Homeward Bound

The count down towards Christmas and my son's wedding in Thailand, urged us to cut our sightseeing and fossicking in Victoria short, and head home a month early to get settled. That is, after Canberra , having lived there some 30 years ago I looked forward to seeing the changes, while visiting with Laurie's family, in a real house with running water and hot showers every night, our first such creature comforts in 15mths which one could easily get accustomed to.  You see we left the van with Laurie's niece  in Hall on the outskirts of Canberra and enjoyed a normal pace of life in the Canberra suburbs for a week.

One day while the relo's where at work, we took off for the war memorial, I was more than eager to see the interactive displays in the basement I'd heard about.
Although you really should start at the beginning and the first world war.

The battle scenes using scaled models are to say the least, exceptional, and they certainly give you an understanding of how gruesome war is.

Although along side that gruesome stuff i saw pride, heroes and community, with people pulling together, no matter which side you fought on.

And dare I say, some of it was even dare I say  glamorous .

Thinking of the swanky Yankee's and ace fighter pilot's, who would charm the ladies with silk stockings and other rationed commodities, and the ladies were keen to be attached to a man in uniform. Such a different era.

Anyway bye late lunch we finally reached the basement and interactive displays. There's an entrance to an underground bunker which has a slot to look out through onto the battle field, as you enter a mortar/bomb explodes overhead while the ground around you shakes, I almost hit the deck in response.  Another display was the helm of a battle ship with an enemy destroy mission underway, you sit in the captains seat and watch battle stage proceedings unfold, brilliant.

Laurie found herself taking off in a chopper and flying a rescue mission in Vietnam. Theres also a simulated submarine, its all so realistic, and a barrel of fun, even for us big kids.

But be warned the War memorial tour is a huge day out!

Our week passed pleasantly bye enjoying the company. We had an intersting tour of the Canberra glass factory, and a visit to the Kensington  markets, which  proved a great place to pick up some unique Christmas presents.
Soon enough it was time to leave with an expected time of arrival home three days, on Friday 25th November.
Leaving Canberra heading North West towards Dubo, and a visit to the renowned wild life Zoo,
http://www.dubbo-nsw.com.au/dubbo-zoo.html

But the dark clouds above soon turned to constant socking rain and we were traveling in the clouds alot of the time.
We found an area just south of Dubo about 4pm, beside the highway on a bitchamim gravel area, (just in case we got flooded)  we'd park overnight and hopefully await clearer Sky's tomorrow.

Coonabarrabran Town clock on a better day

Tomorrow however, the weather was worse, torrential rain,and black clouds and gale force wind and definatly not an ideal conditions for a zoo tour. The decision was made to head onward towards Coonabarrabran, and the outstanding blue Crater lakes, a marvelous fossil and rock region.

We arrived at Coonabarrabran in torrential rain at lunchtime, in convoy with an old bus, a B-Double semi trailer, then us, followed by another B-Double. Entering town from the southern side there are allot of caravan parks and motels on our right.Well the old converted bus up front slammed on his breaks with no thought for anyone driving behind, the truck in front of us braked and slide sideways towards the shoulder of the road , then the old bus veered left and pulled up on the shoulder. Needless to say our breaks were on by now, and we were pleasantly surprised at how well we pulled up, all 3.5 ton of us, but it was close. In all of  our Australian tour this was the closest we had come to having an accident, ironically on our homeward drive.
I might just mention here too that we have carried 6 spare tyres on this adventure and didn't have one flat,  Not to mention I drove the whole way around with out making a single mark on the vehicles, quiet an achievement I think Yippee!

The Gem shop in better weather

After a stop at the gem shop /museum on the highway for more specimen's and gifts, we decided to just keep driving homeward, it was only a few hours away after all, and this was no weather to be doing anything outside of home.
So we arrived home at 7pm on Wednesday 23rd November 2011 having been on the road for 15 mths  right around Australia, and with plenty more yet to see.

For now, a new adventure begins, nestled into a beautiful rural property in the Dorrigo ranges, surrounded by 25 acres of green rolling hills, and natural rainforest, with a couple of Brumbie"s and a river on our rear boundry filled with trout.  This haven " Shambhala  is to become a respite centre, catering for disadvantaged youth. Another of our dreams that we hope to fulfill, and certainly another blog to start.
So untill our next fossicking adventure, which hopefully wont be too long, we thank you for following and supporting us as we traveled  the past 15 mths and stay tuned for the new "Respite" adventure blog, coming soooooon!

Alan and Laurie

our new email address is:
gemseek1@bigpond.com
but you can still reach us on: alan@gemseek.com.au
Or our web site http://www.gemseek.com.au/