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| Aussie Icons Nov 2009 |
(Click album for more pictures)
With a few days off for Cup Week and a conference to attend at the end of the week in Katoomba, I checked my bucket list and set out for a drive... but first a practice run. I had been lucky to make the final of the Roddy Read Songwriting Competition at the Maldon Folk Festival with my song "The Room Next Door", so I had a day trip up on the motorbike. I was chuffed to make the top 3 - a step up from last year, it's great encouragement! The main trip was in the car though. After helping celebrate the family day at Werribee Mansion with the nephew & neice, and rocking the Empress Hotel with MUK, I headed up the freeway, getting as far as Charlton (as the only motel guest that night).
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I started the next morning with a mountain climb; though don't be too impressed - it was Mt Wycheproff, the world's smallest mountain. Breakfast was at Ouyen, brunch (a couple of oranges and apples) at the fruit fly bins, and lunch at Mildura. It was a very enjoyable cruise, and it was great to catch a radio interview about Lake Mungo which was my first big destination. Mildura was abuzz - everything looked bright & energetic, with homemaker centres, endless motel strips and sports centres under a summer scorcher. I stopped to find out about Lake Mungo at the info centre - which doubles as a big aquatic centre and was full of school groups. The staff were great and my timing was perfect - I could put on my Melbourne Cup mystery bets (no good, again), have a quick walk along the Murray and still make the evening's tour.
Just out of Mildura was the turn off towards Lake Mungo and things started to feel very 'outback' - notwithstanding the constant vapour trails of planes heading between Sydney and Adelaide/Perth. There were no problems keeping up with highway speeds on the wide dirt roads. Lake Mungo is part of a network of lakes that have been dry for about 15000 years, however there are records of human habitation stretching back around 40000 years; all pretty amazing! My room for the night was a fairly recently constructed "shearers' hut" - a bare room with a bed, and an airconditioner which was going to be handy that evening. The tour bus arrived from its various pick-ups to take us to afternoon tea at the lookout, a good chance to mingle. There were a lot of grey nomads but a few younger travellers as well. We then went to the visitor's centre next to my accommodation where the tour guides told us a bit about the place, and performed on the didgeridoo. Then a wander around shearing shed and an excellent spread for dinner.
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The tour then went across the dry and scrub-covered lake bed to the lunette at the far shore where the guides gave us a part-explanation, part-diatribe about the area. We headed up the lunette and watched the sun set and the full moon rise, with a gentle musical backing from one of the guides (alas the uke was back in the car, otherwise I'd have joined in). Underfoot were millenia-old fireplaces and middens, pointed out by the expert eyes of the guides. Altogether I had mixed feelings about the tour, the food was great & I enjoyed meeting the other travellers, and they kept us hydrated with lots of bottled water - but some of the stories and explanations were far fetched - and were usually very dismissive about western/scientific interpretation. I can imagine my more scientifically-inclined friends having some spirited debates with them! I was also a bit disappointed that the tour only went to the main public areas - I sort of expected that the tour would take us to some 'closed' areas, or at least places a bit more off the beaten track.
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I'd been told to check out the Mungo Lodge bar, but it was closed. A violent cool change came through in the middle of the night; very welcome but a restless sleep. I made an early start the next morning on the self-drive tour, across to the Walls of China, across and around the back with a couple of excursions on short walks. There was some great wildlife - particularly kangaroos and emus, with a few rabbits as well, and at that time of day I had the place to myself.
It was now Cup Day and I planned to watch the race at Broken Hill, so I pointed north-west and zipped along some more dirt roads (lots of fun!) past some very colourful landscapes, with a coffee stop in Pooncarie and then back on made roads at Menindee. I had a pleasant surprise to hear former MUKker Tony Allan presenting the Country Hour news. In fact ABC Radio was a wonderful companion on the whole trip. Anyway I found a reasonable backpackers, just around the corner from the Visitor Centre and headed up the road to watch the race. The first pub I found wasn't operating as a pub, instead just as accommodation, but when I stuck my head in, I found it was covered in fantastic murals; and I had a good chat with the owner. Then to watch the race at the Demo. As the clouds opened, I went to the GeoCentre which was quite interesting (though the volunteer guide for the historic house was a bit eccentric).
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| From Aussie Icons Nov 2009 |
Next morning I went out to Silverton and the (historic) Daydream Mine - the only mine tour in the area. Interesting as it was, I'd sort of expected to be able to poke around in current-day mines. A quick stop-off at the Silverton museum turned into a mini-odyssey - it was great! And I drove out to the lookout a few km out of town and then to the dam, I thought maybe I could cross into South Australia (presumably visible over towards the horizon) but there weren't any roads that continued west, they just went north. Gourmet scones for lunch - for a ghost town, Silverton threw up some unexpected indulgences. Meantime during all this I had a couple of reminders of home - Shelly called (having forgotten I was away) to let me know that uke practice was off because a building across the intersection had collapsed; then I turned on the morning TV news and saw that a car had driven into the front of Filou's Patisserie just up the road from home (I believe everyone was OK in both incidents).
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Back in Broken Hill, I went to the Railway, Mineral and Train Museum - pretty interesting for any engineer - and then the Royal Flying Doctor Service at the airport which was a great highlight - for one thing, it was new & modern & spick & span, somewhat of a contrast to the rest of the town, and also, it was great to see how it worked as an operations base. I just had time to get back to see the Pro Hart Gallery, his work seemed a bit like caricature, but one of the other visitors voiced my exact thoughts, which was that it was a lot more interesting and entertaining than the Salvador Dali exhibition. (I gave the Desert Sculptures a miss.) I stopped for a cuppa at the Broken Earth Restaurant on top of the mullock heap. Dinner was at the Musicians Club - not one of the highlights. My overall impression of Broken Hill was that, despite its iconic status, it was rather shabby, old and worn out, and the inhabitants gave me a similar impression - although they were very hospitable, cheerful and friendly. The main street is stately for a couple of blocks, but there is little else to reflect the riches being dug up. I did enjoy seeing 'Lane Street' and the adjacent Lane Lane.
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Time to head back East - my departure coinciding with the Perth-bound Indian Pacific's stop, and I could stop mentally subtracting half an hour from the time. Settling in for a long cruise, I passed lots of kangaroos, emus and goats (mostly live ones). I stopped for a breather at Wilcannia, and then for lunch at Cobar (which impressed me as being back to a much more urban place) for a good stretch of the legs. I took the suggestion to visit the lookout over the copper mine - most impressive, and the city park depicting mining activities in sculpture was very cool. I got to try some more of the umpteen-km-long straight roads on the way in to Dubbo, where I had a break & then decided to call it quits on the driving for the day after about 750km, and found a motel and a nice Chinese restaurant. There was the promise of an amateur observatory, but it looked pretty shonky when I drove past, and the sunset was spectacular enough.
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Morning coffee in Orange, then to another tick on the bucket list - a lap of the Mount Panorama car curcuit at Bathurst. I completed the first lap in 6:57 (sticking to the 60km/h speed limit) which compares admirably with the lap record which I think is somewhere in the 2:20 region, and after a visit to the National Motor Racing Museum I decided to tackle it again, and this time I got 6:53 - although I paused the stop watch for a while to take some pictures at the top. It was awesome to see the track first hand, after growing up watching it on TV - at least on one Sunday a year. It looked very much like a racing circuit as opposed to the country roads of yesteryear, the views from the top were fantastic, and it is definitely very steep coming down into Conrod Straight. With a little bit of elbow room in the schedule, I stopped in town and happened upon the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum which hosts the Somerville Collection. The instructions explanation from the ticket lady went nearly as long as the tour of the museum - perhaps I'd just been geologied-out.
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Finally on to main destination of trip: Katoomba (where I stayed at the Katoomba Mountain Lodge, like the rest of the town, a bit old & shabby with strong echos of former grandeur). The conference, at The Carrington Hotel was very interesting and there was lots of fun social stuff - I got to play Irving Berlin in the Murder Mystery. Katoomba itself was blanked by fog and mist during the entire weekend so there was no sightseeing, and the planned joyflight was cancelled; however I made my way down to Penrith to meet up with the Saturday practice of the Blue Mountains Ukulele Group - I'd fortuitously discovered their flyer in the window of a music shop in Katoomba - after which they invited me to join in with their performance at the Mulgoa Festival of Music... however the festival was running behind time so the group decided to bail out. I made my way back - alternating being frustrated by the frequent roadworks, and being full of admiration for some pretty clever engineering as the road and railway tied plaits up the mountain. The guest speaker at the gala dinner was astronomer & broadcaster Fred Watson which was very entertaining; it was good to have a chat with him later.
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| From Aussie Icons Nov 2009 |
After lunch on the Sunday I farewelled the conference and headed down into Sydney to meet up with Katherine & any other swing dancers I could find. Google Maps on the iPhone was invaluable in helping me get to the Unity Hall Hotel in Balmain where it was great to find George Washingmachine launching into a set. In a fairly compact space there were several distinct flavours of patron, including a fun bunch of swing people. I tried to convince George to get out the uke, unsuccessfully. Time was pressing so I headed south - driving felt like it was somehow cushioned, perhaps it was a new freeway or a tailwind, but it was very smooth and quiet. I got as far as Queanbeyan and found a motel (and a slightly over-engaging proprietor).
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I had an early start the next day but my head was a bit fogged up with hayfever; I drove to Cooma and needed a break. I stopped for a while at the Snowy Hydro visitors centre which was very informative. And then, passing a heap of motorcyclists cruising around the mountains, on to Thredbo, my base for an attempt at the summit of the highest point of the country - Mt Kosciuszko. Unlike every other continent, it's not really a spectacular achievement - I took a chairlift up much of the way, followed by a 4hr round trip undulating hike in spectacular warm and sunny weather, notwithstanding a number of patches of ice & snow, some across the boardwalk - my hiking boots, just about worn through, did the job. There were the headwaters for some icy streams, which probably all join up to start the Snowy River; and there were some unseen but noisily croaking frogs keeping me company. The views across the Snowy Mountains were great; although strangely the highest peak of the country was not particularly prominent, it just appeared to be one of quite a few modest rises along the high plains, and it certainly wasn't obvious that it was the tallest. There was a steady stream of hikers making their way up to the top. So it may be a modest achievement, but I'm glad I did it, despite a bit of sunburn.
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| From Aussie Icons Nov 2009 |
Satisfied & worn out, I resumed the drive - there was some spectacular mountain scenery on the narrow mountain rows towards Khancoban, where the road levelled out. Back in Victoria there was a strange phenomenon a few times as I seemed to be driving through specks of foam; it might have been actual foam floating up on the breeze from a nearby river, or perhaps dandelion-like seeds, or even some sort of insect. The trip involved a short walk around Corryong, a spectacular sunset over Lake Hume, and dinner at a sweltering Wodonga. And then onto the freeway for the final cruise home.
Everything worked out perfectly - twice I had left my evening's accommodation plans until rather late (at Charlton and Queanbeyan), and twice my fuel gauge dropped a bit lower than I would like (into Broken Hill and into Wodonga), but my contingency plans weren't required.
Next time:
Wellington Caves - I had hoped to have time to do a tour but due to roadworks I got there a few minutes too late, and the schedule was a bit too tight to wait for the next tour.
