We decided on a driving holiday that would see us travel around south eastern NSW and it offered a chance to visit friends and family along the way. We planned on staying in motel rooms, caravan park cabins and even pitching the tents at roadside camping areas. The money we had saved up would see us good for accommodation costs, petrol, sightseeing fees (Entry to museums etc) and food requirements. Glen was adamant though that we take a certain amount of food with us just in case. With clothing, camping gear, cooking gear, eskies, toiletries, guidebooks and food I was starting to wonder if the Toyota Rav4 would hold everything required, but we just managed. We had the problem with pets but found the perfect solution for both, so the day before and after our holiday I had a couple of long drives to Sanctuary Point and back to drop the cat at my daughter's place. As for the dog, we included Young as our starting and finishing point so that we could drop her off at Glen's daughter's and pick her up on the way home.

We originally decided that the perfect driving holiday would take us across the Snowy Mountains Highway, allowing us to visit some great camping areas and places of interest. We would then descend to the coast and tour the very scenic NSW South Coastal areas before heading back to Canberra via the Shoalhaven. However, these plans were changed after I learned that members of my family would be out in Australia around the same time, so a few changes were made. Glen and I agreed to keep the first section of our holiday (mentioned above) but the second half would include a visit to Sydney, then we would continue over the Blue Mountains to Bathurst, Cowra and back to Young before returning home.
On top of this we decide we needed to book two motel rooms in advance and did so using the internet. Little did we know of the downside of doing this and we have since vowed never to book online ever again.

We were up early but it wasn't until 11.00am that we managed to get away. That might have had something to do with a certain Manchester City match being played live on Fox Sports that morning. We headed out of Canberra via the Barton Highway, turned onto the Hume Freeway near Yass and headed south before turning onto the Lachlan Valley Way and taking Glen's favourite shortcut to Young. We arrived at the Cherry Capital of Australia at 1.10pm and did the last of the food shopping before parking the Rav4 next to the railway station and having lunch in the adjacent park.

After lunch we drove to Desley & Dave's place. Desley is Glen's daughter and apart from dropping off Chloe (Glen's dog) a visit was always on the cards as Glen will take any excuse to visit her first Grandson - Riley. Upon our arrival Glen was straight into the house leaving me the task of unloading the Rav4 and lugging the gear up the steps - and why not, it's not every day you get to visit your grandson. While Glen got clucky I spent the rest of the afternoon either watching TV or browsing the road atlas for our trip. By the time Dave arrived the beers were cold and we enjoyed a barbecue dinner.

Glen and I were up early, packed up and ready to leave Desley & Dave's place by 9.35am. First though we had to do more shopping, namely larger cards for our digital camera's. Glen purchased a 4gig SD card for hers which cost a ridiculous $13.00. My new 2gig XD card cost me almost $70.00. I hoped it was worth it, and it turned out to be so. Sadly, Glen found out that the largest card her camera could take was 1gig, which are no longer made. Glen would have to be careful with the number of photographs she took. Something she wouldn't find out until Saturday morning. Our plan today was the short 49km drive down the Olympic Highway to Cootamundra, but first we had one place of interest to visit in Young.

This was the Chinese Tribute Gardens at Lambing Flat on the outskirts of town. In the mid 1800's Young was known as Lambing Flat and was a gold mining centre. It had a large population of Chinese miners and in 1861 was famous for anti-Chinese riots. The gardens were created as a tribute to the Chinese community for their contribution to the settlement of Young in the 1860's and it is dominated by a large lake. It was opened in 1996 and the Chinese gate to the car park originally came from Taronga Zoo in Sydney where it formed part of the Panda enclosure. Upon leaving the car park you cross a narrow section of the lake via a stone bridge and enter the gardens by passing between two large carved stone lions. The track then takes you through the gardens past picturesque cascades and Chinese monuments. The most striking of these is a replica of a bronze galloping horse. This horse was excavated from the Eastern Han Dynasty tomb in Gansu Province in 1969. It is over 1600 years old and has the appearance of a horse galloping forward with its head up.

Now leaving Young we headed for the township of Cootamundra, passing many cherry orchards as we drove down the Olympic Highway. We passed through the village of Wallendbeen and continued the final 20km into Cootamundra. By now a warm sunny day had become unbearably hot. We arrived at Cootamundra Railway Station at 11.05am, site of the town's Visitor Information Centre. We learned of the adjacent Cootamundra Heritage Centre, a museum that has taken up what was once the barracks for railway employees. We found the museum most interesting as each room was dedicated to individual facets of the community over the years. Most notably of course, Cootamundra is famous as being the birthplace of cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman and one of the rooms is dedicated to the residence he was born in and all subsequent residents of this address. To me I found there were very interesting sections on Cootamundra's railways, HMAS Cootamundra and the local aerodrome. However, the star of the museum is of a 1912 Bartley & Perry Motorcycle - the only one of its kind left in the world.

Once we had left our gold coin donation at the entrance to the museum, we returned to the car and drove to nearby Albert Park and grateful for some shade out of the heat, stopped here to have lunch we had packed this morning before leaving Young. We now headed south east along Gundagai Road to ...... Gundagai, of course. Gundagai was a town we planned on passing through, after stopping to view the famous 'Dog On The Tuckerbox' 5 miles out of town. The story goes that it is based on an incident that involved Bill the Bullocky in the 1850's. While driving his bullock team and wagon 5 miles out of Gundagai, Bill's wagon became bogged in a creek and all his attempts to free it were thwarted and he ended up breaking the yoke on his wagon. Fed up with his bad luck Bill decided to give up and sit down for lunch, but upon reaching his tucker box, found his dog sitting on top of it and refusing to budge. One of his fellow bullockies wrote a poem about the incident which made it famous. During our drive through Gundagai we made several stops to take in views from two impressive hilltop lookouts on either side of town. The first being Mt Parnassas Lookout which gave great views of the town and to the west. The second lookout was Rotary Lookout which featured excellent views of the two abandoned bridges which cross the Murrumbidgee Floodway. These are the wooden Prince Alfred road bridge and the abandoned railway trestle. We stopped to visit these two bridges close up as we drove through town.

We now followed the road to Tumut, our intended stopover for the night. Once we arrived in Tumut we scouted around for suitable accommodation and found a very nice cabin with ensuite in Riverglade Caravan Park, right on the banks of the fast flowing Tumut River. We had planned to visit the local Trout Farm and purchase a tasty dinner for tonight. Unfortunately upon arriving at Riverglade we were informed that this tourist attraction is presently closed so we settled for a chicken salad from our supplies in the car fridge. As we settled down in the evening to watch TV we noticed a very cool change coming over. The hot stifling conditions were starting to worry us as far as pitching the tent tomorrow night near Kiandra - we need not have worried. Our cabin had a balcony and we spent some time out there watching the possums doing their rounds of the caravan park. Our van must have been Possum central in the past as at least 15 of these furry pests converged on our balcony. We beat a hasty retreat inside, but not fast enough to rescue my towel which one of the furry monsters crapped all over. As we settled down in our bunks for the night the unmistakable sound of rain could be heard pattering on our cabin roof. It was all I needed to send me to sleep.

The rain had stopped, but it was still overcast and muggy as we loaded up the Rav4, cleaned the cabin and handed in our key at reception. We were driving out of Tumut by 9.35am. Heading for Talbingo along the Snowy Mountains Highway. The road wound its way along the eastern shoreline of Blowering Reservoir for much of the distance to Talbingo and we stopped several times along this stretch of road to take photographs of the reservoir. We also renamed this stretch of road to 'Roadkill Avenue' as the large number of dead animals on the road was the largest in such a short section between towns. There must have been a carcass every 50 metres when we drove through. Just before we reached Talbingo we took a short detour off the highway to view the Jounama Dam wall. The views here across Lake Talbingo to the village were quite impressive and a large amount of water was being allowed through the sluice gates into Blowering Reservoir.

Pushing on to Talbingo we arrived a few minutes later. There really wasn't much to see apart from the Lake and some historical signs. Talbingo is the birthplace of famous Australian novelist Miles Franklin. It is also the location of the Tumut No3 Power Station, so we drove just out of town to view the large pipes coming down the side of the mountain. Unfortunately the power station was closed to public guided tours. We drove back to Talbingo, passing a sign on the side of the road that stated Hume and Hovell reached this spot during their expedition in November 1824, across the creek could be seen a section of the Hume & Hovell Walking Track. Yes, even on a non hiking trip I can't keep away from walking trails.

We now drove out of Talbingo and commenced the steep ascent up the mountains and followed the Snowy Mountains Highway to Yarrangobilly Village, famous for its limestone caves. I had visited these caves during a previous trip here in December 2008 and we decided against a return visit. (Click here to visit Write-up) Up this high the air was certainly much colder. From worrying about camping in heatwave conditions yesterday, we were now thinking we should have brought along warmer sleeping bags. Glen was amazed by the varieties of colour in all the gum trees along the roadside here and she had me stopping the Rav4 almost every 100 metres so she could take photographs. Eventually we got back onto the Snowy Mountains Highway and followed it south to Kiandra. We stopped at a small car park to view some old gold mining equipment before making our way to Three Mile Dam, Our planned stop-over for tonight. It was only lunchtime, the cold and misty weather having cut short most of our plans for visiting places of interest along this stretch of road.

As we prepared our lunch, all thoughts of pitching the tents were shelved as first a thick fog-like mist descended the area. This was followed by heavy rain (something familiar about this from 2008) We beat a hasty retreat to the car and immediately decided we had more than enough time to reach Cooma this afternoon, and hopefully the weather will clear for us to take a look around town. We followed the Snowy Mountains Highway southwards and soon reached Adaminaby and stopped to visit 'The Big Trout' before continuing on to Cooma.

As we got closer to Cooma the weather got much worse. Coming over one hill we could see dark clouds dominating the horizon and occasional flashes of lightning. By the time we arrived at Cooma the rain was bucketing down, rivers were running down the gutters of the streets. We agreed we had made the right decision to cancel the overnight camp at Three Mile Dam. We eventually located a suitable cabin at the Snowtell Caravan Park and warmed ourselves up with a takeaway pizza for dinner and checked the tourist brochures for interesting places to visit in town.

We awoke to cold wet weather and immediately knew most of our tourist plans in Cooma were off, especially the outdoors places and there were plenty of those, but there was one place I was very keen to visit - the monument to the 'Southern Cloud' this was Australia's first major airliner crash in nearby mountains in 1931. The wreckage was not recovered until 27 years later. Parts of the Southern Cloud are on display in a nearby park so we checked out of the Snowtell at 9.10am and drove the short distance to the monument. I braved the rain to cross the park to the Winged Monument while Glen sensibly stayed in the car. I wasted little time taking a couple of photgraphs and, dripping wet rushed back to the car.

We had a little shopping to do for food supplies - today's lunch and dinner - so we parked in the shopping centre and made a few purchases. The rain stopped long enough to visit the monument to famous Australian poet Banjo Patterson (the man who penned 'The Man From Snowy River') in Centennial Park. Glen then noticed the Cooma 'Time Walk'. A long wall bordering the park which featured a large number of mosaic murals, each featuring a different scene from the local area's history. I was content to take a basic shot of one of the walls, but Glen decided she wanted a shot of each individual mural and she soon used up her smaller Camera card. When she inserted the new 4gig card she found another problem. The maximum card size her old camera would take was 1gig. Her only choice was to go to a nearby photo store and burn the photographs she had on her existing card onto a CD and erase the card afterwards so she could continue taking pictures on her holidays. This would take close on 45 minutes so while Glen was in the warm dry comfort of the shop getting this done she requested I take my camera and take all the photographs of the murals with my camera. I braved the drizzle to snap off pictures of each and every mural and returned to the shop just as Glen's CD was finished. Before heading out of town we braved the weather once more to take a quick look at the Kosciuszko Monument just off the Monaro Highway outside of town. We then doubled back and rejoined the Snowy Mountain Highway for the drive to Bega.

We drove carefully along the next section of highway to the small town of Nimmitabel. The rain bucketed down and there looked no end in sight to this lousy weather. As we arrived in Nimmitabel Glen's eyes latched on to a most extraordinary sight. The strangest looking tree on the side of the road we had ever seen. It turned out to be a sculpture and even featured fake birds in its branches. Before we left the town were were to notice another strange sight. A house that was made from a single train carriage with a fenced verandah on the outside. We rued this wet weather as this small town was starting to look very interesting and we wondered what other strange sights would be provided. I made a mental note to return here sometime in the future when the weather was better.

We continued now and soon started the steep descent down Browns Mountain to the coast. With the wet weather and foggy conditions the descent was quite hairy in places. A number of steep hairpin bends had me driving very carefully on the slippery road. We passed a couple of lookouts early on but it was pointless stopping for the views, unless you like looking at the inside of a cloud. Eventually we safely descended and drove eastwards towards the coast, passing through the village of Bemboka and finally reaching the Princes Highway. We turned right and drove south the few kilometres to the outskirts of Bega.

Here we made what for me has become a regular stop over when coming through the Bega district, the Bega Cheese Factory. My first visit was in 1997 with the family and twice before on the way through to bushwalks in 2007 and 2008. The factory has a tourist shop where you can enjoy tasting the different cheeses on offer, purchase cheese, cakes, coffee and confectionary from the cafe, tour the museum upstairs which features a history of the Bega district and wander through the tourist information centre. The cheeses on offer at the tasting were delicious as usual and we each purchased a block of our favourites. We then had a quick tour of the museum before picking up some brochures and purchasing some souveniers. It was still pouring with rain outside so we put lunch on the back burner until we had found somewhere to stay the night.

We drove eastwards the 17km to the coastal town of Tathra which is a popular tourist destination that has a variety of water sports, fishing and bushwalking. It is surrounded by national parks which feature excellent camping sites and scenic walking tracks. The majority of the town is made up of hotels, motels, caravan parks, guest houses and even a bushland resort. We checked out a number of these before deciding on a cabin at the rustic looking Tathra Beach Motor Village. Our cabin had all the basics, a roomy bathroom, bed and bunks, useful kitchen, TV and a large deck complete with outdoor furniture. Sadly though there was no roof over the deck and everything was soaked. Although it was almost 3.00pm we agreed on a late lunch of chicken and salad.

Glen decided she was going to spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on some lost sleep while I drove north to Tanja to visit an old bushwalking friend of mine. Vincent and his family have a small farm atop a hill overlooking Tanja and the rain pelted down even harder as I negotiated the dirt road to his farm gate. I had brought along a 6 pack of beers for us to enjoy but Vincent had to drive to Bermagui later that afternoon to pick up his daughter, so we sat around the dining room table and caught up on the past 18 or so months. The last time I saw Vincent was in May 2008 when he and I put on the memorable 'Light to Light' walk. (Click here for write-up) It was a shame when we realised that time had flown and we had to move off but there's every possibility that Vincent and I will team up in the future to tackle Nadgee National Park near the Victorian Border - something we have both wanted to do for some time now. The rain seemed to be pouring even heavier as I drove back to the caravan park and our cabin. I started to wonder if we would see the end of this wet stuff for the rest of our holiday.

Glen cooked up a late dinner of her excellent Bolognaise, then we settled back to watch a night of sport on the TV. The first was the Rugby League season opener, the NRL All Stars v the Indigenous All Stars match, a very entertaining game eventually won by the indigenous team. We followed this up by watching the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

We were up, packed up and checking out of the Tathra Beach Motor Village by 9.25am. It was still raining and no sign of letting up. Our plan was to head north for Batemans Bay. Our original plans for a sunny coastal Sunday were to drive south to the town of Eden and visit the Whaling museum, return north to visit Bournda National Park and view the coastal lakes and inlets before heading north to Mystery Bay and pitching the tents in the camping area there. So much for the planning. We headed north through Tanja and passed by Mimosa Rocks National Park and its scenic coastal rock formation that gives the park its name - another site not worth viewing in this weather.

We eventually arrived in Bermagui and found the weather had let up enough for us to visit Camel Rock north of the town. Normally you can make a decent walk out of this and take in the coastal views with Camel Rock being the main destination. However, we decided to forsake the muddy tracks and drove right up to the viewing platform. Camel Rock sits just off the beach and headland here and basically, looks like a sitting camel. We then drove north to Wallaga Lake before rejoining the Princes Highway.

We weren't on the highway for long, deciding to take a tourist drive through the scenic villages of Tilba Tilba and Central Tilba, though we didn't stop as the rain started up again. We rejoined the Princes Highway and continued north, passing the turn off for Mystery Bay and its wonderful sculptured coastal rocks. By the time we had reached Narooma the rain was again pelting down and so bad you could hardly see the road in front of you. We quickly passed through Narooma and continued on to Moruya where we settled on a light lunch of fish and chips from a small cafe, then back into the rain and the drive to Batemans Bay. We had passed numerous places of interest that on sunnier days, we would have stopped to visit. This included Mogo, just south of Batemans Bay with all it's quaint antiquities shops, boutiques and craft shops. Mogo has a history of gold mining and is home to a very good country zoo. All sadly bypassed due to the rain. We arrived at Batemans Bay by 1.00pm and checked into the Beach Drive Motel. There was a sense of Deja Vu here as I remember going on holiday to Batemans Bay with my parents in 1976 and it rained the entire two weeks we were there - but back then we didn't mind, I spent most of my money in the bars and restaurants while the weather stopped us from enjoying the fishing, bushwalking, horse riding and general tourist activities. It was during this holiday that I saw the movie 'Case Of The Smiling Stiffs' for the very first time. As the rain continued to fall we kept ourselves busy by catching up on laundry duties at the motel's facilities. Strangely, by 4.00pm the rain had stopped and the sky cleared and it became a very pleasant afternoon. Alas too late for us to do anything around town, but it did get our hopes up for better weather in the holiday ahead.

That evening Glen and I went out to dinner at the local Soldiers Club which provided an excellent chinese meal as well as choices of Thai and traditional Australian meals. We spent the evening playing the poker machines and I even managed to win just over $200.00 for a small outlay. Little did I realise how much we'd need that money before the holiday was over. Not surprisingly, as we exited the club just after 11.00pm we were met with a cloud laden sky and more rain.

It was raining heavily as we checked out of the Beach Drive Motel in Batemans Bay at 9.05 am and headed for the town's McDonalds restaurant for breakfast. We then crossed over the Clarence River Bridge and headed north along the Princes Highway. It was only 52km to the coastal town of Ulladulla and by the time we arrived the rain had again ceased and the clouds were starting to clear. We stopped in Ulladulla just as the sun broke through so we agreed to drive the short distance to Warden Head. Here we have great views of the ocean and the dark rain clouds out at sea. During the migrating seasons you can watch the whales from this vantage point. The old lighthouse stands nearby as does the entrance to Gari Bagan which is translated as 'Snake Ground'. This walking track takes you through the coastal heath and forest along the headland. Although quite muddy after the rain, the track is in excellent condition and features carved and painted tree stumps and logs in true aboriginal tradition at intervals along the track. There are also several viewing platforms on the cliff edge that give great ocean and coastline views. A number of large skinks could be seem sunning themselves on the track, until frightened away by our presence. We saw no snakes.

Returning to the Rav4 we continued our drive north. We had arranged to spend the evening at my daughter's in Sanctuary Point, on the northern shoreline of St Georges Basin, but Vicki doesn't get home from work until around 3.00pm. We grabbed some food items from the local shopping centre then drove to Palm Beach on St Georges Basin to have lunch and enjoy the views. Seeing we had a little time on our hands we decided to go visit my bushwalking friend Jock at Erowal Bay. Over tea and biscuits we discussed the upcoming Royal National Park walk I'm leading in May. I had entrusted Jock to collect the cabin fees from the Shoalhaven Bushwalkers interested in going and today Jock was able to hand over $200.00 meaning we have a full house for the trip. I made a note to bank this money when we got back to Sanctuary Point.

After visiting Jock we decided to drive into Booderee National Park at Jervis Bay. Although I've spent the past 20 years continually walking every single track and beach in this park many times over, I thought it would be nice to show Glen a couple of interesting spots. We first drove to 'Hole In The Wall', a small eroded headland on the bay. After this we paid a visit to Greenpatch, a camping and picnic area that features a variety of flora and fauna. At 3.00pm we headed back to Sanctuary Point, banked the hiking money then drove to Vicki's place. We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on what has been going on. After Vicki's husband, Royce returned home from work, we drove down to my old house on Vickery Avenue. Because my ex-wife is presently in hospital we decided to do a little maintenance around the place. While I was up on the roof cleaning out the gutters it started raining again. This put paid to any further outdoor work, though I did manage to finish the guttering. We returned to Vicki & Royce's and enjoyed Vicki's 'Nacho' dinner and with the rain again pelting down outside, decided on an early night.

Day 7: 16th February 2010

We were up early and away from Sanctuary Point by 8.50am. The rain had stopped but it was still very overcast and quite windy. We drove north to Nowra where I had a couple of bills to pay and a couple of items to purchase, then it was off to North Nowra to Visit Tony and Bev, two more Shoalhaven Bushwalking friends who had invited us over for morning tea. Tony and Bev are also coming along to the Royal Coast Walk in May. After leaving Tony & Bev's we headed for Kiama. Here was a chance to show Glen, not necessarily the famous Kiama Blow Hole, but what I believe is the more spectacular 'Little Blow Hole' about 2km to the south at Endeavour Point. I had visited this spot many times during the preceding years on my bushwalking exploits and I was interested to notice a brand new viewing platform. The blow hole was in fine form thanks to the heavy seas and I managed to take a number of photographs. We then headed off to Blow Hole Point where the main Kiama Blow Hole is situated. This much more well-known bigger hole was shooting well too and was naturally more crowded with tourists. I took a close look at the Kiama Lighthouse, now free of its scaffolding after a recent facelift and took a couple of photographs for my lighthouse album.

We now headed further north - to Wollongong and then north west, up Mount Ousley and across to the coal mining town of Appin. I had been telling Glen for a long time about the wonderful pie shop at Appin and how tasty their pies were. We had decided to make Appin our lunch stop but upon arriving, found the shop closed. Instead we crossed the road and bought hamburgers from Skippy's Food Bar - not only cheap, but also very tasty and value for money. We now drove on to Campbelltown and onto the Sydney suburb of Minto where we stopped to visit my mate Gary. We spent about 90 minutes here chatting away, mostly talking about our plans for this year's hiking trips which includes the Royal Coast Walk and hopefully another Budawangs trip.

Moving on we drove through Sydney's south western suburbs to Wentworthville where we had booked a room at the Formule 1 Motel. Compared to what we had stayed in so far on this holiday (motel rooms and cabins) this room was something of a disappointment, but it would serve its purpose. It was almost 6.00pm by the time we had unpacked so we agreed on a visit to the nearby Wentworthville Leagues Club for dinner and a flutter. The poker machines weren't very friendly, but the chinese meal was exceptional. We returned to the motel for an early night as we had another big day ahead of us tomorrow.

We checked out of the Formule 1 at 9.20am and had breakfast at nearby Hungry Jacks. It was a glorious sunny day and today was the day I got to meet some family members I hadn't seen in over 40 years. We drove to nearby North Parramatta, to my parents place. My Uncle Eric and Aunt Alison were visiting from England and it was great to see them after so many years. While I was growing up Eric was more like an older brother to me than an uncle. We spent most of the day catching up on the past 40 years - as much as we could but at 2.30pm we decided we needed to get going again. We had a 2 hour drive to Katoomba and had booked into a hotel there. The last thing I needed now was to get caught in Sydney's peak hour traffic heading west.

We drove out along the Great Western Highway (our companion for the next couple of days) and headed for Penrith. The traffic was quite thick and I hated to think what peak hour would be like. We could have taken the motorway, but that bypassed some of my old teenage haunts and I was amazed at how everything had changed. After Penrith we ascended the Blue Mountains passing through the suburbs of Glenbrook, Blaxland, Springwood, Hazelbrook, Lawson and Wentworth Falls and arrived in Katoomba at 4.20pm. Prior to checking in at our hotel, we drove to Echo Point to view 'The Three Sisters' and Jamieson Valley. It had now turned out to be a very hot day, but after all the rain we'd been through we weren't complaining. The views as always were quite spectacular and I wished I'd allowed for an extra day here so I could participate in some bushwalking, even though I'd walked around here many times during the 1980's. After visiting the souvenier shop we decided that perhaps it was time we checked into our hotel.

We were in for a rude shock. We had booked this place online and it looked nothing like what was described on the website we had seen and the room we were given had nothing we were originally promised. Our first problem was locating the car park which was so small and cramped we had trouble getting the car in and out. The building itself looked as if it needed a major facelift, nothing like the floodlit photographs we had seen online. Our room was on the top floor which didn't please Glen, but the room was almost bare - a very lumpy and uncomfortable double bed and a TV. We could see nothing of a fridge or electric jug. As for the ensuite, our kitchen, toilets and bathroom were down the hallway and we had to share. Glen could not see any sign of a fire escape. All this for over $80.00. There was no way we were staying here. On principle alone I was prepared to lose the money I'd paid rather than sleep in this dive. Then we had trouble contacting the manager of the place. "Back In 5 Minutes" obviously meant 50 minutes. I ended up phoning the manager and telling him we were checking out. This was the low point of our holiday and Glen was very upset for some time afterwards.

We now drove west until we reached Blackheath and found a motel, the 'High Mountains Motor Inn' in town that was up to our standards. For $10.00 more than we had lost on the Katoomba place we got a room that compared to the one at Katoomba, could be described as a 'Presidential Suite' and we settled our nerves by choosing what to do about dinner. We decided on the local Golf Club and were very pleased with what they had on offer.

We checked out of our Motel at Blackheath at 9.15am and headed back a little eastwards to view the Grose Valley from Evans Lookout. The sky was a little cloudy today but it would clear by the afternoon. We turned onto an unsealed road and followed this for about 4km until we reached the parking area. There were a number of walking tracks leading off from the car park and we chose the Evans Lookout track. 100 metres later we were standing on the cliff edge overlooking a grand valley, the bottom of which snaked the Grose River, surrounded by spectacular cliffs. Behind us was a stone built shelter and the area was covered with flowering Mountain Devils (Lambertia Formosa) which Glen found most appealing. I was keen on checking out the other walking tracks, but Glen really isn't a walker and we had a fair amount on our itinerary today, so we returned to the Rav4 and headed west along the Great Western Highway towards Lithgow.

It was a relatively short drive to the town of Lithgow, conversely we could have taken the Bells Line Road and visited the Zig Zag Railway, but we had planned to meet up with friends of Glen's around lunchtime. As we arrived in Lithgow we saw signs pointing to the Small Arms Factory and decided to go have a look at their museum. The factory was officially opened in 1912 and supplied SMLE Mk III rifles for the military. The factory also produced clippers for sheep shearing, handcuffs, golf club heads, sewing machines and parts for film projectors among many other items. The museum contains many displays of non-military items produced by the factory as well as an extensive collection of rifles, machine guns and the brilliant Ron Hayes handgun exhibition which contains just about every pistol ever made, from all over the world, some dating back 150 years. At the time of our visit there was also a very interesting display from World War 1 from a Turkish point of view.

Leaving the Small Arms Factory we drove to the Lithgow hospital where we met up with David and Lynette from nearby Portland and joined them for drinks in the hospital cafeteria. Lynette had an appointment at the hospital to see a specialist. David is one of Glen's longest serving friends, having known each other since they started school at age 5. When we moved on we found a small rest area just outside of Lithgow to stop and have a late lunch before driving on to Bathurst. We arrived mid afternoon and immediately headed for Mount Panorama racing circuit. First call was the Australian Motor Racing Museum and what a great display of exhibits this was. Outside of a motor show, this was one of the best displays of famous Australian racing vehicles and memorabilia I've ever seen. These included Alec Milldren's famous Yellow Submarine, Wayne Gardner's World Championship winning motor cycle and one of Peter Brock's Bathurst winning Holden Commodores (all shown below) There were sections dedicated to Formula 1 racing, Speedway, Touring cars and bike racing and the museum's shop front had an impressive array of merchandise for the motor racing fanatic. A museum well worth the visit.

We weren't finished with Mount Panorama however. Outside the museum adjacent to the track was an impressive statue dedicated to the late Bathurst racing legend Peter Brock. No visit to this mountain racing circuit can be considered complete unless you take your car out onto the track for a lap or two. We did two laps, Glen and I taking it in turns to do a lap each behind the wheel of the Rav4 (not exactly the sleekest of vehicles and I doubt we'll ever see a Toyota Rav4 racing at the Bathurst 1000 in October) but the drive was a great experience. For those not in the 'Know', Mount Panorama is basically a country road circuit, complete with farmlands and orchards that is closed during the race season, so when we drove around it we had to adhere to the speed limits.

Our visit to Mount Panorama complete, we now headed back into Bathurst, did a little food shopping then started to look for a suitable Motel or Cabin for the night. Driving down the main street of Bathurst we noticed several motels only too late to pull over, but just before we left the town we noticed a sign for the Ben Chifley Motel and drove in. I was in for quite a surprise when I entered the reception as the managers turned out to be Cheryl and Paul. Cheryl was a very old friend from my days at Sanctuary Point. She used to drive the mini bus that took my daughter first to pre-school, then early primary school back in the early 1990's. Cheryl was stunned when I revealed that Vicki was now married - how time has flown. I also had the pleasure of working with Cheryl's daughter Toni when we both worked for Huskisson RSL Club as bar staff in the mid 1990's. It's certainly a small world out there.

We were up early. had breakfast with Cheryl and had checked out of the Ben Chifley Motel by 8.35am under a brilliant blue sunny day. We headed west, leaving Bathurst behind and followed the Mid Western Highway towards Cowra. We passed through the town of Blayney soon after and a check of our touring atlas revealed a historic village of Carcoar which would prove worthy of a visit, but first we took a side road to view the Blayney Wind Farm and Carcoar Dam before locating Carcoar Village.

Carcoar is settled on the Belubula River and was the 3rd settlement west of the blue mountains to be gazetted in 1839. Carcoar was the local Gundungura aboriginal tribe's name for frog or kookaburra. The town has a history of gold mining and it supplied iron ore to the Lithgow steelworks during the 1800's. It is also the site of Australia's first ever daylight bank robbery in 1863. The town is full of historical buildings that include the local railway station (now disused) many churches, hotels and the Stoke Stable Museum which was built by convict labour in 1849. We spent some time here just admiring the architecture and scenery before heading for Cowra.

We decided on one more stop as we passed a road sign not far out of Cowra, we had to visit this place. The sign said 'Woodstock' and we had the obligatory photographs of each of us taken standing next to the sign just outside of town. I wondered whether the town ever held a music festival. Woodstock had a brief gold rush during the late 1860's. It now features a quaint railway station that is part residence and part art gallery. We arrived in Cowra just before 11.30am. Before we even had a chance to locate a motel for the night we saw a sign pointing to the local steam museum and went to check this out. The steam museum is basically a railway yard full of old rolling stock. These included an old steam train (engine No 5367) plus a number of diesel locomotives, passenger carriages, trucks and shunters. There was also an old turntable. The place really wasn't that great, basically a work in progress, but for a gold coin donation you can't expect too much. We drove through Cowra and located the Tourist Information Centre. Inside was plenty of information on the local area, including a list of motels we utilised to make our choice for the night. The centre also had a very good display on the local POW camp breakout during World War II. This included a 9 minute show that featured a holographic projector and was very impressive. We chose the Cowra Motor Inn and found it much to our satisfaction and had a salad lunch.

We spent the afternoon touring the town's World War II history. These included the Cowra Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre and the remains of the POW Camp. We didn't get a chance to visit the Japanese soldier's cemetery. The Memorial Garden was a delight. It was designed by Ken Nakajima, a renowned designer of Japanese gardens in the style of the 'Edo' period (1603 - 1868) and was opened in 1979 with the 2nd stage opening in 1986. The gardens host 2 large artificial lakes that are full of Koi Carp and features a symbolic mountain, no more than a small hill, the summit of which gives excellent views across Cowra and its Plains to the mountains in the west. many cascades tumble from the hillsides into the lakes. Glen and I had a great time wandering through the gardens, but were glad to get some shade in the air conditioned comfort of the Cultural Centre which featured an impressive array of Japanese art.

We then drove to what remains of the POW camp not far away. It was here during World War II that the camp saw a mass breakout of 500 - 1000 Japanese prisoners of war, regarded as the biggest prison break in world history. On the roadside above the camp is a replica of one of the guard towers and there are monuments to the Japanese, Italian and Australian soldiers who were stationed or kept prisoner here. A short walk through a field took us to some ruins, but there is very little left of the camp itself. It's a shame the national trust can't do something like a replica site that the area deserves. We now drove back into the town and chose one of the many wineries to be found in the area. We picked the closest due to the heat of the afternoon. A place called 'The Mill' and I indulged in a little wine tasting. The Port, a Windowrie Tawny, was so nice I had to buy a bottle. We decided to treat ourselves tonight and had dinner at Vince's Thai, Malaysian & Chinese restaurant on the main street. The food was delicious and I'd recommend it to anyone travelling through.

After breakfast at the Cowra Motor Inn we packed up and checked out by 8.50am. Before we left Cowra we chose to visit the World Peace Bell, situated on a side street just off Cowra's main thoroughfare. The Peace Bell was awarded to Cowra for the town's contribution to the aims of world peace and international understanding. Dedicated in 1992, it is a replica of the bell housed in the forecourt of the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The bell is cast from coins and medals donated by member nations. It weighs 477kg, is 1060mm high and has a diameter of 600mm. Housed in a street side pavilion constructed with the financial assistance of local businesses, the tiles decorating the pavilion were made by local students and community groups. The bell now promotes World Peace Day which is usually held on the third Tuesday in September. Visitors are invited to ring the bell as a reminder of the need for world peace. And this we did.

We drove out of Cowra at 9.15am and headed for Young, 70km south along the Olympic Highway. This was quite a pleasant drive through open farmland and woodlands. We arrived in Young at 10.05am, did some minor shopping before we headed for Desley and Dave's place, spending the rest of the day enjoying a few cold ales, some TV and accessing the internet...... and of course, Glen got to spend lots more time with her grandson.

We left Young at 10.20am and followed the same route we had driven in on 12 days earlier, stopping for a break at the Yass Service Centre before continuing home to Canberra. We arrived home at 12.35pm and not really looking forward to unpacking. Overall we travelled 1788km during the 12 days and spent just over $243.00 on petrol. We managed the spending money perfectly, arriving home with just $5.00 in my wallet. The holiday certainly had its high and low points, but we basically don't regret taking the holiday, we did need the break. Must do this again someday.