On the Road

Well, we're off! Have enjoyed the last 4 days on the road and you'll read more than enough about them if you make it thru this very long post. I promise the next ones will be shorter....just let me indulge in a little of the excitement of the whole trip finally moving from dream to reality. I do apologise for the layout too....seems you can't cut and paste from Word directly into your blogspot post. Oh yeah....photos to follow sometime soon. 

Feb 26

We’ve just finished eating our first dinner meal on the road and it was delicious! How could it not be….sitting by a creek (50ks south of Tamworth in a little place I can’t even pronounce the name of) with a peach sunset going on behind us, lightning dancing in the clouds to the south and the prospect of this being our life for the next 11 or so months. Very nice!

We left Mum and Dad’s at the lake yesterday morning and headed south to Brisbane for more car work….tyre check this time. Bought a SatNav on the way  - which despite my protests for the past 6 months has proved to be very useful. We used it to get from the north side of Bris all the way thru the mess of roadworks to Jon’s brother’s workplace, under the Story Bridge and then out to our friend’s place 15ks out of Stanthorpe. Lovely to catch up with Noel and Jude who moved from Gladstone earlier this year and enjoy a last night in a real bed in a real house.

Set off on the real journey today – Jon calls it ‘real’ because we actually left the state. Cockroach territory now. Highlight of Kirsty’s day was finding a loaded apple tree beside the road and without too much coaxing, getting Jon to do a u-ey and go back to pick a few. Lunch in a park in Armidale and then a photo with the Big Golden Guitar in Tamworth. Our plans to get to Bathurst for the night fell by the wayside and we found a freebie overnight spot right beside a First Fleet Memorial in the middle of central, country NSW. Go figure! Apparently it is the only memorial in Australia that lists all the First Fleet voyagers – both convicts and British Military. Did you know there was only 1 free settler on the First Fleet…a Mr Smith! There were 3 Knights who were marines – Knight is Kirsty’s Mum’s maiden name. Too bad they weren’t convicts….there’s more notoriety in that. 

Dinner: pre-made stew  Weather: a few drops of rain  Mozzies: yep…Note to Self: I must wear a shirt, not just a singlet, on dusk.  Quote of the evening: Jon – “I know you think I’m a geek….but this is so cool….sitting beside my camper, on my laptop, surfing the web.

26 Feb

Lots of dirt roads today as we wound our way from Wallabadah through backroads to Merriwa and Bathurst and Goulburn. Got to take the Navara on laps of Mount Panorama…very cool. Much steeper than I thought and so many properties on/in it – even a winery. Plethora of wildlife on the drives today….white cockatoos, swimming snake at lunch stop, mobs of roos and a wombat facing the sky on the side of the roadL Did 4 or so creek crossings too….only 5cm deep max, so I didn’t have to get out and do a walk thru. Finally stopped close to 9pm outside of Canberra….by a lake on which sheep graze. No water at all. Cold here and the ground so hard J couldn’t get the pegs into itJ Slept under 4 layers…sheet, doona, sleeping bag and the canvas bed cover.

27 FebInto the nation’s capital today and started our visit with a tour of Parliament House. Our bright and bubbly tour guide was most informative and her style was such that we weren’t sure if she was a politics or drama major at uni. Despite this being about the 10^th time Kirsty has been to P House, she still didn’t get to see parliament sitting…seems it’s unconstitutional to sit on a Friday. Really!!! We made our way 20ks out of town to check out the Cotter Reserve campsite right by the mighty Murrimbidgee River. Not so mighty at the moment as drought certainly has a stranglehold on Canberra and surrounds. A quick trip to Tidbinbilla Space Station allowed us to marvel at the achievements of mankind beyond our planet. Quite amazing stuff, but the best bit was seeing the moon rock. Our home for the night came with 2 bonuses – showers and barbeque fireplaces. Both were very welcome, especially when the marshmallows were finally found in the bottom of the food crate. A lovely summer’s evening under the stars.

28 Feb

A really warm day in Canberra with strong, dry winds. Talked to the ranger this morning and he said the current conditions are a lot like those in 2003 when the big fires tore thru most of the parks surrounding Canberra and burnt houses in outlying suburbs too. He was actually on his way south to Victoria tomorrow to continue to assist the parks and wildlife staff and CFA in fighting fires. Good man. A 30k bush run was being held in the area and we had 40 or so super keen (or silly) runners sprint, trot, limp, waddle past us as we ate breakfast. Questacon (National Science Centre) was a heap of hands on fun for the morning and we especially enjoyed the ‘Boom Crash Boing’ show with Sven, the crash test dummy in training. The afternoon was spent by the lake – trying to get a bit cooler and then at the very moving War Memorial. I have a hard time staying dry eyed whenever I am there. Did you know that there are over 102 thousand Australians who have lost their lives serving in wars? The sound and lighting shows about bombing raids in Germany and the Japanese mini-subs in Sydney Harbour were very good. And we got to see the daily closing ceremony where a lone piper played a lament on the steps of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Headed south out of Canberra to a rest area where we are the only campers. We’re on our way up into the high country tomorrow.