MONDAY 23 MARCH     QUEANBEYAN

Another hot day and yet another Total Fire Ban.

We find this a dry heat so, although the sun beats down when we are outside, it is not the humid, oppressive, draining heat. What I do find depressing is the visual dryness and sense that the land and its creatures are suffering.

We drove to S’s to drop off some information John had for her. Left it on the doorstep.

John did more word processing. I began to put our mounting collection of photos into an album, with captions. I wonder how many of these we will fill before we end this trip?

After lunch, went back to the War Memorial, but the Research Area was not open. So we browsed in the WW1 display area and in the bookshop – for a couple of hours. Spent some time in the Commemorative Courtyard, with its Honour Rolls – walls with the names of over 100,000 Australians who died in wars and associated activities.  This really brings home the scale of Australia’s various wartime efforts – and the toll these have taken.

John’s research efforts had brought to light that there had been a history written of the 39th battalion in WW1, so it was off to the National Library to seek a copy. Found it and John spent time skimming it and taking photocopies of some parts – cost $7.

It was about 7pm before we left there!

Drove to S’s to see if she had gotten the material that John had left earlier, but there was no one home. We did a little getting lost, trying to get there around the circles. I was not navigating, as John said he knew where he was going!

Went up Mt Ainsley again, to see the city lights – that was lovely and worth doing. The War Memorial below Mt Ainsley is lit up at night, but not too brightly – it looks excellent, and the panorama of the city spreads away on all sides. One appreciates the extent of the city – and the way the suburbs are interspersed with parks and bushland, when you see the light and dark areas at night.

We did not get back to the park until 8pm.

John phoned K to get the details of the hotel he will be staying in. They were at P’s parents’ place, but he’d left a message for us on the machine.

There had been clouds building through the afternoon and it became somewhat humid. By night, it was just beautifully balmy. There was no rain, though we thought there might be. Maybe it is just a little cooler change?

Very late tea was leftovers from Saturday.