On the road again: Murray River to Canberra to Lightning Ridge

After leaving the Flinders Ranges behind us we finally came to the Murray River... This River has always been a fascination for Mick and it was one of the places that was a must see on this trip....We spent many nights camping on this amazing river and i needed to be educated about all these locks and weirs,and the best part of all was, the river was really flowing after the big flood around that area....We travelled the Murray from Morgan in South Australia where we went to visit a retired work mate of Micks (Ty Daly from Wagstaff) he lives in a beaut cottage thats about 130 years old and has settled in well and knows half the town. .... Next stop was Renmark,Mildura, Echuca, Yarrawonga,Rutherglen,and then we left the Murray at Albury-Wodonga....This drive was very scenic and we stopped at all the old paddle steamer towns and played tourist....We drove from one state to the other continuously crossing over the connecting bridges through-out the days of travel. I got rather confused at times and would be asking "Are we in N.S.W or Victoria?" . We checked out the old town of Wentworth where the Darling River joins the Murray... I think Mick got his Murray River fix as we followed it through 3 different states.......

Next on our agenda was to head back to Canberra to have a stop over once again at Cassie and Will's place at the Royal Military College at Duntroon.....Will was away on a army exercise when we first arrived so we were able to keep Cassie company....Cass also had other visitors too as Sergio and Rhondda (Micks brother and wife from Lucinda Point ) were there on there way back from Tasmania....We had a good couple of days together and shared some good pasta that Sergio cooked for us.....They were not able to stay to see Will come home but we ended up staying about 10 days and it was great to see our son-in-law as we missed him on the way through.... oh! and he does look good in uniform (ha-ha) .
We also went to Floriade in Canberra to check out all the spring flowers - what a display that is......Markets at the bus depot is a must on a Sunday morning too,plenty of deli type foods----breads,olives,cheeses,etc....
We went for a night over to Ulladulla (about a 2 hour drive from Canberra on the coast north of Batemans Bay) to see our mates that we travelled with and spent the night there, was a great catch up, lovely company and good food, also a beautiful part of Australia...The coast-line south of Sydney is awesome....beautiful......pretty....wonderful...whatever you want it to be....just love it........

You can't be in Canberra at this time of the year and be so close to the snow fields with-out going for a look...We were at the Snowy Mountions in March and was able to see The Snowy in the summer so it was a must that we go back and see what charm the Mountions could turn on for us ....We were a little late in the season but for us Queenslanders who never get a chance to see the snow we were very excited to see the white mountions..Mick and I had a great play around for the afternoon and was able to get some funny photos.....Mick even fell into a big slush hole right up to his bum and took me down with him, camera and all. I really don't think we were suppose to be in that area but you have to excuse us old Queenslanders,new to the game of snow fights...We had to make a quick change of clothes as we were both very wet and very cold....We laughed about it on the drive back to Canberra but in hindsight it really was a little scary...........

Leaving Canberra was sad,saying goodbye to our loved ones- --but we still had plenty of things to do, and places to see, so we headed off inland from Canberra to travel up the country roads.....What a beautiful drive this has been, we cannot believe how green everything is....Is it because we are used to seeing red bull-dust for 2 states? Really this is the best drive we have been on ...inland N.S.W and coastline N.S.W. south of Sydney have been the best....Locals people have been telling us they have had good rain--hence the green valleys and hills....Many happy sheep and cattle and the paddocks of golden canola flower are something else......You can understand how much we appreciate this scenery after many miles of desert country that we have been through.......You have to love this wonderful ever changing country......

Travelling from Canberra to Yass, Cowra,Wellington, Dubbo,Gilgandra,Coonamble,Walgett we have now arrived at Lightning Ridge........Lightning Ridge is the only place in the world where the exquisite black opal is mined in quanity and sold in the rough....People come from all around the world to try and find there fortunes here, and many succeed--some say the cash flow at the local bank is the largest in Australia....(I think that could be a big white lie for the tourist trade ) We have found in our travels that they has been quite a lot of tall stories told to hype the towns up....The Ridge as it is known to the locals is different to Coober Pedy as they do not live underground here, but still it looks like Little Egypt with mounds and mounds of diggings every-where..Apparently too much clay in the rock to go under-ground...Thats my little geo lesson for now. Baggy had me out doing a tour of the mines today and they leave open holes every-where....Some have just a mesh covering, me being scared of weird things like that, i made sure i did not stand too close to any hole...Think they need a safety officer.....Oh well ! we have to go to these strange places and strange towns so we can form our own opinion....
Next stop on our agenda will be Hebal on the border of N.S.W. and QLD and then onto St George. Surat and my birth place Roma.....Will check out a couple of relations there and a couple of old mates and keep moving onto North Qld .....Over and Out for this one ....     Love to All        The Baggys...       xxxxxx