We were up early, in order to be at the pool at the Australian Institute of Sport, just after 9am. Found our way there, with GPS help, quite easily.
The boys had a packed sporting day, which seemed to be a norm, rather than something specially arranged for us.
We watched them swim in a couple of events, then hurried off to Ginninderra Lake, where they were supposed to have triathlon events. These had been changed to a kind of biathlon, though, due to algae in the lake. They were to run, then bike, then run again. Both boys had all the right gear, including racing bikes. Not a cheap sport!
Younger grandson rounding the curve on his racing bike
The younger boy – aged 8 – tackled the shorter course event – and won. He was really good.
Coming up the straight in the lead
The older boy (10) came about 5th, over double the length of the other.
Then it was a fast move back to the AIS for more swimming events. The boys certainly had stamina!
The younger boy swam the 100 metres backstroke for the first time over that distance and came 2nd in a tight finish. It was a good performance. They had changed swim clubs from when we were last here; the coaches seemed to be much better – have coached Olympic swimmers.
Dog had to stay in the Terios while we were at the pool. Fortunately, it was a cool enough day. Had it been warmer, I would have stayed back at Bus with her. At Lake Gininderra, she was able to come on the lead with us. Triath;lon was clearly a really popular sport – finding somewhere to park wasn’t easy, and we had to walk a long way to the course. So we were exercised too.
We left mid-afternoon, after the boys’ events were all done. Lunch had been overlooked in all the rushing back and forth, so we meandered about the north-eastern suburbs looking for somewhere to buy food. Canberra is such a frustrating place for visitors! Neighbourhood precincts might be fine, with a few service shops tucked away in convenient locations for residents, but they are hell for those who are not partial to going round in circles!
Eventually managed to pick up a couple of rolls and ate them sitting in the car by the shops. Then back to Bus.
John was really happy that some effort seemed to have been made for him to have contact with the boys and participate in aspects of their life. He had certainly now seen a representative sample of their sporting activities.
After the late lunch, tea was soup, followed by bacon and eggs.
Had a relaxed start to the day, then left camp about 11.30, to go visit and lunch with John’s daughter. Her husband had gone to Sydney for the day, to a party, so it was just her and the boys.
We had specified that we only wanted a light lunch – no fuss – so we enjoyed salad rolls and fruit.
The boys were enthusiastic about having John’s attention, and being able to play with Couey. They got her out of the car in order to play ball games on the grass in front of the apartment. I just had to hope she wasn’t tempted to sample Lake Burley Griffin! They would love to have a dog, but the life of overseas postings makes that impossible. Couey had a great time and was happy enough to be tethered out on the little patio while we all went inside again.
Ball games by Lake Burley Griffin
The younger grandson had been offered a place in his school’s music stream for Grade 3. He sang for us – an incredibly pure voice – so we could see why the offer was made.
We left mid-afternoon. The boys had homework to do.
Outlook across Lake Burley Griffin
Visited the nearby shops for the weekend papers and on the way back went further up the Federal Highway to check out the location of the Queanbeyan exit road, for Monday.
Today was Couey’s third birthday. Does that equate to her 21st in human terms?
Well, it wasn’t being used….
It was a pleasant enough day – not too hot for travel.
We left the park just before 10am. Hadn’t hurried the packing up too much.
Took the Up River Road again, on the Victorian side of the river. This eventually took us to the Murray Valley Highway, and hence onto the wonderful Hume Freeway. Had we remained on the NSW side of the river. we’d have had to negotiate the streets of Albury.
There is no doubt that the Hume Freeway is a great route, these days, making travel so much less stressful than it once was.
John forgot about refuelling until we were well underway, and we eventually did so at Tarcutta, by which time the tank was well down. Took 83 litres, in a 90 litre tank! $1.589cpl.
Gave Couey a quick run on the grass behind the servo, while we ate the sandwiches I’d made for lunch, and had a coffee – from my thermos.
Tarcutta was our first stop after leaving Corowa. John had been put onto pills to ease the issues he’d been having due to enlarged prostate, and there was no doubt now that they made a huge difference, compared to what our mornings had been like on the earlier trip this year.
Didn’t stop again until we reached Sutton at 3pm – staying on the highways and definitely not deviating via Gunghalin!
Driving towards Canberra from Yass, there seemed to be an early afternoon exodus from the city – all those public servants taking flex time to get a head start on their weekend…
Our en-suite site at Eaglehawk Holiday park was very suitable. Both having an en-suite and dry weather (although a bit cool and windy) made this a much more enjoyable stay than last time.
Lots of wonderful space…
The oval in front of our site was great for Couey to do ball chasing. We just had to make sure there was no local wild life around – kangaroos and rabbits.
Noticed that the park was under a flight path for Canberra Airport; rather frequent planes going over. More of the weekend Canberra exodus, I guessed.
John made contact with daughter to say we had arrived in town. Then we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.
Tea was fish and fries.
While we watched some TV after tea, Couey sat up in the front of the bus, grumbling away at the kangaroos grazing outside. We could see a disturbed night coming up, but once we’d gone to bed and the lights were out, she settled right down to a normal night’s sleep. Can’t figure that dog out, some of the time.
Left the park about 10am. We were a bit slow to get going this morning, possibly because of sitting up late last night. The port wouldn’t have had anything to do with it!
The day was grey and cool, but Canberra’s rain soon turned to light showers only, which became more intermittent through the day. By the time we stopped in northern Victoria for the night, they were only occasional.
The drive was uneventful. We went my way this time: down the Federal Highway to its intersection with the Barton Highway and thence to Yass. Very preferable to the back roads of Gungahlin!
The suburban neighbourhoods of the planned city gave way to the lifestyle small acreages of the fringes, often with grape vines growing, interspersed with grazing country.
We did not need to go into Yass so were able to use the bypass to get straight onto the Hume Freeway.
John continued to be happy about the results of the changed tyre inflations.
We took a break at Gundagai, at the Dog on Tuckerbox stopping place. Had coffees. Bought a bag of apples.
Couey was totally indifferent to the ancestral dog on tuckerbox statue – but would really have liked to get into the pool at its base! Again, we spoiled her idea of a party.
No – it is not a fancy dog pool…
Stopped for lunch at Holbrook – always a great place for a break. We didn’t need to visit the tempting bakery there, though, because I’d made us lunch sandwiches before we left this morning.
Refuelled at Holbrook – $1.619cpl.
I didn’t want to do any driving today. Had lost a bit of confidence after the Dubbo effort.
The Albury bypass had made a great difference to progressing through that city. So much easier now.
We found the Borderland Holiday Park at Wodonga, on the Victorian side of the Murray, with no problems. Our en-suite site there cost $38.70, after discount. The park was pleasant enough. Very dog friendly, with a big off lead exercise area in a van storage paddock at the back.
En-suite site at Wodonga…
I cooked up a chicken stir fry, with rice, for tea.
Today was cold, grey, damp. It had only been five days since we were sitting around in over 40 degree heat. Too much of a contrast!
I had originally tried to book us into a site at the Riverside Caravan Park, at Queanbeyan, where we had stayed before. They didn’t have a site big enough for Bus, which was why I’d booked us here. Now, I was very pleased because, with all the rain, the other park could have been much more than soggy!
I walked up to the service station next to the caravan park, to get bread for breakfast. They only had white. Oh well, beggars and all that. But it made horrible toast.
Late morning, we drove to the family’s apartment, through drizzly rain. It was much easier in daylight.
The rented apartment was almost new, ultra modern, at ground level. The lawn beyond the patio fronted onto Lake Burley Griffin and there were great views across to the War Memorial building from their living room. SIL said they might move to a more spacious one on the third floor, whilst they wait for the lease on their own home to end.
The youngster with the sore ear was home from school, so his dad was also home from work. He made us some sandwiches for lunch. It was suggested that John take grandson to Questacon, for a couple of hours. I wanted to drive Terios back to the caravan park before the late afternoon traffic rush. So, SIL would drop John and the boy off at Questacon and pick them up later, after collecting the older boy from school. Questacon is an interactive science and technology museum. Neither John nor I had ever been there, but it would clearly interest John.
I followed them as far as Questacon, then took the Northbourne Avenue/Federal Highway route back to Sutton. It was easy driving, despite the continuing rain.
I had a quiet rest of the afternoon at Bus. It was still drizzling and chilly, so Couey got no more than the minimum necessary trips outdoors. She really wanted to investigate a couple of rabbits that were grazing not far from Bus, but I stopped that bit of fun.
I wasn’t very hungry, so just had some soup for tea. My stomach was still a bit painful.
SIL dropped John back at Bus at about 10pm. It was nice of him to drive the man back, instead of letting him taxi it. John had a really good time – especially spending time with the boys, who he sees so rarely. The younger boy was born in Brussels and to date, they’d only spent about three years of his life in Australia. We sat up for a while, with a nightcap of port, talking about his day.
As soon as it was business hours, John phoned the RACV, who passed him onto the NRMA, for advice about tyre repair. He wanted to find a place that had the equipment and knowledge to deal with a vehicle like ours. Yass, being by the Hume Highway main route from Sydney to Melbourne, was much more likely to have same than a smaller town. John was told of a tyre place, which he then phoned, and was told to drive around there when we were ready.
Having two wheels on each side at the back, meant we could drive Bus – very slowly – without changing the flat tyre. It was only about a km and we were there at 9am. Had to disconnect the Terios, to fit into the yard, and also because Bus would have to be backed out and one is not supposed to reverse when flat towing.
Of course, it was raining.
The tyre man was an old-style expert – it is getting harder to find this sort of expertise these days, with the growing dominance of big chains and franchises in so many fields. His company did a lot of truck and bus tyres, which was really reassuring. This was new ground for us, after all. He found the seam on the tube had split, which he said was old age and not related to my driving mishap. Not sure I totally believed him, but it did make me feel a bit better.
We bought a new, heavy-duty tube, plus two spare tubes suitable for the front and back wheels, that we would carry packed away in Bus, “in case”. He also sold us flexible valve extensions which would make checking tyre pressures on the inside rear wheels much easier. He said our tyres should be inflated to 75 on the front and 65 on the back. They had been well under that. We had never questioned the pressures Bus came with when we bought it – assumed that the dealer’s service centre had been correct.
The lovely man even crawled under Bus to check the pressure of the spare wheel, and he checked the age of all the tyres. They were 2012 vintage, which was good to know.
So we were mightily impressed with the service and found his charges most reasonable. We each slipped him an extra $10 to buy himself some liquid refreshment of his choice.
Once Bus was under control, John phoned daughter and they sorted out visit arrangements, so it was with lighter spirits that we drove on to Canberra. John said Bus handled differently – and better – with the changed tyre pressures.
Again, faith in the GPS, rather than this human navigator, let the driver down. We were heading for a caravan park at Sutton, to the NE of the city. “She” had him turn off the highway and take suburban streets, with lots of tight roundabouts and much Monday morning traffic, through Gunghalin. We eventually reached the Federal Highway near Sutton. It might have been the most direct way, but it sure as hell wasn’t the easiest.
The way into the Eaglehawk Holiday Park, where we hadn’t been before, was not the easiest, either, with a confusing slip road to navigate.
I had only been able to book a powered site – no ensuites available. It was a long, narrow site, terraced from the next one. It cost $32 per night. We had to unhitch the car so John could back onto our site, because of the position of the cement annexe slab.
The park was huge, with only a few van sites of any sort. The couple of ensuite site buildings were at one end of the large grassed oval, away from where we were. There was a section for permanent residents, up the hill, then many rows of cabins and bunkhouses. The establishment was very geared to tour and school groups, with a dining hall as well. It was all very modern, well laid out and clean. The oval would have been great for dog exercise, had it not rained the whole time we were there.
Sutton site. Little buildings with caravans, in background, were the en-suite sites.
John had made arrangements to meet the grandsons and their father at a pool in the centre of Canberra, at 4pm. We found our way there alright – the GPS was a help!
We watched the ten year old train for a couple of hours. He did 4.3kms in that time! We were greatly impressed. John got some quality Grandad time with the eight year old, who wasn’t swimming, due to an ear infection. He helped with some homework. The boys attended a school that ran the International Baccalureate Program; it was very obvious from the nature of the homework the Grade 2 boy had to do, how much more rigorous this curriculum is, and how much children attending “ordinary” schools are not challenged to reach their capabilities. Even the fact that the boy had about an hour of homework to do at all…. This issue of low expectation and hence reducing standards is a long-time hobby horse of mine.
By the time we left the pool, to follow SIL and the kids on their way to pick up John’s daughter from work, it was dark as well as teeming with rain. There was peak hour traffic, rain, lights coming from all directions, the roads were unfamiliar, and we were trying to follow a “local” who didn’t adjust his driving to wait for us. Canberra drivers are not friendly people! Rain made the side mirrors on the Terios useless – a flaw we had not had occasion to discover before. John ran over a traffic island barrier thing he didn’t see, at the government building – some very loud clunks.
By the time we’d followed the family to their apartment building, we just wanted to keep on going, back to the safety of Bus, rather than make the planned brief stop for drinks amidst their tea time preparations.
And that was a horror drive too. GPS took us via the Madura Road, which was the logical route – except we hadn’t come in that way. There were lots of roadworks, flashing lights, confusing signs, last minute lane changes in the still-heavy traffic – and the heavy rain. It was really scary, and John did well to get us back to Bus without an accident.
We were supposed to go to the family, for tea, tomorrow night. I told John there was no way he was doing that drive again, in these conditions. He should go alone and get a taxi back. He actually agreed with me – a sign that the drive had indeed been horrendous.
Since we were, unexpectedly, still in Canberra, John arranged to visit his daughter and grandson again this morning. This time, we did get there at 10am, and spent an agreeable couple of hours there.
Went on to the shops at Dixon, and then Manuka. Bought the weekend papers. Had a rather indulgent lunch at Manuka – John had pie and pasty and I had a spinach and fetta pastry. I should have known better and suffered indigestion for much of the afternoon!
At the food markets at Fyshwyck, bought fish – barra, flathead tails and sand whiting, for three meals, two of which I would freeze for later.
Went to the National Gallery, where I wanted to have a good browse in their Australian art section. That occupied another couple of hours, which was quite enough. I had tired legs and feet, and John’s feet were really tired.
Back to the van, where I cooked one lot of fish, with fries, for tea.
It was a really cold morning. I could see my breath condensing – inside the van!
We were back on the road, without any glitches, by 8.30am. Breakfasted, and with lunches packed, and thermos of hot water prepared for our coffee breaks.
It was a somewhat tedious trip to Canberra. The route, most on the Hume Highway, was not new to us. Though the remaining Victorian section, at least the towns – or turn offs to them – were relatively close together, to break up the farming country. But in NSW they became more spaced out, and it was mostly just low, rolling hills, and grazing country – mostly sheep.
We stopped for morning coffee break at Lake Mokoan rest stop, then for lunch at Holbrook.
I then drove the section from Holbrook, to Gundagai.
In Canberra, John wanted to stay on the Yass side of town – to avoid the morning city traffic when we left again. So we fetched up at the Canberra Carotel Caravan Park, at Watson – a decidedly grotty caravan facility behind a big motel. It was very basic, but they charged $19 a night!
There were about half a dozen more or less permanent dwellers, living in big buses, clustered in one section of the park.
Other tourists had packed into the line of powered sites furthest from “bus central”, occupying every site, but there were some empty sites closer to the buses, and we took one of those. In this place, it was a case of pay your money and find your own site!
We did not set up the awning, as it was to be a short stay.
John phoned daughter and arranged to go visit at 10am tomorrow. I phoned my daughter, to let her know we were away, at last.
It was a cold night again, but not as much as last night – rather surprisingly, as I always expect Canberra to be colder than other places, once summer is over.
We got away about 8.40. Had no issues hitching up, but took it very cautiously driving back out of the narrow driveway.
It was the busy morning traffic time through central Canberra, but it was just a matter of getting into a lane, then following the car in front. That was after we’d negotiated the systems of roundabouts around Parliament House and then City Hill. I’d planned the route carefully in advance – past experience had shown me how easy it is to go astray on these roundabouts, and find oneself merrily sailing back the way we’d come!
We stopped in Yass to do some banking – easier than trying to find both the right bank and a place to park the rig in one of the Canberra shopping localities. Refuelled there – 85cpl.
From Yass, we travelled via Boorawa, Cowra, Gooloogong, Eugowra, Parkes, Peak Hill, turning at Tomingley to head to Narromine.
It was pleasant driving, for much of the day, through farmlands, rolling hills, and the Lachlan River valley. We were mostly on minor roads with little traffic.
We lunched by the Lachlan River at Cowra, in a park area – very pleasant.
We were on the Newell Highway for only some 66kms. There were many trucks on it, heading south.
Topped up the fuel again at Peak Hill – 87cpl.
We arrived at Narromine about 4pm. Our site at the Rose Gardens Caravan Park cost $16.20, after Top Tourist discount. We were able to stay hitched up. The park was pleasant enough.
After a minimal set up, John had a nap. I sewed.
I made corn cakes and ratatouille for tea – very nice.
John’s usual, big, TV aerial produced no picture. He hooked up the little Tandy one, wedging it into the folding bar of the poptop roof, and it was brilliant! Work that one out!
It was cold through the night, but the day was clear and sunny and a very pleasant day for driving.
We didn’t rush to get up too early, or hasten over breakfast. I made sandwiches for later.
The drive to Canberra was uneventful. It is a route we have travelled before, so there was little novelty about it.
We stopped at Holbrook for fuel – 88cpl.
Ate our pre-packed lunch at The Dog on the Tuckerbox complex, on the northern edge of Gundagai. There was ample room there to park the rig, and we were able to sit outdoors and people watch while we ate. At the apple sales stall there, we bought a $6 bag of Batlow new season’s apples – good value.
We had just passed through Murrumbateman, on the highway from Yass to Canberra, when son-in-law phoned to check our progress. He said he would go home and wait, to let us in.
There were a lot of roadworks on Canberra’s outskirts, which slowed us down.
We found S and J’s place with no problems: through the centre of Canberra, across the Lake, and then it wasn’t far to Deakin.
SIL was waiting for us. The driveway looked very narrow, but John and SIL between them directed my backing in and all was fine. Then SIL went back to work and we unhitched Truck and set up. There was not room for the awning, or any of our outside table and chairs, so it was not a big set up.
It took some very careful backing to get in here!
John went to suss out the nearby bowls club and returned with the news that he would be playing tomorrow.
The family got home about 7.30pm. We had been told that S would be bringing things home for tea – we were expected to eat with them. It was, for us, very late and we were very hungry by the time S produced a meal of spag bol.
After tea we chatted for a while, before we retired to the van.
The red gum dining table that John made for them – and which they came down and collected earlier this year – looked really good.
This Adventurous Age 