FEBRUARY 15

Happy birthday Michelle.
Today is moving day and off to Cowra. Found a Caravan park in the town and it was a lovely spot. Beside the park is a major road with a bridge and under this bridge a local artist has down some enormous indigenous drawings on the massive pylons. Very impressive.

FEBRUARY 16

Oh the birds. Sulphur crested cockies decided they really like the trees around the caravan park and would fly in every afternoon and create this awful noise until about midnight.
Went into town in the rain to see what we could see. It is a very old town with some wonderful buildings.

FEBRUARY 17

The sun is shining so a trip on the bike looked good. Headed out to the Wyangala Dam and what an amazing site as we approached the dam. The road crosses the dam and way down in the valley is the village of Wyangalla with an enormous stone wall over shadowing the village. Not sure I would like to live there.
From Wyangalla we went up the hills to a lookout at the back waters of the dam, a magnificent view.
We then headed to Woodstock and on the way down the hills it started to rain so found a large tree to shelter,naturally we still got wet as trees have lots of gaps. At the first sign of the rain letting up we took off only to get caught again. Lots of fun but poor Mike copped the lot, only my knees got wet.



Road across the Dam




Village of Wyangala beneath the Dam



FEBRUARY 18

A wander around town today in the sunshine.We saw the Peace Bell which was given to the people of Cowra in recognition of their efforts for world peace. While walking through town we discovered a Patchwork shop and spent some time looking around.

FEBRUARY 19

Another lovely day so off to the Japanese Garden which is the largest Japanese garden in the Southern Hemisphere. It was so peaceful and we walked around the whole garden enjoying the serenity.

FEBRUARY 20

Off in another direction today. We went to Canowindra via Woodstock and on the way we called in to see where the POW camp had been and learnt a little about the Japanese Breakout. While standing there a local x farmer pulled up so we had the whole story. It was one of the many POW camps that were throughout NSW and about 300 escaped but 260 died and all the others were captured within a short time.

FEBRUARY 21

Today we went to Young (Australia's main cherry growing area) and then on to Grenfell. These towns are all old and have lots of history. Grenfell had some interesting buildings. The Central NSW tablelands are amazing and the landscape is fantastic. There is a lot of lucerne grown and of course everyone keeps saying that everything is looking so good this year because of the rain.



Young



FEBRUARY 22

Happy birthday Kylie.
We spent the day at home trying to come to terms with the earthquake in our home town of Christchurch and wondering how our families have fared.


FEBRUARY 23

Last day in Cowra so cleaning and shopping. Went to the Patchwork shop to see an embroidery class and met some lovely ladies.


FEBRUARY 24

Off to Manildra (near Orange) today and we are now parked at a friends place . What a terrific place to stop, there is 4 acres with green lawn and lots of trees. Such a lovely spot to stop and will leave the van here when we head back to WA.

FEBRUARY 25

Barry and Helen took us into Orange to the gardens and there we met some of Helen's family. Had morning tea and then into town where Barry gave us a scenic tour of some of the magnificent buildings, for example Duntryleague guest house and golf course. There is a fantastic lead light window in the guesthouse and when it was in the hands of a well known local identity the Pope gave this beautiful window.



Duntryleague Guest House





18th Hole and terraces



FEBRUARY 26 & 27

Too hot to go anywhere so stayed inside and made a bag.  

FEBRUARY 7

A wonderful experience awaited us today. We went off to visit Parliament House and what an incredible piece of architecture greeted us. We sat in on a video on the construction of the building, from conception, to sourcing and creating the overall effect of this magnificent building. Mike and I spent several hours oohing and ahing at the marble columns on the ground floor to the huge tapestry and and even more unbelievable embroidery panel with contributions from each state. We went outside onto the grassed area and the view was unbelievable.



Looking from the roof over the old Parliament towards the War Memorial



Who thinks she is a Senator?




House of Reps.



FEBRUARY 8

We went to Fyshwick, south of Canberra, looking for a model shop and a motor bike shop. Found both but neither of them had what we were after.
After having a luckless morning back to Canberra Central which is a huge shopping complex with hundreds of specialty shops and supermarkets. We didn't need anything so wandered around for awhile getting lost and confused several times but it was most enjoyable

FEBRUARY 9

The Zoo beckoned today so off we went. Had a great walk around visiting all the big cats,white lions, Bengal tiger and Sumatran tiger, a fun Red Panda, some extremely playful monkeys of various species, my favourites the Meercats and so it goes on. Probably not one of the best zoos but we enjoyed ourselves.

On our way back into town we decided to visit the Telecom Tower on Black Mountain. The view from there was amazing and spent sometime walking around the tower getting a 360 view of Canberra and the surrounding mountains and water ways.



We went to the top open air viewing platform at
860 mts above sea level.




View down to base. Our Spyder bike is just left of middle of photo. Looks like a black dot.



























Lake Burley Griffin, Capt Cook fountain and old Parliament
House to the right




New Parliament House just right of middle.

















FEBRUARY 11

Pack up and fuel up day ready for our next short trip

FEBRUARY 12

Off to Yass today, only about 60ks down the road so a very easy morning.


FEBRUARY 13

Thought we would travel to Wee Jasper as there is a Cave there that we could go into.
We arrived just in time to catch an early tour and down we went with a character for  a guide. The tour was to last about 1 hour but an hour and a half later we had only seen half of the cave (guide liked to talk and because there were some amongst us giving some cheek-Mike included we were running late) the next group of people waiting for a tour were waiting so the guide left us down below and up he went to collect the next group to join us. The temp below was 16 and by the time our guide returned we were feeling the cold. Some of the formations were great and had very extensive explanations on how they were formed. By the time we reached daylight were were starving and freezing. we were below for 2 3/4 hours and no where to get food when we did leave. Wee Jasper is in a beautiful valley but there are no shops or fuel. People do live there but it is 50ks to civilisation.

Entrance to Wee Jasper

FEBRUARY 14

It was time to do Yass township where there are some very old buildings and the facades are fantastic. Mike was impressed with the Courthouse. Back home to relax and get ready for our next move.



This the second Court House built on this site in 1880
ending the use of the lashing tree that was removed
to build the bigger Court.



JANUARY 31

Today was a washing and cleanup day and late in the afternoon we managed to get Mike a Drs appointment for his foot.
More tabs later and there doesn't appear to be much improvement.
We stayed home for the next three days as Mike was not well and the weather was so hot and humid.
Our time is getting closer for more Dr's checkups so decided to fly back to WA. Have made bookings for the 4 March.

FEBRUARY 4

Weather looked better so decided on a day out. We visited The National Portrait Gallery and saw many and varied portraits, none of them that great except we did see a magnificent portrait of Sir Charles Court and Richard Court together.
From here we went to the  National Gallery of Australia to view more art works. Saw the famous Blue Poles, can't see the true value but there must be a few hundred tubes of paint that were used. I'm sure some of the elephant art works we see from time to time are much better. There was a Monet and even that was not one of the better ones that we have seen. Some of the Asian art work was fantastic and so intricate. Very fine carving in marble, sandstone and timber and much of it extremely old going back as far as 8-10 century.
Our final visit for the day was to the High Court of Australia where national rulings go if all else fails.
we stayed for about an hour and most of that time was spent discussing the several meanings of  the word AWARD used in the court case between two insurance companies. The building was quiet luxurious and there was an amazing wall mural but no photos. The entrance hall is 7 stories high, all the court rooms and admin are around the outside. great views of Lake Burley Griffin.
We counted up the number of people involved in the one court proceedings. Mike made comment about what three million dollars a year (5 Justice and the Chief Justice) looks like but wait there is more, There was a junior behind each Justice to provide any information they requires and then in front of the Bench   
there were 5 lawyers for the defendant and 6 for the respondent plus there were 4 junior lawyers behind each side of the front bench and then behind each group of juniors there were several gophers (probably lawyers as well). Phew there was quite a gathering of lawyers of all ranks and here they were debating the true meaning of the word AWARD and whether an Award can be appealed.

FEBRUARY 6

Waitangi Day.
Not much on but I did manage to make 4 Hose Tidy bags and went and booked in for another week.