Adelaide
Okay, I really shouldn't be posting right now, but since the network are down at the ANU and I literally can't do any work, I've decided to post anyways.
First the Adelaide trip, as much as I can remember now.
Saturday 16/4. We left bright and early from Canberra and set out North through the city towards Gundagai. We decided to break the 17 hour drive to Adeliade up into 3 days of travel and stop and see some things along the way. The first place we stopped is about 90 minutes out of Canberra. The rest stop is well known and lies 5 miles outside the town of Gundagai is and is embedded in Aussie culture. There are several versions in songs and poems that go along with the rest stop and its statue of a dog on a lunchbox. One version of the dog's role in pioneering times is that the dog was guarding its master's tuckerbox (lunchbox) and other possessions while he sought help from being bogged at a river crossing. The master, a bullocky or driver of a bullock team, never returns but the dog continues to guard the tuckerbox until its death. The story of the faithful dog is possibly a romanticised version of the truth. The refrain from the supposedly original poem about the dog was:
Then the dog sat on the Tucker Box Nine miles from Gundagai.
But it's been said that in the "actual" original, it wasn't "sat" that the dog did. (Think of a one-syllable word starting with "s" that rhymes with "sat" that puppies often do ;-) ) Haha, anyways, that's why everyone stops there. Also, if you drop a letter in the postbox it comes with a special postmark. Lauren and I sent postcards to each other, but we couldn't really make out the postmark when it came. So much for that idea! Some of the pictures on my photo site are of us making out the cards.
After an hour break at Gundagai it was off to Narrandera. Narrandera is this teeny tiny little town in New South Wales that we decided to stop and spend the night at. It literally consists of one main 'downtown' street and little suburbs off this main avenue. But it's really pretty because it looks like one of those town out of old Western movies, with ornate iron on the buildings and incredibly wide streets. We stopped at a lavendar farm (www.lavende.com.au) first. They grow their own lavendar and harvest it to make their own line of products as well as shipping it around the world. It was beautiful and the smells were delightful- you could literally smell the lavendar in the air. We asked the owner for some ideas on where to go next and she pointed us towards a koala reserve in town. After driving a little ways, we found the koala regeneration reserve, where 20some koalas were released into a large (we're talking huge, actually) enclosure to help regenerate the local population. You walk through a gate and suddenly you're in the Australian bush. It's hard to explain without actually be there, but its so quiet and you can smell the eucalyptus in the air. We walked around for quite a long time searching for koalas. Eventually Lance spotted one right above us, sitting on a branch in a gum tree that reached across the path (look at Shuttefly pictures). He was quite a grumpy guy, didn't really want anything to do with us. We walked to the edge of the enclosure and looked out over the river. Then on the way back we saw a hare (which has special relevance to me in that I had to write an essay on them), some kangaroos in the distance and another koala nesteled high in a tree, spotted by Lauren Emma. That night we had dinner at the Returned Servicemen League (RSL- almost every town has once, usually have a small gambling area and a restaurant) and turned in for the night.
Going to have to pause for the moment, but will hopefully finish at some point ;-)
First the Adelaide trip, as much as I can remember now.
Saturday 16/4. We left bright and early from Canberra and set out North through the city towards Gundagai. We decided to break the 17 hour drive to Adeliade up into 3 days of travel and stop and see some things along the way. The first place we stopped is about 90 minutes out of Canberra. The rest stop is well known and lies 5 miles outside the town of Gundagai is and is embedded in Aussie culture. There are several versions in songs and poems that go along with the rest stop and its statue of a dog on a lunchbox. One version of the dog's role in pioneering times is that the dog was guarding its master's tuckerbox (lunchbox) and other possessions while he sought help from being bogged at a river crossing. The master, a bullocky or driver of a bullock team, never returns but the dog continues to guard the tuckerbox until its death. The story of the faithful dog is possibly a romanticised version of the truth. The refrain from the supposedly original poem about the dog was:
Then the dog sat on the Tucker Box Nine miles from Gundagai.
But it's been said that in the "actual" original, it wasn't "sat" that the dog did. (Think of a one-syllable word starting with "s" that rhymes with "sat" that puppies often do ;-) ) Haha, anyways, that's why everyone stops there. Also, if you drop a letter in the postbox it comes with a special postmark. Lauren and I sent postcards to each other, but we couldn't really make out the postmark when it came. So much for that idea! Some of the pictures on my photo site are of us making out the cards.
After an hour break at Gundagai it was off to Narrandera. Narrandera is this teeny tiny little town in New South Wales that we decided to stop and spend the night at. It literally consists of one main 'downtown' street and little suburbs off this main avenue. But it's really pretty because it looks like one of those town out of old Western movies, with ornate iron on the buildings and incredibly wide streets. We stopped at a lavendar farm (www.lavende.com.au) first. They grow their own lavendar and harvest it to make their own line of products as well as shipping it around the world. It was beautiful and the smells were delightful- you could literally smell the lavendar in the air. We asked the owner for some ideas on where to go next and she pointed us towards a koala reserve in town. After driving a little ways, we found the koala regeneration reserve, where 20some koalas were released into a large (we're talking huge, actually) enclosure to help regenerate the local population. You walk through a gate and suddenly you're in the Australian bush. It's hard to explain without actually be there, but its so quiet and you can smell the eucalyptus in the air. We walked around for quite a long time searching for koalas. Eventually Lance spotted one right above us, sitting on a branch in a gum tree that reached across the path (look at Shuttefly pictures). He was quite a grumpy guy, didn't really want anything to do with us. We walked to the edge of the enclosure and looked out over the river. Then on the way back we saw a hare (which has special relevance to me in that I had to write an essay on them), some kangaroos in the distance and another koala nesteled high in a tree, spotted by Lauren Emma. That night we had dinner at the Returned Servicemen League (RSL- almost every town has once, usually have a small gambling area and a restaurant) and turned in for the night.
Going to have to pause for the moment, but will hopefully finish at some point ;-)
posted by Lauren @ 5/22/2005 03:07:00 PM
0 comments
