A Birthday

 

Bago Maze and Winery 27/01/2023

 

Bago Maze and Winery https://www.bago.com.au/

Australia Day 2024

 

Tuncury

A Long Australia Day Weekend 25/01/2024

Thursday 25th of January 2023

My train trip to Wauchope see my Darling, 262.45km (163 Miles) away...

Maitland Flood level markers and indicator board. Time to enjoy some brunch at Café Loco. The temperature is now 40°C and later hit 42°C!

Feels odd being on this platform!

 

The XPT was meant to be the answer to "fast" train travel in Australia. Sadly it is not! The trip averaged 66km/h (41MPH) far short of the 200km/h (124MPH) requirement to be considered a fast train.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales_XPT

I travelled Economy Class.

Pros:

• Cheaper than the alternatives.
• Great Staff!
• Food is OK - The buffet cart has a range of snacks, drinks, alcohol and even do full hot meals for about $10-12. The Sausage roll was dry and had more train miles than me! Other food was fine!
• Seating is similar to economy aircraft seating.
• More space than your average economy airfare!
• Luggage is not policed if you carry it onboard
• Nice scenery!
• Reasonable toilet facilities.
• You are not stuck in your seat unlike bus or air travel.

Cons:

• Slow and long! 4.5 hours from Maitland to Wauchope!
• Susceptible to running late due to the other users of the line. We were 30 minutes late into Wauchope.
• Seating is good but your bum will be complaining after the first hour or so...
• Dated. Build date 1981–1994
• No WiFi
• No charging facilities - bring a power bank!
• Was a particularly hot day going north and the air conditioning was only just coping!
• Did I mention is is slow?

Overall I'd give it a 6 out of 10

Entertainment was proved on the trip north courtesy of one gentleman (term used very loosely) who was getting agitated due to nicotine withdrawals, He was caught out smoking in the toilet and as the train was running late and not getting enough on the platform during the major stops. He spent a lot of time pacing the train muttering to himself and his command of the King's English would have embarrassed a sailor!

Window tint makes it hard to take good photos but you get the idea about the scenery. 

All photos are © copyright to Paul Anslow www.anslow.net, with the exception of Wauchope Station by Abesty - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=122359654

A Walk at Patterson

 

The Leyland Brothers

In the mid 1970's Australia TV Viewers watched two poms named Mike and Mal travel around Australia and visit places that many viewers had not seen. The series called "Ask The Leyland Brothers" was very successful running on the Nine Network for 153 episodes between 1976 and 1980. I sure that the viewers dreamed of leaving their dull life in the suburbs behind them and doing what these two families did.

I sure did!

No truckloads of production people following every step in their mega caravans and motorhomes. Production was carried out by Mike and Mal, supported by their wives Pat and Laraine.

By todays standards the production was a bit amateurish and the media used was home movie grade Super-8, but the brothers background in Television and print media in Newcastle NSW, made it compelling viewing. Their pioneering use of Super-8 film made it the new standard used by television of the day!

Later the Leyland Brothers made other TV programming which was equally successful and has paved the way for some of todays TV lifestyle programs.

A later series - Leyland's Australia Episode 1: Brisbane To Rockhampton

I'm sure that the Leylands contributed to todays Grey Nomad movement.

You can read more here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyland_brothers

You can also watch more on Youtube - Search on "Leyland Brothers" 

Today you will find that Mal is still travelling and his daughter Carmen also has the travel bug! https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063733774809

''Where the hell are we, Mike?" "Buggered if I know, Mal. ''
Paul Hogan Show 1973–1984, Season 4, Episode 5

Our Trip West - Day Five - Willow Tree to Home

  Map of our Travels

Day Five 9/4/22

Morning at our camp at Willow Tree

The pack is worn out from too much excitement and walks!

Buffy is keen to get going once she awakes.

Our neighbour is quiet.

Ready to move on.

Murrurundi NSW 2338

Murrurundi NSW 2338

Murrurundi NSW 2338

Paradise Park - Murrurundi 

Paradise Park - Murrurundi

Paradise Park - Murrurundi

Paradise Park - Murrurundi. Some nice walking trails, but we need to be back home on time to pick up Chappie from his holidays at Kip Pet Resort.

Golf course with a view! next to Paradise Park - Murrurundi

Murrurundi NSW 2338

Burning Mountain Rest Area

Burning Mountain Rest Area

Burning Mountain Rest Area

Now the last leg to home via the New England Highway 

through Muswellbrook and Singleton

Bayswater Power Station on the New England Highway.

Not far now to home!
______________________________________________________________

We were way too ambitious to do this trip in five days and needed a couple of weeks at least to do our trip justice. 

Next Time we now know where to go.

Our Trip West - Day Four - Baan Baa to Willow Tree

 Map of our Travels

Day Four 8/4/22

The morning view at Baan Baa

Where are off to today?

Emptying the Bog at Boggabri

Motorhome life is excellent, but like all things has an unpleasant side to it. The toilet cassette is showing it is almost full which means a trip to a dump point. Fortunately there are plentiful and the CMCA also helps to fund them.

Boggabri's Jubilee Oval looks a lot more country than is Sydney cousin.

Gee, the grass looks so green!

Back on the road to find a spot for Brunch. 

We arrive at Gunnedah and find it a little overwhelming at first, after the little towns and bush camps. We found a quiet spot to set up for a BBQ brunch - Woolshed Reserve.

Cody is chilling out!

After Brunch we need to explore the town. The Tourist Information Centre is loaded with ideas and it hits us that we are touring wa too fast to see what the places we have visited, truely have to offer. We spot the CMCA RV Park  a self contained camp which we will consider using when we return to the region.

The former Meggitt Ltd Silo site at Gunnedah is one of many Silo Murals around Australia.

There is even a Silo Art Trail, see https://www.australiansiloarttrail.com

Core of My Heart. [a.k.a My Country] By Dorothea Mackellar 

The love of field and coppice,

Of green and shaded lanes,

Of ordered woods and gardens,

Is running in your veins —

Strong love of grey-blue distance,

Brown streams and soft, dim skies …

I know but cannot share it,

My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of ragged mountain ranges,

Of droughts and flooding rains.

I love her far horizons,

I love her jewel sea,

Her beauty and her terror —

The wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests

All tragic ’neath the moon,

The sapphire-misted mountains,

The hot gold hush of noon —

Green tangle of the brushes

Where lithe lianas coil,

And orchids deck the treetops,

And ferns the crimson soil.

Core of my heart, my country —

Her pitiless blue sky,

When sick at heart, around us

We see the cattle die …

And then the grey clouds gather,

And we can bless again

The drumming of an army,

The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country,

Land of the rainbow gold —

For flood and fire and famine

She pays us back three-fold …

Over the thirsty paddocks

Watch, after many days,

The filmy veil of greenness

That thickens as you gaze …

An opal-hearted country,

A wilful, lavish land —

All you who have not loved her,

You will not understand …

Though Earth holds many splendours,

Wherever I may die,

I know to what brown country

My homing thoughts will fly.

Dorothea wrote this poem whilst homesick in England. 

Dorothea lived in a time where many thought colonial Australia was inferior to "Mother England". Core of My Heart [a.k.a My Country] quickly became Australia's best known poem where schoolchildren once were taught remember and recite the second stanza.

She also lived in the Gunnedah area.

[first published in The Spectator (London, UK) on 5 September 1908; it was originally entitled “Core of My Heart”, although it was later re-titled as “My Country”. The poem was published in some newspapers in 1908-1909 as “Core of My Heart — My Country”, and in 1910 as “My Country”. It was included in Dorothea Mackellar’s first book of poetry, The Closed Door and Other Verses (1911), under the title of “My Country”..]

We also visited Pensioner's Hill Lookout and appreciated the view of Gunnedah along with the artworks depicting the history of the area.
Pensioners Hill gets its name from being a shanty town during the Great Depression.

Pensioner's Hill Lookout

Pensioner's Hill Lookout - depicting Red Chief, a famous local Aboriginal leader.

Pensioner's Hill Lookout - Coal Mining 

Pensioner's Hill Lookout - The Rainbow Serpent a part of the Aboriginal Dreamtime

Pensioner's Hill Lookout - The city of Gunnedah 

Curlewis Grain Storage

The Mooki River, on the Kamilaroi Highway at Breeza NSW

Further on the Kamilaroi Highway at Breeza

"Who'd A Thought It" Lookout at Curlewis

"Who'd A Thought It" Lookout at Curlewis

"Who'd A Thought It" Lookout at Curlewis

"Who'd A Thought It" Lookout at Curlewis

"Who'd A Thought It" Lookout at Curlewis

Our camp for the night Willow Tree Freedom Camping Ground. The camp has toilets, showers, drinking water and some powered sites. Payment is by donation.

The community has a bowling club that is the hub of the community and is supported by volunteers. The club was rebuilt after being totally destroyed by fire and reopened three years later in December 2019 after a huge community effort.

We had a great meal and chatted with other travellers and locals.

Next - Day Five - Willow Tree to Home