I1th January 2013
We left the showgrounds and helicopters and moved
into Queanbeyan Riverside Caravan Park which has some level sites overlooking
the river complete with pads. Unfortunately
we are on one of the others in the centre of the park that are very uneven dirt
sites without pads, so we are hoping it doesn’t rain, which is not what the
firefighters want. The weather report is
for a couple of cooler days then more heat wave and windy conditions which
definitely doesn’t please the fire fighters.
12th December 2013
We now have the dates for Richard’s next visit on
the 19th and have booked the site immediately behind us to retain
the family group.
15th January 2013
We drove into Canberra and parked outside the
American Embassy and strolled around the area to check out some of the other
Embassies. They are spread over a huge
area which requires moving the car to other parking areas and walking around
the streets close to the car.
In several
cases we saw Commissions, rather than Embassies, subject to the country
involved. As you would expect, America has an area six times bigger than anyone
else, with the buildings almost completely hidden, whereas the interesting ones
are all on view. This took care of the
afternoon and we probably didn’t see half of the total embassies, so we may have
another trip later after acquiring a map highlighting where they all are.
17th January 2013
This was forecast as being a hot day so rather than
going to the Botanic Gardens we took advantage of the air conditioning at
Parliament House. We have been there
before in 2002 but a second look never hurt anyone and we did get to see more
this time. We toured both old and new
buildings and checked out the gardens of the old building, which we didn’t do
last time.
The only drawback with the visit
is the 3 hour parking limit, meaning you have to return to the car and move it
after 3 hours, even when there aren’t many vehicles in the car park. We were in
both buildings for more than 3 hours each plus there is a fairly long walk
between the two. The views from the roof
are worth taking in whilst you are there.
There is a small entry fee to the old building which is now the Museum
of Democracy.
18th January 2013
This was predicted to be another hot day, so other
than a quick shopping trip we stayed at home in the air conditioning, although
the air conditioner did struggle a bit.
The temperature turned out to be much higher than predicted, giving
Sydney a new record high of 46.8 degrees. Here in Queanbeyan, we only reached
46 degrees, which is what we used to be used to in the north west of WA for
many years, but the aging progress makes hot weather less tolerable.
19th January 2013
We pitched the tent in the site behind our caravan
in the morning in readiness for Richard’s arrival. The ground is so hard here
that we had to buy a long 6.5mm drill to drill holes in the ground prior to
knocking the tent pegs in, and it was still hard work and bent a lot of
pegs. It also systematically destroyed
the drill. Richard arrived at 3.15pm and
on arrival at the park finished off the last few details to turn the tent into
his temporary home.
21st January 2013
We collected the grandkids after a very roundabout
route provided by the Navman which did literally find as many roundabouts as possible,
and then continued on to the suburb of Woden to a medical clinic for
Richard to undergo a drug test requirement for his next contacting job. The kids and Richard spent the rest of the
day at the swimming pool, the skate board park and a walk through town, etc.
22nd January 2013
We drove into Canberra to a Pancake Parlour for a
Pancake breakfast to celebrate Richard’s Birthday. Unfortunately Jack was not
feeling 100% and couldn’t finish eating his huge meal, which is somewhat
unusual for Jack who is now a almost 6fft tall and similar shape to a broom
handle. As he was not in perfect shape
we changed our minds about going swimming/walking at Coota in the extreme heat
and went to Belconnen instead to the Hoyt’s cinema and suffered ‘The Hobbit’. As yet, the point of the film hasn’t emerged
other to slash and bash their way around the New Zealand countryside. The later part and the special effects where
good, and as luck would have it (for some people) it ended with obvious
intentions of a sequel to continue the pointless journey.
23rd January 2013
The day started out with a drive through Canberra,
everywhere we go seems to be via the centre of Canberra, to the Cotter Dam
where we checked out the swimming possibilities ay Casuarina Sands and where
not initially impressed. We drove on to
the Cotter Dam picnic area which offered even less opportunity options nut a
pleasant place to have our picnic lunch.
We walked up to the lookout that only provided a view of the concrete
wall which is being modified to a greater height. We drove back to Casuarina Sands and made the
most of it. This lasted for about an
hour or so before Aboriginals that think they have the right to ignore the ‘No
dogs’ signs don’t apply to them. We pointed out this slight error and then
underwent about half an hour of foulmouthed inane racist ravings, which of
course is acceptable when directed at white people. When Richard and the kids returned from their
swim we departed homeward via another Navman tour of Canberra to go to the
Black Mountain Telstra Tower for the view over the City. When we finally arrived home Richard
discovered that he had damaged his laptop screen when he carried it out of the
caravan in the morning. It was still
open with a program running but had the power pack sitting on top of it and the
carrying partially closed the screen onto the power pack which cracked the
screen. Not a particularly good day
other than the picnic and the view from the Telstra tower, although Richard and
the kids enjoyed their swim.
24th January 2013
After numerous phone calls to computer repair
specialists it was determined that there was no quick fix for Richards computer
screen as there wasn’t one available to replace it with. We drove out to Fyshwick and bought a new one
and he will get the other one repaired in Perth when he gets back there. The new one, although only six months
younger, has much more to offer in the way of hard drive and RAM capacity, and
was $1000 cheaper. The other semi
planned activities for the day were put on hold until tomorrow so that Richard
can load his required programs, etc, after the kids spent some time in the
local swimming pool.
25th January 2013
In order to have another swim we drove Richard and
the kids out to Kambah Pool, but to the so-called beach area this time where
they were able to swim in the Murrumbidgee River. We drove round to the rock pool area after
the swim and had a primitive BBQ lunch and then left the others to explore the
rock pools which didn’t last too long as it was full of people fishing.
26th January 2013
We initially drove through Canberra to a mini-golf
course that is no longer in existence but found someone who knew where another
one does exist, although apparently only for another week, we dropped Richard and the kids off and
visited the Royal Mint and then went to Redhill Lookout, Mount Ainslie Lookout
and Mount Pleasant Lookout before heading home.
The others met up with one of the campers from Mystery Beach and walked
round some of Lake Burly Griffin, and still happened to be out there in the
open when the predicted storm hit town.
Karen took them back to her place and came up with some loan
clothing. They had Pizza for dinner and
arrived home whilst it was still raining at about 10.00pm, courtesy of
Karen. The river that the caravan park is alongside,
had been allowing a dribble of water to pass over the town weir which is beside
the park, but as it started to get dark and after an hour, or so, of rain it
was allowing a torrent of water to pass over it. Being a sloping park we also had a river running
through the annex once more. The
countryside looked quite dry from the lookouts when were up there but will have
to go again to see the difference that the rain makes. More is forecast for the next few days.
27th January 2013
We took Jack and Rory home this morning as they are
due to start school soon and then drove on to Belconnen shopping centre to drop
Richard off again to meet up with his new found friend. We stopped at the shopping centre for a
coffee and met Karen who actually seemed rather nice and a vast improvement on
anyone he has introduced to us before.
He may have finally learnt how to avoid lame ducks, so we are hoping
that the several thousand kilometres that will separate them when Richard
returns to WA doesn’t affect the relationship, assuming a relationship is
developing.
28th January 2013
We managed to take the tent down without rain
although it thought about but despite being packed up we will get it out again
when we get a good opportunity to make sure.
The tarps that were under the tent still need cleaning and drying, which
may happen soon if the weather improves.
Karen came over and went out with Richard for a few hours and returned
him in time to take him to the airport.
His flight was booked as a straight through flight to Perth which turned
out to be great as he usually has to go to Sydney first. Sydney airport was reduced to one runway due
to diabolical weather conditions with many flights cancelled. He was due to catch another plane in Perth to
the Northwest tomorrow morning so he should have avoided any problems.
29th January 2013
It rained through most of the night but not hard and
appears to want to continue today, or at least threaten it, so there will not
be much activity today.
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