Saturday 26th September 09

Rain stopped play

Sunday 27th September 09

Garon/Sue took us out for an extremely nice breakfast.

Monday 28th September 09 to Thursday 1st October 09

Can not recall anything of significant interest so was probably shopping, washing, cinema, etc.

Friday 2nd October 09

We drove up into the Dandenong Hills to a Tulip Festival at a tulip farm which naturally had every colour tulip under the sun plus some wild and woolly shaped lumps of scrap metal apparently considered as artist sculptures.

We spent several hours amongst the tulips and were allowed to let Foxy enjoy the experience, and then drove back down the hill to Grant’s picnic area that we visited a few weeks ago, for lunch.


Saturday 3rd October 09

Assisted Garon/Sue with clearing out their garage, etc.

Sunday 4th October 09

Start of the daylight saving in Victoria.

Took the bus/train into Melbourne as the weather was good and it is the first day of the Seniors Week which entitles people with a Seniors Card to free transport for the week. In Perth this is available every Sunday.

We followed the alleyways and arcade route from Flinders Street Station which took us through narrow lanes, that we would otherwise know nothing about, that host numerous Alfresco cafés and on into high quality arcades which fortunately also housed a Haigh’s Chocolate shop.

This was followed by a general wander though some of the main streets.

After lunch (not on chocolate) we crossed the River Yarra and

went up the Eureka Tower that is claimed to be the highest in the southern hemisphere 88 storeys and has a section known as ‘The Edge’ that is basically an all glass cubicle including the floor, that is mechanically/electrically winched out of the side of the building so that you can look straight down past your feet. We didn’t bother with this partly because it cost another $12 each, but more importantly, it had a ninety minute wait to get in it.

We had the experience of standing on a glass floor in a high building in Auckland a few years ago.

When we returned to Flinders Street again, we caught a city loop tram and gave our feet a rest whilst we circumnavigated the city.

On returning home, Barry assisted Garon with another fence pole insertion for the fence on the other side of the house.

Monday 5th October 09

When Garon arrived home the fence was adjusted to the upright position, secured and the concrete poured.

Tuesday 6th October 09 Rain stopped play

Wednesday 7th October 09

We took the majority of our belonging that were at our Garon/Sue’s place back to the caravan ready to leave on Friday. Whilst there, Barry installed two ‘F’ type antenna sockets through the van wall, and chatted a guy modifying some sea containers and talked him into shortening the brace that is used to wind the van legs down as it no longer needs to be a metre long.

Thursday 8th October 09

Took the van out of storage and delivered to Bayswater Jayco for them to find/fix the leak and arranged to collect it the next day. This had meant an early start to deliver it for 9.00am so had our breakfast at the Dorset café near the Jayco agents

Friday 9th October 09

Collected the van from the Jayco agent and was informed the leak was due to the lack of sealant around one of the external power outlets. Set off for Carrum Downs near Frankston where we had booked in for a month, and set up the van and annexe. The park is well set out and spacious with low maintenance gardens, but lacking trees, but unfortunately the designers have no idea about the concrete slab requirements.

Saturday 10th October 09

Barry spent the morning fitting tool clips inside the front boot of the van to hold a variety of handles against the back wall, rather leaving them loose on the floor, which provides easier access to the items and tidies up the boot. He also moved the jack from the main storage area to the gas bottle compartment to provide easier access to the jack and a clear floor in the storage area.
Tried out the new washing machine and discovered that the outlet pipe had been fitted too low so that the water ran straight through rather than filling the machine. We did manage to complete the washing with some juggling.

Sunday 11th October 09

Lazy day

Monday 12th October 09

Jayco head office informed of the washing machine foul-up as it is covered by the warranty although Barry could alter the pipe work himself as it only involved making a hole through a shelf to raise the outlet hose, but Jayco needs to know in case some idiot is fitting all of the washing machines this way. Jayco sent out there mobile repair team and the job was done by late afternoon. Barry fitted support struts to the cupboards over the kitchen area so that you don’t have to hold them open whilst putting stuff in, or out, of them. Jayco do not fit struts to these cupboards because they have fitted some fancy halogen lights over the kitchen bench which scorch the cupboard doors if they are left open. We have removed the globes from the two lights as fitting the struts is a much more useful option.

Tuesday 13th October 09

Cold and wet. Went into Frankston to visit our friendly Centrelink crew and then shopped.

Wednesday 14th October 09

Assisted Garon with some packing and took some boxes to the new house.


Thursday 15th October 09

Assisted with the removal performance and some unpacking.

Friday 16th October 09

We returned to Garon/Sue’s old house and assisted with redecorating.

Saturday 17th October 09

Returned once again to assist with the redecorating

Sunday 18th October 09

Day of rest to get over the previous few days efforts but were on standby if required but as no call for help came we assume Garon/Sue worked their respective butts off.

September 1st to September 25th 2009

Tuesday 1st September 09

Returned to Fort Knox storage to collect various items required to make our stay in
Melbourne more comfortable and then drove out to Page brothers caravan display yard.
Here we found a caravan that would actually suits us to perfection if one modification was possible, which the sales staff assured us it was on three occasions. However, we resisted the urge once again and on arriving back at our son’s home made a appointment with Jayco to do a tour of their manufacturing plant for the following Tuesday.
Garon and Sue returned from their interstate trip, but Garon is crook.

Wednesday 2nd September 09

We drove out to another Jayco agent that operates in an area that contains several caravan brands to look at other options, and other Jayco variations. The other brands had some nice features but cost considerably more and in the final analysis Jayco is better value for money and improving all the time. In the Jayco section we made the same enquiry regarding the modified style of van that we would like and this time the agent contacted Jayco planning and found it was not possible, which shot the Page Brother sales team. We could have what we wanted if we went to a longer van but this was not an option we wanted to take. We did however, find a caravan that came close to being ideal which was our preferred size, and offers many advantages in comfort and practicality over our current van. This included stabiliser legs that are easier to use, shower with more room to move in, toilet with more room to move in, skylight in the bedroom area rather than a four seasons hatch. The kitchen also has a skylight rather than a small flimsy opaic hatch. The toilet has a window instead of a flimsy roof hatch, which effectively means two of this type of flimsy hatch has been replaced with better alternatives that do not break up due to UV problems. The kitchen range hood has been modified so Barry will not continue to bang his head on it (slow learner) plus the kitchen has a proper pantry and much larger fridge/freezer. The washing machine is built into the en-suite rather than mounted on a platform on the back of the van with a canvas cover. The most important advantage is the dining arrangement is now a café style rather than ‘L’ shaped which makes life easier for both to watch TV with our feet up. We submitted to the urge, and this van, which gives us another advantage in as much as the urge has been satisfied, at least until next time.
The disadvantage that goes with this urge is that the Jayco agent wouldn’t do a straight swap.


Thursday 3rd September 09, Friday 4th September 09, Saturday 5th September 09 and
Sunday 6th September 09

All of these days were wet and windy so all were treated as lazy days with some local shopping

Monday 7th September 09

Barry sanded the front door wooden threshold which appeared to be stopping the security screen door closing positively without being assisted. This improved the situation but the door handles hang down and had to be lifted to the horizontal position to allow the door to close properly. The handles were removed, and as expected, the return springs where permanently compressed from years of use and one was broken, therefore not returning them to the proper horizontal position.

Replacement handles were purchased and fitted, which annoyed Barry as buying the whole thing for the sake of twenty cents worth of springs doesn’t go down well with him.
When the weather is less windy the threshold sanding will be completed so that it can be re-sealed with paint, or varnish.

Tuesday 8th September 09

Rain stopped play

Wednesday 9th September 09

The car was taken to the local auto electrician for a new type 12 pin plug to be fitted to suit the new van which requires extra wiring to accommodate the larger fridge/freezer.

Thursday 10th September 09

Drove out to Fort Knox storage and started preparing the van for the handover and on attempting to exit the computer operated gate failed and wouldn’t let us out. After many computer re-starts and phone calls the staff manually opened the gate by winding the motor with a short handle that took quite some time due to the low gear ratio.

Friday 11th September 09

Rain stopped play

Saturday 12th September

We drove out to Dandanong and had lunch at the popular Grant’s picnic area where one can stand and hand feed the lorikeets, which unfortunately also attracts galahs and cockatoos that cause a lot of damage.

The authorities are trying to stop this feeding but the chances of success are next to nil.

From there we drove to an open garden display which had a wide variety of protea, camellia and azalea. The garden was only open for the weekend and Saturday had perfect weather for it, whereas the next day was wet and windy.

We moved on to a daffodil farm which really surprised us with the number of different variations in colour and formation, plus that is the first time we have seen vast fields of daffodils.

Sunday 13th September 09

Rain and wind. Garon is still unwell so we cancelled the lunch we were going to have in the Docklands to give him a chance to recover. As previously mentioned we picked the right day for our trip in the hills.

Monday 14th September 09

The weather is reasonable which allowed Sue to do her volunteer work with handicapped children riding horses. We on the other hand had a lazy day with the slight exception of removing an offending metal bracket from the front gate area and adjusting the bathroom door catch to operate more positively

Tuesday 17th September 09

The weather is still quite pleasant so we went into Melbourne by bus and train to Flinders Street Station and then crossed into Federation square and on along the river bank and eventually into the MCG. This was in the week leading up to the AFL grand final so everything is being prepared for footy.

Here we took a guided tour of the MCG ground and facilities which took almost two hours for a one hour tour, and then after lunch in their café we went into the National Sports Museum under the MCG which also took a good two hours.

We left the MCG somewhat footsore so we took the short stroll to Jolimont railway station and took the train into Flinders Street Station (2 stops) and then crossed to platform eight for the Frankston train home.

Wednesday 16th September 09

This was treated as a rest day as Tuesday had been full on.

Thursday 17th September 09 and Friday 18th September 09

Also treated as rest days due to bad weather but took the opportunity to drive to Bayswater and checked out some measurements on the new van for shelving and rugs and then went to a canvas place down the road to arrange to have the annexe fitted after we have taken possession of the new van. This will also require a new draft strip as the old one will not fit due to different door positioning.

Saturday 19th September 09

Shopped at Bunning’s for a few necessary items and then dug two holes in appropriate places by the driveway fence and cemented in two red gum posts to stop the fence leaning in over the drive. .This also included cutting the creepers back that were hanging over the top of the fence into the neighbour’s garden.

Sunday 20th September 09

Dug a third hole by the driveway fence in readiness for a third support post then moved to the fence at the side of the house and tensioned the five straining cables to pull the fence upright where the fence was leaning into next doors garden.

We then cleaned up and went to a restaurant in Docklands for lunch.

This turned out to be a very large lunch so we strolled round the shopping precinct to wear of some of the effects.

On our return home we cemented in the third post along the driveway fence

Monday 21st September 09

Went out to Fort Knox and prepared the van in readiness to do the changeover. On attempting to leave the area the electric gate refused to let us out, despite putting in the correct code three times. This held us and several other people up about half an hour until they wound the gate up by hand.

Tuesday 22nd September 09 and Wednesday 23rd September 09

Rain stopped play

Thursday 24th September

Collected the old caravan from storage and took it to Bayswater Jayco where it was parked alongside the new van to allow us to move our possessions from one to the other, in the rain some of the time. During this time we realised that the Auto electrician had fitted a plug to the rear of the car instead of a socket so when we finished the loading at Jayco’s knock-off time of 4.30pm we went to their recommended auto electrician and had it changed.


Friday 25th September

Drove out to Bayswater Jayco and finished the transfer and then took the new van about 200 metres up the road to have the annexe runners attached and a new draught strip made to allow us to retain our old annexe. This took about four hours during which time we tracked down a few items that we deemed necessary, such as new locking bolts for the spare wheel carrier, and longer bolts to hold the pole carrier on to the van ‘A’ frame as the ‘A’ frame is 20m deeper than on the old van. I then mounted the pole carrier whilst waiting for the annexe job to be finished. We then took the van back to the storage area as we had chosen to extend our stay at my son’s place.

August 16th to August 31st 2009

Sunday 16th August 09

Left Broken Hill on yet another windy day, and meandered down to Mildura arriving around 3.30pm and as it was still a bit windy opted to leave the awning and annex down until tomorrow if the weather is less windy. The caravan park is a few kilometres out of town alongside the Murray River. Later in the day we drove into town to find Kmart for Merry to buy some knitting needles to knit Foxy another jumper for the cooler weather.

Monday 17th August 09

I erected the annex whilst Merry sorted the finances on the laptop and also removed unwanted programs from the old laptop, and then installed the required programs on the new laptop. I used this opportunity to use the old laptop to update this blog.
In the late afternoon we took Foxy for a walk along part of the river bank.

Tuesday 18th August 09

Today’s highlight was a quick visit to Dick Smith’s to buy a wireless mouse and then went to the Jayco agents for an antenna socket and came perilously close to trading the caravan for a bigger, better, version but the $11000 difference helped us to resist, plus the extra weight would exceed the cars recognised towing limit due to having an automatic gearbox.

Wednesday 19th August 09

Merry worked on the SAFE bookkeeping whilst I worked on the old laptop to produce a DVD of our trip in South Australia.

Thursday 20th August 09

This was a pleasantly warm day out backtracking to Wentworth to see the junction of the Murray and Darling rivers which also included a visit to Lock 10 where we had lunch.

After lunch we inspected the Wentworth Gaol, followed by a trip round part of the heritage trail that included an Inkberry Tree, then drove out to the local sand hills.

The sand hills seem to be in the middle of nowhere and somewhat out of place being so close to the river, but make it obvious that you are not far from the desert either. You would expect them to be by a beach.

We finished the Wentworth trip with a 2km return walk along the strip of land between the two rivers to view the Lock from the tip of the junction, and then stopped on the journey home to take photos of the Murray Bridge, which has a centre section that can be lifted to allow paddle boats, and houseboats, through.

On the way to and from Wentworth we passed through the small town of Merbein which may, or may, not get a more thorough inspection as the weather forecast is not real good for the next few days.

Friday 21st August 09 and Saturday 22nd August 09. These two days remain a mystery so it can only be assumed that the weather did perform badly as predicted.

Sunday 23rd August 09

Being a day of acceptable weather we packed a lunch and went to ‘King’s Billabong Wildlife Reserve’ as this allows dogs on a leash.

It has a range of walk trails with most of them out of our league but we managed one to a bird hide and back via a more inland route which took just over an hour to complete. We then had lunch near the car park before driving through the reserve to the ‘Psyche pumps’ which is the location of the old steam driven pump station that supplied water to the surrounding area, which is now supplied by the electric driven pumps nearby. It has been restored to it’s former glory but was not open at that time of day so we headed back through town and visited the Trentham Estate winery. On the way back we deviated to the Botanical gardens but only had a quick drive through to determine whether it was worth stopping for a proper look, which proved in the negative. Winter is not the best time for gardens of any sort.

Monday 24th August 09

This was a very windy day with a threat of rain so I worked on the DVD of SA for most of the day.

Tuesday 25th August 09

The weather improved enough for us to drive to Merbein after lunch and checked the common for the walk trails that proved a bit uninteresting, so we sought out the lookout and white cliffs.

We found the lookout after finding another area to leave the car and walked down to the river near the water draw off point that presumably feeds into the irrigation system.

We then found the lookout which allowed views of the river and along the white cliffs. Unfortunately there wasn’t a good view of the cliffs and they were only on the side of the river that we were on. We did, however, take a short walk along the cliff top.

We then drove back to Mildura via a different route to visit the advertised ‘Snakes and Ladders’ which turned out to be purely a kids playground so we didn’t stop.

Wednesday 26th August 09

We took an afternoon visit to ‘Woodsies Gem Shop’ which boasts an ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ A café which is also done out as a cave, and a maze. The gem shop is a girls dream and to add to the interest they put on demonstrations of gem stone cutting, polishing, etc, after which Merry had some lunch (she had a late breakfast) and then we collected Foxy from the car and took her into the maze. The maze was very well laid out and kept us amused for quite a long time and probably still didn’t see all of it. We gave it away when a bus load of school kids turned up and started running around yelling and screaming. Like us, Foxy dislikes kids that run and yell.

We drove back into town and parked the car and walked around collecting photos of the interesting buildings and monuments.

After this we drove along the riverside to Lock 11 and then on to Mildura Homestead which provided us with another way back to the caravan park.

Thursday 27th August 09

We have now seen all that we need to see of the area so used this as our washing day prior to preparing to move on. It also allowed me to continue with the SA DVD.

Friday 28th August 09

This was treated as a completely lazy day apart from a little shopping and finally completing the SA DVD.

Saturday 29th August 09

The day was spent removing the annexe and rolling up the awning and general packing in readiness for an early start for our move in the morning.

Sunday 30th August 09

Left Mildura on yet another windy day, and headed towards Melbourne. The overall distance to Melbourne is further than we normally travel at any on time but we also wanted to be close enough to Melbourne to ensure a short and easy trip to the Storage area we had arranged with Fort Knox, as we were leaving the caravan for a while to stay with our son and daughter-in-law in Melbourne. We made our overnight stop at Kyneton which fulfilled our requirements but would have been nicer without the drizzle.

Monday 31st August 09

Set up the navman to take us to the Dandanong storage area avoiding toll roads and expected to circumnavigate the city to avoid the madhouse traffic. Unfortunately the navman has a warped sense of humour and took us over the Westgate bridge on a windy day, but fortunately it was a tail wind. Having survived that we headed for as much traffic and narrow roads, including trams, that the navman could find, so I can now claim to be fairly experienced at towing a caravan in traffic. I thought it was bad enough in Adelaide and can think of better things to do.

We did manage to avoid Swanson and Burke streets so I imagine the navman may be thinking he made life easy for me. After delivering the caravan to the storage area we headed for the safety of our son's house where we expected to have to let ourselves in, as both Garon and Sue work, but Melbournes weather had rained off Sue's day so we had a welcoming reception. Also very fortunate, Foxy and the resident cat 'Sox' have agreed to get along together whereby the dog ignores the cat, but the cat likes to tease the dog, but no fighting.

Tuesday 11th August 09

We visited the Silver City Mint Gallery which is a picture Gallery combined with a silver jewellery shop. The paintings were by local artists, of which there are many, as Broken Hill seems to attract artists like honey attracts flies and ants. It was claimed that this is because of the red colour of the soil, etc, at sun rise and sunset but if that were the case they would all be in the Pilbara. I think it is more likely a case of numerous vacant rundown miners’ cottages available at lower rental or purchase cost, unlike the Pilbara. However, some of the paintings were good enough for me (Barry) to admit to being prepared to hang them in my home (mainly by Paul Anderson), but this was made non-viable by ridiculous price tags. The gallery boasts to having the ‘Big Picture’ being the largest picture in the world (12m x 100m), by Anderson, effectively including scenes of the surrounding area of Broken Hill within a 300km radius. It is very impressive but we actually prefer the slightly smaller ‘Panorama’ at Hawker, of the Wilpena Pound, plus this had the addition of three other exceptional outsize paintings. In Anderson’s favour, his paintings of birds in close up view are hard to believe they are paintings and not high definition photographs.

We moved on to both Jack Absalom’s and Pro Hart’s Galleries and came away disappointed in both cases. Pro Hart has never appealed to me and Absalom’s paintings seemed very dull and drab. Pro Hart’s offspring have also gone down the same arty path and some of the paintings by the daughter look like a copy of the old man’s; highlighting the same trees. It would appear that the Hart family have only ever seen one type of tree.

In the Visitors booklet there are 14 art galleries listed and I suspect there are many more.

We then drove up to Mullockers Memorial and Miner’s Memorial on top of the slag heap behind the railway station, the former being a café and souvenir shop and the later being a tribute to many unfortunate miners as a result of a vast variety of accidents. Many of which simply could not happen nowadays due to improved safety regulations and the fact that mining is almost all open cut, rather than tunnelling.

Wednesday 12th August 09

I dropped the car off at a garage in Broken Hill South for its 70,000 km service and collected it after lunch.

After shopping for a few items, we visited the Geo Centre which is a museum displaying 300 mineral specimens which includes a 42kg silver nugget (not the largest found in Broken Hill by any means but the only one that was kept in original form) and a rather special silver tree which is about 3 feet high.

There was a display of some of the rocks under black light which was really spectacular with some amazing iridescent colours. Just before 4.30 we went to the station to watch the Indian/Pacific come in from Perth but after waiting ½ an hour we realised that it wasn’t coming. Merry rang the number shown on one of the boards and the recorded message said the train left Perth on time on Wednesday morning at 11:something am. We realised that it couldn’t possibly get to Broken Hill by the afternoon so a further study of the time table showed that the train arrived at 4:30 pm on Fridays, so we will try again then.

Thursday 13th August 09

We had to do some more shopping so we took the opportunity of calling into the Silver City Mint Gallery again so that Merry could have a new silver charm added to her bracelet, which we left there for collection the following day. We then called into the visitors centre and acquired the key for ‘The living Desert and Sculptures’.

After lunch we headed out to view the sculptures.

We then drove to the living desert which Merry walked around alone. I started the walk but there wasn’t anything of interest for me as there were no flowers, animals, insects, etc, so chose to wait in the car, which Foxy appreciated.

The key for this little expedition was supposed to be returned within 5 hours which we only discovered after the 5 hours had elapsed, and by the time Merry returned from her walk we were also too late to return it, as the visitors centre closed before we could get there.

Friday 14th August 09

In the morning we collecting our mail from the post office in the

northern part of Broken Hill and then we drove into the main town area and returned the key to the visitor centre. We then went to the Silver City Mint Gallery to collect Merry’s bracelet and also have 2 other charms which she bought when we toured New Zealand, added to it. Fortunately they were able to do this straight away which allowed us to walk around part of the Heritage Trail that includes the CBD, which didn’t do a lot for us as it mainly involved the Pubs on every corner (some still in use and some now shops or private residence).

In the process we dropped into a store and bought a new laptop which may solve some off our computing problems, or possibly even add to them. On returning to the caravan, Merry played with the new toy until it was time to greet the Indian/Pacific train, which we successfully managed this time.

Saturday 15th August 09

We drove round the Heritage trail, both through the CBD and the outer lying parts which took in more pubs, churches, numerous miners’ cottages, a quarts outcrop and several lookouts, including another visit to the top of the slag heap behind the railway station. On this occasion it gave us some photo opportunities of the City (sun in a better position) and the ‘Southern Aurora’ train standing in the station.

We spent the afternoon packing up the annex and awning in readiness to move on in the morning, and achieved this before the gradually rising wind made it too difficult.

7 August to 10 August 09

Friday 7 August 09

We left Peterborough fairly early so that we would get to Broken Hill at a good time. The trip was uneventful with no scenery that was worth a photo stop. We are moving back into arid country but there is still a little green around so there has been some rain. We arrived in Broken Hill around lunch time and went for a bit of a tour around the town to look at a couple of the caravan parks. The one that was suggested in the Camps 5 Australia book as a cheap one didn't look to good at all so we drove back to near the entry to Broken Hill to the Broken Hill Caravan Park. This is a big park with lots of facilities but very expensive so we wont be staying here long. We have booked for 2 nights.

In the afternoon we drove out to a site that is shown in Camps 5 as a camping spot with a $ sign which usually means that there is a small fee to pay. The camp spot was 25 kms from Broken Hill and turned out to cost more than plenty of caravan parks so we decided to give that a miss too. We drove around the little town of Silverton which was covered with art galleries. This area must be very popular with artists because there appears to be galleries on just about every street corner in Broken Hill and Silverton. We haven't worked out why yet. There is an old mine near Silverton which might be worth a tour if it is not too expensive. We didn't stop for photographs but I suppose we should have as I doubt whether we will go back to Silverton.

Back in Broken Hill we again checked out the other two caravan parks and discovered that the Lake View park was the cheapest so that is where we will go. In the evening we watched the cricket and for once it was worth watching so I recorded the second and third sessions.

Saturday 8 August 09

Apart from shopping in the morning we spent the rest of the day watching the cricket that I had recorded the night before, which we thoroughly enjoyed for a change. Sorry English and Antiguan family.

Sunday 9 August 09

We moved the caravan from one park to the other and set up the annex and again watched the cricket. We also did the washing.

Monday 10 August 09

Today we watched the little bit of cricket that we hadn't seen last night and I did a bit more washing. By mid morning the wind had got up and we had yet another dreadful sand storm. There will be no top soil left in the desert soon at this rate. My washing got covered in sand. Apart from a trip to Centrelink to drop off forms we stayed huddled in the caravan out of the wind. Barry had to do several trips around the annex putting the awning back in the antiflap bars and we also made sure that the annex was well and truly pegged down. Even still it sounded as if the whole lot was going to blow away and I was surprised that Barry did not suggest getting the annex down and putting the awning away. It survived the night but it was very noisy. Fortunately the wind wasn't as bad during the night as it had been during the day.

2 August to 6 August 09

Sunday 2 August 09

The morning was spent planning where we were going to go from here. I put a spanner in the works by suggesting to Barry that we weren’t far from the road to Broken Hill and that it might be best to go there before we head down to Mount Gambia. There doesn’t seem to be a great deal to go to see around Broken Hill if you go from the east coast. It appears it would be a trip just for that. Anyway that is what we have decided to do.

After lunch we drove out to take a look at Burra Creek Gorge. This turned out to be a really pretty spot which would have been a lovely camping spot where we could have stayed for a few weeks to veg out and recoup some money. Not worth the bother now though. We walked along the river bank for a little while and got a few photos and then walked back through the camping area. The creek is flowing probably due to all this rain we have had over the last couple of weeks.

There wasn’t a great deal else to see so we drove on to have a look at Robertstown and Eudunda. Robertstown didn’t have anything that we could see worth stopping for but Eudunda was the home of Educator and Author Colin Thiele. This man wrote among other things ‘Storm Boy’ the novel from which the movie was made. If you haven’t seen the movie you have missed some of the most amazing scenery.

There is a statue of him at Eudunda, which he unveiled during the 150 year South Australia celebrations in 2001. This statue is situated in some rather nice gardens which are featuring the two schools – Eudunda and Robertstown. The actual children’s play area has stepping stones each with two names of what appears to be the children who were attending the schools at that time. There were also a couple of the teachers’ names.

The actual town of Eudunda is about the same size as Burra and probably has some interesting history. Unfortunately the gallery where we could have obtained information was closed and we could not see a visitor centre.

We decided to travel on and do a loop through Marrabel and Saddleworth and then back to Burra.

When we got to Marrabel we found a statue of a bucking horse with a man on its back, so we stopped to take a photo. It turns out that Marrabel is famous for its annual rodeo where the brumby ‘Curio’ who was mustered in 1945 and due to her unusual bucking action unseated most riders within 3 seconds. The statue is of Curio and the now famous man, Alan Woods, who managed to stay on for 10 seconds. I took a photo of the history board but it was leaning back and is only just readable. The rest of the town wasn’t really worth much of a look but that bit was good. Somehow we took a wrong turn here (although we don’t remember turning) and missed out Saddleworth. We went through Waterloo and Black Springs most of the trip on dirt roads which of course we hadn’t expected and ended up on the main road to Burra. We decided not to worry about Saddleworth and headed back to Burra.

Monday 3 August 09

We took the annex down in the morning because the cloud was starting to come up again and the annex was only a bit damp. Our intention is to get an early start in the morning to reach Broken Hill in one go.

We took a walk along the creek bank in the afternoon which took us back past the dugouts that we mentioned earlier. There is a garden along the creek bank which was made up and is maintained by the senior citizens of Burra. It is quite a pretty garden and some of the spring flowers are starting to open. We continued in a circle going back down the other side of the creek and through the town. A walk of about 30 minutes, probably not enough for our exercise regime but something. We had an early night to assist our early start in the morning.

Tuesday 4 August 09

As I mentioned we were up and on our way by 8.30 today. I put a corned silverside joint into the Dream Pot before we left with some vegetables so that we will have a cooked meal when we get to Broken Hill. Barry is actually not keen to due the journey straight through so we might stop on the road somewhere. As we were nearing the turnoff to Peterborough I suggested that we stop of for an hour or so in Peterborough as we hadn’t seen much of the place when we drove through in 2002 on our way to see Garon and Sue in Melbourne. When we got to Peterborough and stopped at the very unusual visitor centre (a railway carriage) we discovered that there is quite a bit to see in Peterborough so we decided to pull into the caravan park for one night. This is the great thing about having no itinerary; we change our minds as the mood takes us. Actually that is not quite fair it is me that changes my mind and Barry goes along. Not that I think he regrets it generally.

After we parked the van and didn’t bother to unpack anything we headed back into town to look at the various points of interest. We bought a little book which had a map and a write up about the various tourist things to do.

Our first stop was at “Meldonfield”, a house with a museum in the shed at the back. The museum was filled with various different horses and wagons with people and various other accoutrements.

Absolutely everything in the museum was handmade by Eldon and his wife Mary, completely to scale. There was some fantastic stuff in there and Mary talked us through some of the wagons, where the originals were or are and what they were used for etc.

After this she took us through to another shed where Eldon is building a replica of the Peterborough train station. He made the bricks in exactly the same way and with the same materials as those used originally and he showed us the tiny template he made to make sure the bricks were all the correct size. They were also able to obtain a piece of the original rock from which the station was built so absolutely everything is authentic. Eldon showed us all round his work shop, the various tools he uses and what he has done to miniaturise everything.

He told us that he and his wife started this hobby after they retired from the ‘Agri vation’ industry fourteen years ago. It was hard to believe that he has taught himself to make these wagons so perfectly in such a short time. He also told us that if there was anything wrong somebody was always quick to point out the error which was why he was so careful to do it right. He gets a lot of clubs, bus tours and enthusiasts visiting so he is particularly vigilant. Barry and I though this museum or collection was one of the highlights of our trip so far. Eldon showed us how he steams the wood to bend it into the shape he wants and the various templates he has for the different size shafts. He also showed us how he makes the spokes for the wheels – they are whittled – and how he gets the spokes to fit into the wheel rim. He even showed us how he shrinks the metal band around the wagon wheel by heating the metal and then cooling it once it is round the wheel. I learned so much while I was there about making wagons and how wood can be bent to make different shapes rather than cutting through the grain which weakens the wood. He showed us a shaft and the grain of the wood going through it so that you could see that he had not cut through it. I looked out through the window and saw what looked like a tree with miniature oranges on it and I asked Eldon if it was a miniature orange tree but he said it was a cumquat which of course I remembered as soon as he said it. Actually I think Barry said it was a cumquat.

From Meldonfield we went to get some photographs of the train engine which is a feature of Peterborough and the war memorial. Everywhere you look in this town you see trains or wagons. This is because this is where the three rail gauges met for many years. The town was originally settled as a service town for the agriculture in the area but before long the narrow gauge railway came through the town, later the broad gauge railway came through from Adelaide and the narrow gauge came through from Leigh Creek to Port Augusta.

Eventually the standard gauge was added which brought the India Pacific train through Peterborough between Sydney and Perth. During its zenith the town had 100 trains a day passing through and many had to change gauge at this point. The railways were the life blood of the town for 110 years. There was a huge rail yard in the town providing work for over 1000 people. The “round house” which was the largest in the southern hemisphere is largely still in tact; with several old carriages and engines either restored or well looked after, and there is a depot turntable (the only three gauge example in the world) according to the literature provided. The town is now a small rural town existing largely on tourism although we heard that the town is growing again with twice as many children in the primary school as in the high school.

There is a memorial to all the railway workers who died whilst on duty and were based at Peterborough (originally called Petersburg until 1918) and there is a paved area around the memorial with what appears to be some of the workers’ names.

After this we visited the Motorbike museum. This was quite small as the couple who own the collection have only been going for less than a year. Lynn and Ian own the collection and Lynn was telling us that they came to Peterborough from Adelaide and found a church for sale and Sue told Ian that either they bought the church and started a museum or some of the eight bikes he had in his garage had to go. So they bought the church and set up the museum.

They have bikes from 13 different countries and their aim is to get representation from as many countries as possible. At the back of the museum there are quite a lot of other interesting items which they bought as a job lot from an old man who was retiring in Peterborough. There were dozens of different tins in the kitchen area of the church. Lynn was telling us that they eventually intend to turn part of the church into their home as funds allow. They intend leaving the pulpit area as it is, which will become a focal part of the residence. What a good way to make use of old buildings. I told her about our friends in Manjimup who have turned the village hall into their home. There was only one British bike, a James which Barry was not impressed with. I recognised the name of a Ducati but that was about all. There was one Belgian bike there, quite a few French and Italian bikes and obviously other countries to make up the 13. Lynn was really nice and told us quite a bit about their lives which was really interesting.

There is a penny farthing sitting outside the museum and Lynn told us it was stolen from its original owner and when they started the museum somebody found the 2 wheels in an old shed and offered it to them. Ian made a frame and handlebars and Lynn put a saddle on it. They then placed it outside the museum. The original owner saw it and said “Hey that was stolen from me years ago” but they said they didn’t want it back when Lynn told them that her husband had restored it and all that they were given was 2 wheels.

Our next stop was the Steamtown Museum which was where the railway yards are situated with the turntable mentioned earlier.

This track shown on the turntable has all three gauges. Note the centre rail which is the standard gauge is skinnier than the other two. This was done simply to accommodate the rail between the other two gauges.

We did a guided tour here and most of the tour was very interesting. We climbed inside several carriages and saw how things changed over the years. The original sleeper carriages were really opulent but gradually over the next 20 or so years the opulence disappeared and more functionality took over. We walked through the workshop and lifted some of the tools which weighed a ton. We climbed up into a steam engine and looked at the cramped conditions that the engine driver and fireman worked in.

Interestingly the spotter was the train guard who sat on a very high ledge in the brake van at the back of the train. It was only him who could see the rail half a mile ahead and he applied the brakes if something or someone was on the track. The round house where the carriages and engines were held was a huge area which is actually only a part of a circle going around the turntable.

The last part of the day was spent driving to the four entries into the town to photograph the miniaturised locos that were built and donated by Colin Campbell, a retired blacksmith, to the town of Peterborough at no small cost.

Dinner from the Dream Pot was, as usual, a success and saved such a lot of energy as it had been cooking away in its own heat with the dream pot sitting in the sink while we were travelling earlier in the day. The notes from the caravan park said that the TV reception was poor so Barry set up the satellite dish and he managed to find the satellite in about 3 seconds which was a relief. We still didn’t do much in the way of unpacking, just put the chairs and table outside and made do with a wash rather than take all the washing and baskets out of the shower.

Wednesday 5 August 09

We decided that we would stay another day to look at the rest of the attractions the town has to offer and the other nearby towns. We started at 10.00 with a visit to the house of Colin Campbell. He was not there so we didn’t get to see his workshop but we did take some photos of some of the things he has made that are scattered around his garden.

His house is very modest but he has the most ostentatious wrought iron fence you are ever likely to see. In the garden is a train which will eventually be placed in front of the train station that Eldon is building when it eventually goes on display. From what Eldon told us this could be some considerable time in the future because bureaucracy is getting in the way.

We then visited the Dragon’s Rest gardens but on looking at the fees and the garden from the street we decided that it was the wrong time of the year and the garden was not worth a visit. Our next stop was the government tank lookout which was very disappointing with trees blocking out most of the view. We did not bother to get out of the car.

We went on to take photographs of the visitor centre and visit the town hall where there is a quilt hanging which depicts the history and business of the town. There is a talk which runs giving you a run down of all the pictures in each of the three panels. The quilt is really beautiful and the work that went into it is quite something.

I took a few photos of the buildings in the town and then we did some shopping.

After lunch we drove to Terowie. We had picked up some trek notes from the visitor centre but we didn’t realise that the trek started in Peterborough so we hadn’t zeroed the trip meter. This meant that we got confused about where various buildings were but we eventually worked it out. On the way into Terowie we came across a paddock filled with tin men and women and an obvious invasion from Mars which was a bit of a worry.

I took photos of just about everything in the paddock much to Barry’s disgust. He sat in the car while I played. Terowie’s claim to fame is that it was “The Hub of The North” being a major supply centre for the developing areas to the north and northeast.

Even before the railway reached Terowie there were as many as 50 hors and bullock teams arriving in the town daily. Shortly after the broad gauge railway reached Terowie it was linked to Petersburg (later Peterborough) and Broken Hill by the narrow gauge line. The narrow gauge line was eventually extended to reach Quorn and then Alice Springs. All transfers, of people and goods, from the broad gauge to narrow gauge occurred at Terowie. The arrival of the railway coincided with mineral discoveries in the Broken Hill and Silverton regions who looked to SA as an outlet and for development and transportation of the vast north eastern pastoral regions of SA. As a result Terowie became the centre to which all supplies were drawn and produce delivered. The railway yards in Terowie were immense with the population of the town reaching 2000 at its peak.

In March of 1942 General McArthur gave his first Australian press interview in Terowie after his escape from the Philippines and it was here that he issued the now famous statement “I came out of Bataan and I shall return” which are depicted on a plaque at the station. In 1969 the broad gauge railway was extended to Peterborough and the station became a whistle stop. The Barrier Highway constructed at the same time bypassed the town and the population dropped rapidly to 130. This was almost the demise of the town but the Citizens Association fought to obtain heritage listing for the town as an historic town. We actually thought it was just another scruffy little country town and other than the station we did not bother with photographs.

We then drove back to Peterborough and after remembering to reset the trip meter to zero we travelled on to Orroroo. We soon discovered that the distances on the sheet bore no resemblance to our trip meter. I don’t know whether our odometer is miles out or their sheet is miles out possibly a combination of the two in opposite directions but it was still difficult to pick up the land marks and some we didn’t find at all.

We drove through the town of Orroroo and in the process of trying to get our bearings we discovered a picnic area built by the local Lions Club and the town swimming pool which dammed part of Pekina Creek. I noticed that there was a walking trail which appeared to go around the pool and I suggested to Barry that we take Foxy for a walk along this trail. While I visited the lou Barry read the sign board and said that there was a bridge across the creek which we could cross to get back down the other side of the creek. We headed out with one bottle of water between us. It was not cold but it certainly wasn’t hot so we didn’t think to get water for what looked like a short walk. Barry said the sign board did not mention a distance. We walked up one side of the creek and eventually came to what we though was a crossing, not a bridge. Eventually we came to a reservoir and we discussed walking across the wall but decided that as the board had not mentioned this we had better not so we carried on down the side of the reservoir. We followed some pink marker pegs which took us right round the reservoir and back past the other end of the dam wall, and then picked up the path on the other side of the creek. When we eventually arrived back at the car park, we studied the notice board a little more thoroughly and discovered that what looked like a bridge actually represented the dam wall. If we had used it the walk would have been 2.9kms long and about an hours walk which would have been good. We estimated the reservoir added about another 3kms, and the walk took well over 2 hours. Foxy walked all of the way and slept like a log afterwards.

During this walk we, of course, ran out of water and as quite a bit of the walk was by the creek I decided to refil my water bottle. The edge of the bank was very muddy and slippery and I ended up with one foot in the water. I managed to fill my bottle but the water was a bit muddy. Nevertheless we drank it on the way back. Fortunately we found some puddles for Foxy. What a good job there had been rain in the area recently. A dry creek bed and no puddles for Foxy would have been a very different story. We obviously need to check what we are going to do more thoroughly before we start in future. The most worrying feature was that we didn't know where we were going and as we appeared to cross the creek several times (actually they were run ins we discovered later) we had a nagging feeling that we were just walking along the creek and were going to end up hours later in another town. Barry didn't have a jumper of jacket and it was starting to get quite cold by the time we eventually arrived back at the very welcome car.

As it was gone 5.00 pm by the time we got back from the walk we decided that we could do without seeing the rest of Orroroo. Six kilometres should not wreck us but it did which just goes to show we need more exercise.

Thursday 6 August 09

As I had slept really badly which meant that Barry did not sleep very well either, we decided not to drive to Broken Hill today. Instead we had a lazy day, a bit of shopping and writing up the blog.