27th December 2012
The work on the car didn’t happen due to strong wind
and dampness, and also the Boxing Day test match. Today looks a little brighter and without the
wind but we have to go shopping and start packing up to leave early tomorrow
for Canberra.
28th December 2012
We arrived in the Eagle Hawk Caravan Park which is
actually still in NSW about 200m from the border with Canberra, and about 17kms
from the city centre, at about2.00pm and set up our camp spot in its entirety
including the annex as we will be here for a week. On the way down here we only used the awning
to keep the rain/dew of the items stored outside overnight. The park is very large and relatively new,
and like most parks these days are tending to fill them with cabins of all
shapes and sizes with relatively small areas for caravans, and the caravan bays
are designed to just fit you in, rather than allowing a bit of elbow room. That was one of the really good points at
Wangaling Beach, near Mission Beach, you could really spread out. The ablution block is good because of the
newness and the fact that the cabins are self contained, therefore to a large
extent, only used by the caravan owners (trailer trash).
29th December 2012
The weather is warm during the day but has now
become cooler at night so in the last few days we have gone from a sheet only
with the overhead fan on, after using the air conditioner to cool the van done
prior to going bed, to now include a blanket and bedspread. Barry took the better weather and nicer caravan park
as an opportunity to change the fuel tank sender unit. This meant removing the roller draws from the
rear of the vehicle to be able to lift the carpet and sounding material to gain
access to the floor plate. Once this was
removed it was a fifteen minute job to replace the sender unit, but removing
and replacing the roller draws stretched the task out to five hours and will be
completed with about an hour’s work tomorrow.
30th December 2012
The car has now been completed and the roller draws
refilled and we are free to get back to tourist stuff and to see if the $360 for
the unit was worth the time and effort. Nissan wanted over $300 to install the sender
but we suspect they hadn’t taking the roller draw removal/replacement into
account. Even so, they were going to charge
heaps for a one hour job without the roller draws. They would only need to remove 6 screws to
release the carpet, 4 screws to remove the access plate and 6 screws, 2 small
hosepipes and an electrical plug to remove the sender unit and then reverse the
process. Barry did discover that the small hose must be removed before the larger hose as this depressurises the tank and avoids pumping diesel out.
31st December 2012
This was a big day out at the National War Memorial
that kept us occupied for the full seven hours that it is open. We got there shortly before opening time and
the underground car park, that is just high enough for us to get in, was
relatively empty.
The first hour inside
was really good with so few people around that allowed us to get a lot of
photos without stay bodies in view.
Barry prefers photos without people unless the photo is specifically of
people or required to demonstrate the size of something. As you enter you are confronted with the
garden pathway leading up to The Hall of Memory. In front of you is a hedge lined pathway
around the Remembrance Pond with an eternal flame burning at the far end. Going up to the higher level brings you to
arched corridors on each side overlooking the pool with the Remembrance Walls
along each side that leads you to The Hall of Memory. This is very cathedral like with its very
high, beautiful domed roof and huge pictured walls of soldier/sailor/airmen and
nurses achieved with mosaic tiles, all set off with stained glass windows also
depicting our armed forces. In the
centre of the floor is the grave of the ‘Unknown Warrior’ in remembrance of the
fallen that never received a proper grave. From here you wander into a labyrinth of huge rooms
containing equipment from numerous wars that Australia has been involved in and
includes at least a dozen fighter aircraft and a Lancaster Bomber, tanks,
armoured cars, trucks, a submarines, a helicopter, etc, and how they got them all in is beyond
imagination. There are film shows in
many of the separate areas showing the roles the various types of war such as
the bomber crews, the fighter pilots, the seamen, nurses. There are numerous 3D landscapes of many of
the better known battle fields highlighting the conditions the battle was
fought in. There is also an area
highlighting our decorated heroes with the medals on display. Each day the memorial buildings are locked up
after the playing of the ‘Last Post’.
1st January 2013
We caught up with Rory, Jack already had plans with
his friend, and we took her to her choice of venue, called Kambah Pool, which
is a natural riverside setting with a beach in one area and a rock pool in
another. Her choice was the rock pool
that turned out to be not a lot of fun, probably due to Jack being absent, and
only a bit of rock hopping happening. We
decided to leave and took her to Cockington Green Gardens which is a
beautifully laid out gardens including miniature villages, with typical English
flavour. We had a picnic lunch prior to
entering which had been supplied and prepared by Rory. There were several interactive miniature
railways plus a ride-on train to add to the kids‘entertainment, plus an
international area with impressive abodes of the wealthy from numerous
countries. None of the plants are
Bonsai, they are all naturally mall but during the winter, any that have grown
too high are removed and replaced with smaller ones. There ia also a hop with a couple of very
impressive dolls houses. After leaving
we called into a Dinosaurs Museum just down the road were we parked in their
car park and took photos of the outside display before heading back to the
caravan park where Rory used the swimming pool for a short while only, due to
Canberra type water temperatures.
2nd January 2013
We returned to the War Memorial to check out the
surrounding gardens and statues along with the outside display of guns, tank
and the complete bridge of HMAS Brisbane that we saw on the inside a few days
ago. We then drove down the impressive Anzac
Parade towards the Houses of Parliament to take photos of the roadside
memorials to individual wars. Having
accomplished that mission we headed out to a Hoyts cinema and watched Les
Miserable’s which was a really good film and should win some awards if the
Yanks can get past their bias towards their own inferior films. We saw the live stage show some years ago and
were pleasantly surprised how well the film compared.
3rd January 2013
Most of the day was spent packing up ready to leave
early tomorrow morning but included a trip back to the cinema in the hope of
reclaiming Barry’s wallet which has gone missing. His believe is that it worked its way out of
his pocket whilst lounging in the cinema.
The theory proved to be correct as the wallet had been handed in and we
were able to retrieve it. But it cost some time and fuel. The caravan park has turned into a shambles
as there is a local event happening involving old cars, most of which seem to
Holden and have been restored to anything except original. The engines have all been replaced with the
biggest V8 engine available and fitted with the noisiest exhaust system
available. The usual 10kms speed limit
in caravan parks doesn’t seem to exist anymore, as it mandatory for them to see
what speed they can obtain between speed humps. It also seems that the only form of
amusement for these overgrown children is to sit revving the guts out of their
cars for hours on end. If they did it
wherever the event is held to please their show pony needs it wouldn’t be a
problem, but around the park is not appreciated, and the management is not
about to do anything about it as they have suddenly filled about a dozen cabins
for several days, which is a bigger earner than caravans.
4th January 2013
We headed out at 7.30am and parked and unhitched the
caravan in a vacant area alongside a huge shopping centre near the airport so
that we could collect Richard from the arrivals area without having to drag the
van around there with us. Jack and Rory
had already been delivered to us at the caravan park by their mother prior to
us leaving. We drove the 230kms to the
Mystery Bay campgrounds on the NSW coast south of Bateman Bay. It isn’t quite what we had hoped for and
we’re not too sure it is the best place to be as far as occupying the kids, but
it is only for 5 days. It is very rough,
ready and packed due to the school holidays although we had been told on the
phone that most people would have left by now, but that was exactly true. No-one was available at the check-in so we
had to simply find a spot where we could.
At $25 a day it is not really worth it as by the time you add on the
extra costs that you don’t need in a recognised caravan park, such as running
the fridge on gas, petrol for the generator, the extra fuel used to drag 260
litres of water with us. These extras
probably push the overall daily cost up to $30 which in most cases would cover
the cost of a caravan park with better facilities such as better toilets, hot
showers, swimming pool, BBQ facilities, etc. However, at this time of year with
school holidays the coastal caravan parks will have pushed up their prices to
peak season rates and need to be booked at least six months in advance to get
in to them. You can’t just turn up and
expect to get in.
During the last few days, Richard and the kids have
done some exploring through this extensive campsite and along the
coastline. The immediate coastline is a
cliff with a rough track down to the rock strewn beach, but further along the
coast they have found somewhere to swim, snorkel and fish. They actually brought some fish home for
breakfast but now have to find a volunteer to eat it.
7th January 2013
The fish had to wait until the evening meal and even
then most of it was thrown away as there were too many small bones to contend
with. During the day we went into Dalmeny to a camping shop and to check out
the local campsite, which had a really lovely ocean outlook and beach, but
considerably more expensive but does offer hot showers. On the way back we went up to Bar Rock
Lookout for the view over the harbour entrance and then walked along the jetty
an observed a large turtle. On the way
back, via the lookout, Barry spotted a Superb Blue Wren, but it unfortunately
didn’t wait to have its photo taken.
8th January 2013
We have been put on to a total fire ban as there are
fires north of here (about 100kms away but the wind is in our direction), and
we are in the midst of an extensive forest area. We are heading into Narooma for lunch today
as it is Jack’s birthday as we can’t take him out for dinner as we need to
start packing everything away ready for an early start and departure tomorrow
morning, as Richard has to catch the 3.00pm flight out of Canberra. Having eaten out at lunchtime we didn’t need
to light an open fire for cooking. With
leaving early we also hitched up the van which would allow for a quick exit, if
required. Surprisingly, it rained during
the night, but not heavy enough to be of any use to anybody.
9th January 2013
We headed for Canberra but had to do a 60kms detour
to get around one of the 134 fires currently ablaze in NSW which had closed the
Kings Highway. Both of the Canberra
caravan parks that take dogs are full, so after dropping off the grandchildren at
home and then dropping off Richard at the airport we headed out to the
Showgrounds at Bungendore. Due to the
fire that had closed the road the showground was being used as the refuelling
area for five fire-bombing helicopters to add to our entertainment. The long uphill climb from Batemans Bay was
not as punishing as we had expected, although we were down to 40kph for several
long spells, but it was actually harder holding 5 tonnes back on the way down
the mountain using bottom gear, and some braking.
10th January 2013
We spent most of the day cleaning and drying the
tent and tarps that got wet prior to packing them away, to make sure they don’t
go mouldy, and then repacked and stored them on the roof rack for the next
holiday visit in about a week’s time. Meanwhile the helicopters are still
refuelling every couple of hours to fight the fires in the hope of having them
dealt with before the weekend when the next heatwave is due to begin and start
fighting more fires.
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