My final post for this trip. We decided to stay at this Lake Leslie camp site for our last night rather than a caravan park.  It is hard to believe we are at the end of our adventure, traveling 23000k in 24 weeks.  Over the last six months we have seen so much of Australia but oh so much more to see.  We have met some very happy first time grey nomads, some retirees who “migrate” to the warmer climes every year although I couldn’t imagine going to the same spot every year for 3 months – most of these people book their sites 3-4 years in advance!

Back to Albury.  Our first day in Albury was a town walk with me asking Tony to have the same patience while I window shop as I do when he “Museum shops”!!!.  We did the town heritage walk starting at the Railway Station.  This was a very busy rail station in the early to mid 1900’s.  It was where the rail gauges from Victoria to NSW changed.  It is a very grand old building and has one of the longest platforms in Australia.   We then wandered around the shopping precinct, same shops, cafes etc you find anywhere but for me well worth the walk around the shops.Back to the park for an afternoon of rest and a couple of games of table tennis on a very wonky table with our very cheap paddles and balls but it was something to do. We are both feeling like resting a lot more than when we did when we started out  nearly 6 months ago.

Our last day in Albury was spent driving out to Lake Hume and home via “The Bongilla Migrant Experience” at Wadonga.  This was site 19 accommodation block of an original 24 sites  of Australia’s largest longest operating migrant centre .It was very interesting reading some of the comments of the people who passed through here.  Some were grateful for the chance Australia gave them for a new life and others complained about the food, mainly boiled mutton, white onion sauce and veges. That’s human nature I guess.

Heading now for Bathurst. we stopped at Wagga Wagga for morning tea at a beautiful park which also had the RSL remembrance rotunda with the eternal flame.  We decided that Wagga Wagga was a spot that needs to be re-visited – not quite sure now why!!  We decided on a free camp on the way . we found this reserve which is about 35k north of Junee.  Previously we have not gone to any free camps that had dirt road access but the driver felt confident so we headed down the 4k dirt track to the dam.  Lucky he did because it is really a beautiful spot but one has to be here early because there are not many level sites.

Now for Bathurst.  Seems the only thing to do in Bathurst is drive around Mount Panorama.  Tony did a number of circuits and talked me into a lap so he could video the track – I think I should be awarded the trophy for the slowest lap ever.  I was really surprised at how windy and steep the circuit is.  Certainly doesn’t look hard on the tele.

We did find some other things to do. We spent a few hours doing the town heritage drive seeing among other older buildings Ben Chifley’s home which is now on the heritage list, the Bathurst Goal which has quite a splendid sandstone façade – this is now a minimum security goal, and the railway is quite a nice old building.  Grand railway stations seem to be the normal in a lot of the towns we have visited.   Home for a walk around the park, a couple of quick games of table tennis – which I always lose but its fun anyway.

On to Katoomba.

After once again marvelling at the three sisters, a different view this morning with the sun shining on the mountains . We hopped on the scenic railway (world’s steepest railway) down into the valley.  We spent a couple of hours wandering around the walkway through the rainforest valley.  We then caught the cableway back to the main area.  This cableway is 545 metres. The views over the mountains and valley from this cable car are stunning.  We then took a ride on the skyway.  This cable car is 270 metres above ground and crosses the valley.  It has a glass floor which surprisingly didn’t make me feel unnerved.   Once back in the main building we went down the valley again, this time in the cableway – it was a bit more stomach churning going down – then came up via the railway.  Once again going up, for me anyway, was a bit more scary because I felt like I was falling forward when in fact you go up the railway backwards.

Then a visit to rellies in Stockton & Singleton then we decided to back track a little to go to Dubbo Zoo.  Having decided we wanted to go to the zoo we were still a little skeptical having seen many of the animals in the wild in Africa.  We were pleasantly surprised and spent 7 hours over 2 days at the zoo.  We hadn’t seen tigers or cheetahs in the wild so I was a little disappointed that the cheetah were just doing their own thing being lazy.  On the first day we could hardly see them lying in the grass but on the second day one was lying across a large rock so we could see their size. I was surprised at the size of the Galapagos tortoises.  They really liked getting their necks tickled, after a while they stretched right out and stayed that way until you walked away.

The meerkats were quite majestic looking while on watch.  Once again their size, small this time, surprised me.  I had watched the TV series on meerkats but didn’t really grasp how small they are.  Anyway in all a good time was had at the zoo.  I am sure we would go back if ever in Dubbo again.

On to a very nice caravan park in Tamworth, not crowded and lots of space.  I guess if you don’t like country music you don’t like Tamworth!  We did spend a few hours wandering around the town walk but that was a about it.

Then on to our last night at Leslie Dam.  That is our trip.  What next? I am off to Sydney in a couple of weeks to see Troy & Adam and his family and catch up with a girlfriend for some “girlie” time and shopping and then home to organise a week in Iluka to spend some time with Dean & his family then who knows?

Jenny x

Another week has passed already.  We spent 6 nights at Buronga Caravan Park (just opposite Mildura on the Murray River).  We went on a day trip to Wentworth and found the lookout for the junction of the Murray and Darling rivers.  There is a lot of water in the Murray at the moment – so much in fact we couldn’t go on a lunch cruise we wanted to because the water was too high to dock the paddle steamer at the restaurant. We were told when the river is lower there is a distinct difference in colour between the Darling and Murray rivers but today they both just looked muddy! We then found a walk on the island between the two rivers which took us to the confluence of the rivers.

One of the things we both wanted to do was a Riverboat cruise on the Murray.  We went on a two hour cruise that included going through one of the locks. It didn’t take long for the water level to rise, maybe 10-15 minutes. We spent a lot of time just sitting around our campsite as it was a very relaxing spot to be but all things come to an end and we headed for Echuca for 3 nights.  We took our time getting there stopping at Swan Hill on the way for lunch. Driving through the Murray River valley at the moment is very pretty as all the blossom trees are in bloom.

At Echuca we went on another cruise, this time on the Pevensey which was used in the 1980s mini series “All the Rivers Run”. This was only for an hour but it was powered by a steam engine which one of us was enthused by.  Of course when you are staying in a town that is advertised to have “the best fish and chips in Victoria” you just have to have fish and chips for dinner – that was our excuse anyway.

Now we are in Albury for 3 nights after driving into a number of smaller town city centres along the way.  There have been so many smaller towns that we have bypassed along the way that we could easily return down this way and spend much more time wandering around these towns – what did travelers do before the GPS was invented? Yes, I know, the passenger could navigate…..

We planned the rest of our journey home yesterday so that really emphasised the fact that we are nearly home but we are trying not to think about the end of the trip just yet – still lots to see and do.

I had a turn of “captaining” the Rothbury.  I was surprised at just how hard it was to turn the wheel – it took me all of my limited strength to do this

This family of ducks entertained everyone at happy hour.

On the road from Swan Hill to Echuca we were surprised to come across this crop dusting and see how close to the road he was flying.  He crossed the road after each round of dusting, did a u turn and back across the road to continue the dusting.

Echuca Wharf