FAREWELL TO CANBERRA

January 2nd and it is time to farewell the family at Canberra and continue on the next leg of our journey. Before I start the posting I omitted to mention on my previous posting of a gathering of all my family on Thursday 30th December.

My humblest apologies to the other half of the Keane family!!!

David and Tiffany arrived on Thursday about the same time as the Italian connection and we all got together for our regular Christmas gathering and of course the infamous Weber!!

We sat around for the afternoon and evening while the kids ran around the house both inside and out completely tiring themselves out.

Just prior to dinner we sat around the tree and opened presents and just enjoyed another Christmas gathering together. Unfortunately we did not take any photos of the event and when I was putting my last posting together I forgot all about it, although I did mention the weber - as I rarely forget those!!!!! Anyway humblest apologies!!! 

So here are recent photos of the Campbelltown Keane's from Jacqueline's Year 6 formal just prior to Christmas.

Of course we can't forget Caleb. This was taken a couple of years ago. 

 

So we left Canberra on Sunday 2nd and headed back through Yass towards Naranderra. When we hit the Hume highway we turned left and headed South.

We passed through Bookham, Jugiong and Coolac and then onto Gundagai. We travelled past the "dog on the tucker box" five miles short of Gundagai (or there about as I think that it was moved from its original spot) and then onwards to our destination.

The Hume Highway actually by-passes the township of Gundagai which is sad in a way but for the traveller it is a magnificent road all the way to Victoria.

We pass through Tumblong and some distance further on, just prior to reaching Tarcutta, the road to Naranderra  swings off to the right and heads along the Sturt Highway towards Wagga Wagga. We passed through Wagga Wagga and headed towards Narranderra.

We arrived at Naranderra at around 2:00pm and noticed on the way into the town the effects of the recent flooding which had cut the town off at it's peak. The roads were damaged right through town including the highway. 

We set up the van in the caravan park and as it was so hot we decided that it would be a good time for a swim so we promptly headed for the pool.

We are not sure if the pool was heated or not but when we jumped into it it was so warm that it reminded us of a trip we had done many years ago in the Northern Territory and more specific Mataranka.

Mataranka has warm thermal pools and the temperature of the water in the pool at Naranderra was a very similar temperature to the natural springs at Mataranka.

There was no evidence of the pool being a heated pool so we assume that it was naturally warmed by the constant amount of heat from the sun.

Because of the temperature of the water and the temperature outside the water and the warm westerly breeze that was blowing when you popped up out of the water it felt like you were in a cold climate as the breeze hit you and you near froze. It was eerie!!!

Out of the pool and into the shower and then a nice relaxing nap prior to ordering a taxi and heading to the local watering hole, we were about 5k out of town, a couple of stimulants, a nice dinner and back home for a well earned rest.

It was interesting during the cab ride into town as we noticed all the flood damage and there was a contra flow for the traffic. in the main street, as the repair crews were repairing the main road which had been damaged and also pumping out a lot of water which was surrounding it.

Monday 3rd January and boy is the time flying, it will be Christmas before we know it. All the oldies reading this blog will know what I mean.

We pack up the van and onto the next leg of the journey - Balranald - and a week with the in-laws!! Oh Joy!!!! Just kidding. Heading out of Naranderra we commence the trip across the Hay Plains which are on the Newell Highway and it is as desolate as the name infers.

Balranald is 303km further West and the only town it passes through is Hay and you rarely see anything else except the odd  homestead way off in the distance to the left or right of the road and of course lots of traffic in both directions. 

We arrived at Hay about 2 hours later which is slightly over half way and drove up and down the main street which took about 10 minutes (not a large town) and then decided that we would drive a short distance out of town and take a break.

We stopped at an intersection 19km out of Hay and had a drink and a snack.

I took photos of what was ahead of us and what was behind us so that I could put into perspective what the Hay plains is all about.

As you can see it is just desolate in every direction and these photos are very indicative of what the Newell Highway is for hundreds of kilometres towards South Australia.

Only 118km left to our destination at Narranderra so we headed off after a short break and a change of drivers and at the speed we drive about 1 and 1/2 hours left.

Narranderra at last and home for the next 6 days. We pulled into the Caravan Park that Maree's brother and Sister-in-Law manage and the traditional greetings all round.

Put the van in it's parking spot for the stay and started the unpacking and setup process.

We picked the best site in the park as it is not what you know these days is it?  Great view alongside the Murrumbidgee river, which as you can see is very high due to the recent floods.

Maree's father has been living in his caravan at the park for some time and he also is well set up next to the main house as you can see above.

First things first as it was getting late so we needed to get out the refreshments and sit by the river and catch up on the gossip and stuff.

Thats the 'old boy' - Maree's father, sitting in his "I can't walk very far anymore" jalopy which he uses to get to and from town about 1km away.

It's now a case of "I can't drive my jalopy very fast anymore as I spilt a beer on the dashboard". That was pretty good for it as it does not go as fast as it used to now.

Anyway had a good gossip session and when the "bloody mossies" and the "mosseys" (sorry people thats an in joke) got too bad we headed into the main house for dinner and a nice BBQ.

When night fell the Christmas lights around the park were lit up so we went out and had look at them. I promise that these are the last photos of Christmas lights until next Christmas.

Tuesday was a nice weather day and as it turned out saw us a part of a history making event - more shortly. We pottered around the van finalising the setup process and by then the morning was nearly over. It was time for a swim in the park pool.

Well if Naranderra was like the Thermal pools at Mataranka the park pool could probably compared to a sub-arctic pool as it was freezing despite the fact that they had reasonably high temperatures.

Anyway we suffered it and spent an hour or so in it and cooled right down. A quick shower and then lunch and a relaxing afternoon sitting by the river and watching it flow whilst dozing and talking and stuff.

But then it happened!!

We were talking away and in the distance we heard a loud whistle which made us very curious and the conversation turned to what the noise could have been.

After a short period the whistle blew a long blast again only this time it was closer and more pronounced and Jim said that it sounded like a boat. Within a couple of minutes along with the whistle we could hear a flapping noise and it was also getting closer and closer until finally around the bend of the river we saw a paddle steamer heading up river.

Maybe not such a big deal to most people except that from the locals point of view there had not been a paddle steamer up the Murrumbidgee river since 1956 as it was too shallow.

Because of all the recent rains the river was up 8 metres and it allowed the paddle steamer, which had come from the Murray River a long way away, to get up to Balranald.

I raced into get my camera and below are the photos of it approaching and of it leaving our area and heading back down to moor for the night prior to going back down to the Murray. It may take another 55 years before one can make it up this far again - Who knows!!!!

 

Wednesday and I  getup early as usual, as Maree sleeps in most days, and it gives me the chance to  check the emails, work on the blog and make a cup of coffee.

Whenever we come to Balranald and stay at the park I always like to do a bit around the place to help Jim as it is such a big place to maintain.

So I decide that I will mow the lawn for him. Pretty simple job huh!!! -  which is probably why it took me three mornings to mow it on the ride on. It is a big place.

After the mowing on Wednesday we had lunch, a rest and then off to the local watering hole for a top up and ended up staying for dinner as it was a lot cooler inside than outside.

Thursday was much of the same things as Wednesday except that we did not go to the local watering hole just sat by the river in the cool evening breeze.

Friday night, after a tough day at the office once again, we all headed down to the RSL and of course the Friday night raffles. No luck though!!!

We had booked a table in the dining room for dinner and all of us gathered around the table for a nice family meal together.

Our last day at Balranald was Saturday and we made it a day of rest and did absolutely nothing except rest and vegetate. We had a fun night in the evening and ended up having home made Pizzas for dinner which Jim cooked beautifully.

There are a number of characters around Balranald none more so than the four river brothers for whom  Jim has setup a monument area near the entrance to the park.

Their names are Bidgee River, Muzza River, Wako River and Ned River and all of them have very different personalities as shown below.

Bidgee River

Muzza River

Wako River

Ned River

So that ends this part of our journey and tomorrow Sunday we pack up again and start our trip down to Victoria via Moama.

See ya soon.

Bill

HOLIDAYS AT LAST

Boxing day 2011 and it has turned out a nice day, albeit overcast and a little cloudy, but the sun is shining through in spots so should be ok.

It rained for most of the afternoon on Christmas Day so it was just as well that we were inside for most of our festivities but it is now starting to dry out.

We hook up the van today and leave the park for the next month as we trip down south to visit friends and relatives.We are not in a hurry as our first leg is to my niece's place in Somerton just out of Tamworth and about an hours drive from here.

Our plan is to spend the afternoon and night at Katherine and Brett's place which is a huge chook growing farm that he manages and has a lovely reserved spot for our caravan which overlooks the property and the hills.

They have organised a nice dinner for us tonight and we will have a relaxing afternoon and evening with them and their young son Riley.

 



Katherine and Brett's place



 

Settled in for the night



Monday 27th and it rained most of the night. If anybody does not think that the drought is broken then they should come up here and have a look. I am over rain!!!

I took some photos of the rain coming in from the South West.

 

Just had to get into the frame didn't she!!!!

 

Brett manages a chook growing farm and has 8 sheds which house 20,000 chooks each and turns them over 6 times each year and after mortality deliver around 800,000 chooks yearly.

They are a major supplier to KFC amongst others.



This is four of Brett's sheds

 

This is the sister farm to Bretts which is on the same property

Early rise to update the posting and then breakfast and off towards Bathurst for the night. We left Somerton at 8:30am and headed off.

Although the map below shows us going down the New England Highway which was our original plan we actually detoured via Gunnedah for a change of scenery.

We passed through Gunnedah, Curlewis, Breeza, Quirindi and stopped at Willow Tree, which is where the two highways meet near Murrundi, for breakfast and fuel.  After a nice break we headed to Merriwa and then the turn off South to Bathurst.

The countryside was beautiful due to all of the water that it had received and there was a sea of green everywhere you looked.

We stopped at Mudgee for a short break prior to tackling the mountainous road across to Bathurst and our stop for the night.

We arrived at Bathurst at about 3:00pm on Monday 27th December and set up the van at the Big 4 Caravan Park in Kelso and relaxed for a couple of hours before heading into town for dinner at the RSL club.

On the way into town which is about 3-4 kms away the taxi driver described what had happened during the recent rains and showed us where the roads were cut and the damage that had been done to them.

Some of the roads were still covered in water in the middle of town and a contra traffic flow was in force for the main street into Bathurst. It must have been terrible to have been there during the rains.

We had a nice night in town and a good nights sleep and headed off to Canberra on Tuesday at around 9:00am.

The trip to Canberra was a relaxing trip as we had decided that we were not going to travel above 95km per hour. Pissed a few people off but we were happy and relaxed.

The maps we are using on this trip were planned a number of weeks prior to leaving and although they show the general direction we are heading during the trip we made a number of detours for sight seeing.

After leaving Bathurst we drove through Blayney, Mandurama and then to Cowra for a look see. Not a great deal to see but its a nice place to visit.

Next leg of the trip took us to Godfreys Creek, Boorowa, Bowning and down to Yass. We drove through Yass and although we have been there previously it is always a nice place to visit and look around.

The Yass highway passes through Murrumbateman which is a very small whistle stop but has one of the best cool climate wineries in Australia.

It is worth stopping off if ever you pass through this area particularly if you like crisp white wine.

Heading along the Yass Highway we drove towards our next destination which was on this side of Canberra off the Yass Road to my Son's place at Florey.

We arrived at around 2:00pm and set the van up for our  6 day stay prior to heading to Victoria.

Nice relaxing night and Kevin had organised to fire up the Weber for a roast pork dinner and who was I to argue with him - so roast pork it was.

Kevin is in the final stages of building an entertainment area onto the side of his house so we enjoyed dinner sitting in this beautiful big area and went to bed about 11:00pm totally devoid of any idea of the time. Felt it next morning though!!!

Wednesday 29th and off to Bunnings to buy some more things to finish off the entertainment area as he had to build a small wall on one side so that he could attach some all weather blinds to it for protection.

Spent most of the day on that and other little fiddly things, Maree mowed the lawn back and front and Gabriella cut back some bushes and other bits and pieces.

Great day and by the end of it we were stuffed and just relaxed for the rest of it with a BBQ of T Bones which we had won at the Barraba watering hole on Christmas eve.

Thursday 30th and more pottering and working on and off on the entertainment area and general tidying up around it. The Italian connection turned up on Thursday afternoon (Gabriella's mum and dad) so the real fun was about to begin. 

A couple of legs of lamb into the Weber, a stack of veges and salad, the inevitable vino and the laughter began. - Great night was had by all.

Maree and I are the ones on the right!!!

Friday 31st and we finished off the entertainment area and started to load up the furniture which had been in storage so that it could be used without lots of building equipment laying around.

As it was New Years Eve, Gabriella had booked us into a nice restaurant in the city, italian of course,  for a late dinner at 8:30.
The restaurant was just  across the road from the 9:00pm first fireworks launch and as she had booked an outside table we had first class seats for the display.

The fireworks were magnificent.

After the first lot of fireworks we then got down to the important part of the evening - eating!! but first a few snapshots for posterity.

Kevin has the goatee, Gabriella is the mum and Madeline and Daniella make up the foursome. 

So Maree and Kevin had Chilli prawn pasta, Daniella and I had fettucine carbonara, Mario had Spatchcock, Madeline had pizza, Gabriella and Francesca had Involtini.

Absolutely brilliant food - great restaurant. At about 10:30 we moved away from the restaurant to get a nice spot to watch the midnight fireworks. We found a spot on the lawn of the Canberra Law Courts which was off to the side of where the fireworks would be launched.

Rolled out the blankets and the chairs opened the eskys and then the kids had a play whilst we waited.

We had a great time just sitting around and talking, watching the world go by and the kids playing it was just a pleasant warm Canberra evening. At midnight it all happened above the skies of Canberra.

After the fireworks finished we left the park and back to home. A midnight snack and a toddy and off to bed about 2:00am.

So that was our first week away from home. Tomorrow Sunday 1st day of the new year we will pack up  and on Monday head towards Balranald for a week where I will update the blog with  a new posting.

See ya soon


Bill and Maree