Temora to Griffith

After the sunset and fly past we were eagerly anticipating our day at Temora Aviation Museum. Today was one of their 'flying days' so we were in for a mini air show. The weather had plans on spoiling this... but the people organising the flights did a great job in ensuring each of the three aircraft got into the air between showers. In the end, the last flight didn't happen until around 3:30pm, although it should have been wrapped up a couple of hours earlier.

 

 

One huge hangar housed a bunch of old planes which we had a good look at.

 

The first plane in the air was the Lockheed Hudson Bomber. Smoke billowed as each of its two piston engines fired up - which is what they are meant to do, being old oil burners... literally! The plane got into the air and did several low fly pasts.

 

We then spent some time in the engineering shed where we met the pilot of the Sabre (he'd flown it last evening and would fly it again today). He is a Flight Commander in the RAAF which many years experience, flying all manner of fighter jets! He was a down to earth, friendly man who gladly had a chat to the kids when they looked in the Sabre's cockpit. Ethan had a barrage of questions for him which kept him on his toes!

 

Daz had been looking forward to seeing the Spitfire - he has a metal one given to him by his grandfather. He's never actually seen a 'real' one, let alone seen one fly. Temora has two of them - the only flying Spitfires in Australia.

 

She got into the air and also did a great display for us!

 

It did not look good for seeing the sabre in the air again as the rain began again, but the patience and flexibility of those running the day ensured it did get into the air!

 

The Hudson looked good sitting on the tarmac, stormy clouds behind and reflected in the puddles!

 

After feeling quite cold, but having loved the day, we walked back to the caravan park. It's the only time we've camped close to an airfield. We had a plane parked out the back of our bedroom!

 

The next morning we hooked up and left Temora, driving on Burley Griffin Way in a westerly direction. We stopped at Ariah Park, a small town that promotes itself as the 'bowsers and peppercorn town'. There were several old petrol bowsers lining the main street, with peppercorn trees down the middle.

 

We spent about 17 km's on the Newell Hwy before continuing on the B.G. Way through some small communities, where we also stopped for some geocaches. We had lunch at Moombooldool, then came across a giant tennis racquet in Barellan - which celebrates Evonne Goolagong who comes from there!

 

We checked into a caravan park in Griffith, home for 3 nights. The next morning we went and explored City Park which features an excellent playground which has two claims to fame. Firstly it is in the top 10 of playgrounds in NSW. Secondly it has the highest rope climbing apparatus in the Southern Hemisphere.

 

After lunch we went 8 kms out of Griffith to do a tour of Catania Fruit Salad Farm. It's been a farm for 102 years. We got to see the original homestead and hear how it was built, spent some time in the 80 year old shed, and heard all about their prunes, grapes, citrus, pecans, wines, honeys... Was interesting and informative. Back at the homestead we got to taste a range of products. 

Junee to Temora

 

Our time in Junee continued, with a morning spent geocaching all over the town - this included a trip to a lookout hill, the cemetery, a couple of parks and even a little maze. The picture below shows Ethan holding one of the hiding spots, which is inside this fake rock!

It being a nice sunny day after the early morning fog, we went for a walk along the Federation Trail near the caravan park, the kids enjoyed a scooter ride. Later in the afternoon we went to the 'Broadway Museum' - nothing to do with the famous Broadway of New York - simply the street the old 1914 hotel was on that has been turned into a museum of all things old and Junee! We then had another wander around the town centre, loving the old architecture of the station again and the many old (and large) verandahed pubs with lacework trimmings.

 

Back at the caravan park we had a nice reflective sunset off the water of the small ornamental lake we are camped by.

 

After packing up ready to move on to our next destination, we went and visited Monte Cristo - a beautiful old homestead overlooking Junee. It is apparently, the most haunted homestead in Australia which made the smallest two children unsure about wanting to go in! We did go in, they were fine, we did not see any ghosts! It has been wonderfully restored. The furnishings are big and heavy looking, the wall papers, drapes and carpets are quite dark, adding to the eerie feel of the place!

 

The grounds were nice, and included some old carriages in the stables as well as the other outbuildings associated with a well to do property such as this - the servants quarters. 

 

After our time at Monte Cristo, we left Junee and headed towards our next destination - Temora which was only 58 km's away. So we stopped and found 3 more geocaches on the way, including one at a quiet little place called Junee Reefs - site of some gold mining many years ago. Now it's just a community hall. We enjoyed lunch there.

 

Once in Temora, we set up camp at the Temora Airfield Caravan Park, literally a few metres from the airfield! A couple of Cessnas came in and landed, taxiing almost to our rear window! Spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the very impressive Temora Rural Museum. This place had a huge variety of exhibits, much of it outside.

 

 

We had visited nearby Cootamundra about 8 years ago and looked around Don Bradman's birthplace. Today we found his home for his first 3 years - its an old timber slab hut that has been moved and reconstructed as part of the Temora Rural Museum...

 

 

Only opening in March of this year, the museum also houses the NSW Ambulance Museum and contains a bunch of ambulances from different eras. This was a highlight of our time here.

 

There was an old school house which the kids enjoyed role playing in...

 

We got back to the caravan around sunset - the sunset across the airfield was magnificent. While enjoying it, a loud roar announced the arrival of a Sabre Jet - out for an evening fly. Over the next 20 minutes or so we were treated to some acrobatics, fast fly overs at low altitude, all with the back drop of a colourful sky!

 

Tomorrow we are visiting the Temora Aviation Museum, our main purpose in being in Temora. It is also one of their flying days, so providing the weather is good, we should see some more planes in the air!

 

Lockhart to Junee

 

After two nights in Lockhart, we packed up and moved on. We drove towards Junee via The Rock which is both a town and... a rock. Had a quick morning tea stop at a quirkily named town of Tootool. We stopped for a few geocaches in and around The Rock. There were a series called 'Drop Bear' which were some sort of teddy bear hanging in a tree, the bear being accessed by a rope and pulley system. Once retrieved, we signed the log stuffed inside the bear! The kids thought this was a hoot!

The Rock Nature Reserve is a 320 metre high 'mountain' which today was shrouded in cloud. We stopped for lunch in the nearby township called The Rock. By the time we left there after lunch we had only travelled 40 km's in nearly three and a half hours! Geocaching had been fun but slowed us right down. Just as well it was only another 70 km's to Junee via Wagga Wagga.

Set up camp at Junee Caravan Park, where we again backed on to some water. We have 3 nights here. Early the next morning the town was covered in a blanket of fog which hung around for much of the day. Like at Lockhart, the early morning gave us a perfect reflection behind the caravan park!

Our first stop this morning was the Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory - you could say we were getting our priorities right in what to see and do (and taste) first in Junee!

The factory is in the old flour mill. We did a tour which offered an explanation of how they manufacture organic licorice, chocolate and other confectionary. We got to sample some. Not being a big fan of licorice, the white chocolate covered raspberry lollies were probably the favourite.

An unusual part of the tour was a chance to play some competitive sport - 'Vertical Licorice Bowling' - which involved tossing a rather solid lump of licorice up an old flour shoot, it would then fall/roll down and knock over some skittles. You scored for each knock down, but got extra points for catching the flying skittles! Daz was the most successful at throwing into the chute, Gemma hurled her lump of solid licorice out into the café area... Ethan's nearly landed in the gift shop above....

The picture above shows Gemma's licorice ball enroute to the café through the doorway above Zac!

Another highlight of the factory tour was the opportunity for the kids to pour and make their own giant freckle!

While we waited for their freckles to set, we enjoyed some morning tea in the café, careful not to sit too close to the door in case of more wayward flying licorice balls thrown by eager vertical licorice bowlers in the next tour group... 

We had lunch back at the caravan before heading to the Junee Roundhouse Museum. A large brick roundhouse, the only full circle one in NSW, it was once the largest in the southern hemisphere. It still operates today. Part of it is a museum which is where we spent a couple of hours climbing on board a number of locomotives and carriages.

Lastly today, we had a look at the attractive centre of Junee, particularly the Station Square (below). There are a number of grand old hotels with ornate lace work that surround the square.