Parkes to Glenrowan

We have arrived in Glenrowan, home of the infamous Ned Kelly of course. We were having such a good run that we just kept on trucking, straight past Wagga, straight past Albury-Wodonga and right into Bushranger country, Victoria. It really looks like the kind of area you picture when you hear the stories and there is a Ned Kelly animated theatre here which we attended. The guy has set up a number of rooms to look like the saloon, the railway station, the hotel and the executioner’s room which were the setting for the last great battle to capture the Kelly Gang. He has gone to so much trouble and expense and his imagination and creative talent are superb. He has it all rigged up with lights and robotics and sound effects and when you enter, you become one of the people who were there at the scene. There is the gun fight, the troopers arriving, the execution, the waiting at the station, the burning down of the Inn and the scene inside. There are ‘rats’ running over the bar, babies crying in prams, life size musicians playing fiddles, people drinking and even a kid swinging from the lamp etc. So life- like and all animated-well worth a visit as it goes for 40 minutes.

Last night we stayed at a place called Temora. It has an aviation museum with aircraft from WW11 and the Korean and Vietnam wars. They all fly and of course we missed a big flying day by being there three days too soon. That is the story of our trip-too late for the cotton harvest, too late for the mini country music festival in Tamworth, too early for the flying day and the school band competition in Sydney etc. Not that we care, if you wanted to be at the right spot for all those things, you’d have to plan and implement pretty carefully and that doesn’t sound too relaxing. It was very interesting and we had a private guide volunteer tell us all about the planes. They had some motors on stands too so that really was a talking point. But it was FREEZING overnight. Check out the pictures of the frost. We were not cold in our bed but the spot was very open being at an airfield so a prime target for cold. It wasn’t operating after dark so no worries about noise because it’s only a recreational and specialised strip. Apart from one other van, we were the only ones there.

Our other main stop was at Parkes where we toured the CSIRO observatory which tracked the moon landing. They also had a 3D theatre of space missions and planetary exploration. We will post a picture of two dishes set up outside, similar to the dish on the telescope. They are set about 100 metres apart and if you speak normally facing one of them, your partner at the other dish can hear you and it’s possible to carry on a conversation. No telling what we told each other! If it works as simply as that, it’s not surprising that they can pick up electronically enhanced sounds from space.

THE SAGA OF THE CAMERAS

A concerned brother in law stressed that we should take a camera with a proper lens along on our holiday because the iphone photos simply wouldn’t be acceptable. Camera 1 was fine until the recharger and its batteries decided they didn’t like each other anymore. Camera 2, borrowed from Leah and brought along as back up, was fine until it too needed charging. For some reason, even though we left it on for hours, it wouldn’t spring back to life. Irene took it home when she went for Dad’s 90^th but had no further success. Borrow Mum E’s-Camera 3. Now we have recharging without a problem but guess what? Nothing to transfer photos onto the computer with. So, dear ones, iphone photos will have to do to chronicle the time until we get home and we can get some off the proper camera. Good night.