, another that was a mouse with a top hat and cane, a white glass bauble with snowflakes and a big velvet fabric bauble. We still have them and they go on the tree every year, and they have remained unbroken due to careful packaging after Christmas. Anyway, we thought we’d go each year and purchase another bauble and gradually build up a collection, but after that first year they closed their doors and moved to Bredbo. In all the years we lived there, we never got to the store in Bredbo. Well after twenty-three years, I finally got back and purchased a few more glass ones. After Christmas I wrapped them well and they are now safely stored in a sturdy plastic box under the bed so they don’t get broken.
We were going to stay two nights in Bredbo but there was nothing to do here in a paddock so we thought we’d stay in Cooma but they don’t allow camping in the showgrounds. Well, there was nothing for it was there, except continue and see if we could arrive a night early in Anglers Rest near Old Adaminaby. When we rang up the guy said, yeah sure you can come tonight, there’s no one here. We looked at each other and thought what have we done. Well, there actually wasn’t anyone else there just us, but it is full of permanent vans that people use to come up here for fishing, there were hundreds of them. We were positioned between two old cabins overlooking the lake with pine trees and poplar trees around us. We didn’t mind the quiet at all.
On Christmas eve we went back to Cooma for a drive and got a few things then back to camp to enjoy a quiet drink and cheese and crackers in the afternoon instead of dinner. Unfortunately, the high fat content of the cheese played up with Ian and he woke with pain and nausea during the night. He was no better on Christmas morning and his pain and discomfort was very evident to me. I suggested we not cook out Christmas lunch as planned and leave it until boxing day when he felt better, but he insisted we go ahead with it. We spend the leisurely morning opening presents and making phone calls to the girls. Kelly was the only one of the four girls that we didn’t ring because he had to have her beloved dog put down two days before and she was devastated and not up to phone calls. Very sad for her an Al. After the phone calls we both prepared lunch and got it cooking, turkey roll and backed vegies and plum pudding and custard. We sat down to eat at 2pm with a table complete with bonbons, Christmas runner and serviettes, a bottle of Ian’s, Jim Barry Merlot Marbec red wine which has been rolling around under the bed since the Clare Valley. Needless to say, we didn’t drink it all, there is some left for Ian to enjoy. We had a sleep after lunch then watched a movie and then it was time for bed again. So a very quiet and peaceful day was had by us. I forgot to mention it was cold, we had trackie dacks, jumpers and ugg boots on, just perfect for Christmas day lol. Also, I mentioned the miniatures before. Ian gave me a beautiful three-story Victorian style dolls house for my 60th birthday. Its not a childs dolls house, you wouldn’t let a child any where near it. He had listened to me over the years and observed my fascination with tiny things and remembered that I had always wanted a dolls house. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to work on it much since he gave it to me because of uni work. I’ve put under coat on the internal walls and that’s it. It came flat packed like a puzzle and I have to put it together, decorate it and make all the furniture. I found a YouTube channel by a Japanese girl who makes miniature rooms and her work is exquisite. She makes them all out of wood which is what I intend to do. Ian gave me this fantastic woodworking kit, specially for miniatures, for Christmas. There are 87 pieces, including saw, hand drill, files, a grinder amongst many other things required. I love it, that’s one of my ongoing projects when I finish uni in six week’s time, I can’t wait.
On Boxing Day, we took a drive up into the Snowy mountains proper to the Selwyn snowfields turnoff. I love the alpine country with its stark barren beauty. The streams that run through the grasses are beautiful and the alpine wildflowers were in bloom, so pretty. The drive gave us a bit of an idea for the drive over the mountains with the caravan the next day, because we had to go through here.
We almost got cleaned up just out of Anglers reach where we had to turn to go towards Adaminaby. This guy sailed up to the intersection and just assumed we were turning and pulled straight out in front of us. It didn’t help that we hadn’t seen the turn and had to go on further, but this guy pulled straight out in front of us and Ian hit the brakes taking rubber off all eight tires as we came to a screeching halt. You could see the curved skid marks on the road. The idiot, never assume. Anyway, we continued on our way over the mountains and down the other side, it was a beautiful drive, the scenery was magnificent. About seven kilometres above Talbingo on the top of the mountain, the road drops away precipitously in a very very steep windy drive for six kilometres. There was no respite from the steep descent and Ian was taking it very slowly. One poor guy with a caravan coming up had overheated and was in a bay by the road with his bonnet up, I’m not surprise with how steep it was. Ian asked at one stage was it far over the edge, I looked and said don’t get too close because it drops off from the edge of the road vertically straight down for about three hundred metres. It was a bit hairy but I had listened to a podcast about living in the now the day before so I decided now was a good time to practice it, it worked. We called into Talbingo for lunch and the brakes were really smelling and they were hot to touch so it was good to let them cool off.
We stopped at a free camp nine kilometres from Tumut on the Tumut river. What a spot, bloody hell its beautiful and packed. We fortunately got a spot up against a farmer’s fence but it was perfect, we sit outside and can look at the scenery over the cow field or watch the river on the other side pass by at a phenomenal rate. We’ve had the cows come up to us, putting their heads over the fence for a scratch, funny things. We went up the Hydro station just six kilometres from our camp which is the last station of the Snowy Hydro Scheme. The force of the water coming through is something else, you wouldn’t want to get caught up in it. The camp we are at is a favourite of locals and a whole extended family are camped here for Christmas, they do it every year, that’s how good this place is.
Remember the drive down the mountain, Ian noticed that the brake discs were scored a bit so he got new pads today and put them on. He said the other pads were really hard and still had about 50% on them, and that the scoring turned out to be encrusted brake lining, that’s how hard those brakes had worked coming down that mountain. He was in low gear, going slow and not riding the brakes, just putting them on and off every now and then. Thank you, universe, for protecting us.
Here it is New Year’s Eve and we face 2025. It’s going to one wild ride, so buckle up folks, you’re going to need it.
Stay safe, count your blessings and all our love and every best wish for the coming year.
Leila and Ian.
PS; I was having trouble loading photos due to poor connection here, so a lot have been left out, sorry.
Ian & Leila's Aussie Adventure 