Weekend of 26th July, 2008

Word around town is that Urinquinty has the BEST bakery. Well, not so by the look of the odd things they put on bread rolls. So, Bruce had a pie, of course and I waited until we found a shop that sells ordinary things like lettuce and cheese. I don't know many people who have mushrooms on a ham and salad roll?? BUT their custard tarts are perfect, worth a trip back I reckon.

We also went out to The Rock Nature Reserve which is just that, a rock. There is a 6km hard walk. Besides the climb, the road is paved with huge rocks which made it very uncomfortable for your feet. We walked far enough to see The Rock. The Rock towers 250 metres over the surrounding countryside. Know as Kengal to the local Wiradjuri people, it is thought to have been a place where initiation ceremonies had been carried out.

We followed the mud map to Tootool Wetlands on Bullenbung Creek but didn't see any wetlands and are not sure what was growing nicely in the fields either (must find out). However we did cross Bullenbung Creek bridge on our way to Lockhart. Others have said they couldn't find it either!

Next stop was Lockhart to find a salad roll. They have a huge milk bar there that makes milkshakes the old way in a big silver cup and a glass. They managed to make a decent salad roll as well!

The main street of Lockhart, Green Street is paved and a lot of the bricks are etched with family history. It would be a very interesting place to visit if you were researching your family tree as the family names are there along with the name of their farm. As you can imagine, there were a lot of families with the same surname. Lockhart is know as the "Verandah Town".

After Lockhart we visited The Galore Hill Scenic Nature Reserve down Heckendorf Drive. We spotted a bush wallaby and an echnida who had his face hidden when he saw us coming! We also saw some wild rabbits.

This plaque is at the base of the tower.

1840

To commemorate the journey of Henry Osborne from Wollongong to Adelaide.

He climbed this hill and is reported to have exclaimed :there is land and galore!

If you have a close look to the right of the tower you can see a communications tower. So much for being away from civilisation!!

Adelong Falls Reserve

Adelong is located 416 km south-west of Sydney via the Hume and Snowy Mountains Highways. It is 340 m above sea level and currently has a population of around 900 people. It seems that the word 'adelong', or something similar, meant either 'river on a plain' or 'along the way' in the local Wiradjuri language. Europeans settled the area in the 1840s with Adelong Creek station being established in 1843. It wasn't until the discovery of gold in 1853 that the town really developed. A gold rush in the following years resulted in the population reaching an estimated 5,000 people by 1855. The result of this rush was that an Anglican parish was established in the same year and the following year, 1856, saw the formal establishment of the town. In 1857 William Williams discovered both reef and alluvial gold on Mount Charcoal. It is said that Williams, who went by the nickname 'Old Gold Dust', bought a mining claim for £40,000 and sold it for £75,000 later the same day. This rush of luck resulted in the town's population increasing to 20,000 by 1860 of whom nearly 3,000 miners came from China. The area yielded 7,000 ounces of alluvial gold and the reef mines reputedly produced 50 ounces to each ton which was crushed. In total the area yielded nearly 25 tonnes (or 200 tons - the sources are very confused) of gold. The 1860s and 1870s saw the town booming. Mines and batteries (to crush the reef gold) sprung up along the valley. The mines included such romantically named operations as Donkey Hill, The Challenger, Lady Mary, Long Tunnel, Great Victoria and Gibraltar which, at its peak, was employing 450 men and had tunnels reaching over 400 metres into the surrounding mountains.

Richie's Gold Battery at the Adelong Falls Reserve This is a very well preserved and fascinating area where the enthusiastic gold panner can try their luck in the creek where thousands of miners once made their fortune. The area is clearly signposted and many of the ruins are easy to recognise including the Richie's Gold Battery, the water wheels which were used to drive the battery, and the old brick chimney. A guide to the town explains: "The ruins of the Richie's gold batteries are the remains of a quartz crushing and gold saving installation, which was praised as 'a credit to New South Wales' and which ranked 'foremost of any in Australia' (Department of Mines annual report 1882). The ruins are made up of what was called a 'reefer machine' and was operated from the earliest 'rush' days up until World War I. "All the machinery at the site was worked by two large water wheels supplied with water from the Adelong Creek and carried down by races, either cut into the hillside or on wooden trestles."

This beautiful rose just near our house, just after the rain.

Walking home from work, there are guys sitting by the lagoon with their remote controls and thermos taking the boats for a sail. Some look made with love.

Thursday, 31st July 2008

The Hampden Bridge over the Murrumbidgee River, Wagga Wagga I wouldn't walk over this, see the water through the walkway?? Yikes!

Percy Allan in 1893 designed a standard type of timber truss bridge, called the Allan truss, which continued to be built at least until 1920. In its original form it was used for 21.3m and 27.4m spans. In 1895 he extended to the design to span 33.5m, the first bridge of this type being at Wagga Wagga, 1895. The system used timber Howe trusses, with timber top and bottom chords, timber compression diagonals and tension rods as verticals. Its chief features were because it had no counterbraces, it was possible to adjust the geometry by screwing up the verticals, counteracting the effects of shrinkage, the diagonal members were cut off square at their ends, pressing against special cast iron details and double timbers were used to allow for replacement. The shorter spans were half through. The deeper 33.5m spans were through trusses, with an upper lateral system. The span of 33.5m for a timber truss was, at the time of opening, exceeded only by the Lachlan River road bridge at Cowra (1893, 48.8m). Allan trusses of the same span were later built at Inverell, 1896 (since removed) and Morpeth, 1898. The bridge is of considerable technological significance.

Thursday, 31st July 2008

When we were in Tumut at the Information place, we came across a friendly wombat puppet and Andrew bought it We went to Wagga Wagga information and they had a nasty looking one, doesn't he look mean? He even had claws!! We left him there, he looked way too surly!

Weekend of 12th July, 2008 Julie, and the boys were staying at Burrinjuck Dam and came up to Gundagai and we met up for lunch at the Chinese restaurant. We couldn't resist taking a photo of the boys outside this shop!! Spud/Matt was really enjoying his meal, the plates were floral which we thought unusual!

Weekend of 5th July 2008
Instead of adventuring, we stayed in and watched DVDs. The weather was awful and so was my head cold!! The DVDs were fabulous The Tin Man was a 2008 version of Wizard of Oz and was a 4 hour epic which we thoroughly enjoyed. We also enjoyed the December Boys.

Wednesday 2nd July 2008
Today my Buddy Janet came shopping in Wagga and we met up for lunch with her friend Norma. Janet ordered a hot chocolate and here's a picture of her posing with her marshmallows!

Believe it or not, my top is purple and so are Janet's pants. Love the new hat Janet!
Hmm, noice nightwear in the op shop, NOT!! Sorry it's a bit blurry, we were laughing.

Tuesday 1st July 2008

Today was the day to find a GP and get some more antibiotics. Drs here bulk bill and don't know their medication very well. I had to explain what the tablets were and was told they were for acne, um, no it's what my GP gives me when I get a sinus infection! She relented and gave me a script, then asked me if I'd like a nasal spray to which I said "no, thankyou" and she said she'd write me a script for it anyway, huh? Why??

Monday 30th June 2008

Woke up when the alarm went off at 5.30am to get in the car and get back to Wagga. Wow, what happened to my sinuses? Am I allergic to Sydney?? We had to stop at a chemist and get some sinus med. We had a good trip back. The antibiotics that can fix this if it's really bad are in Wagga, may need them. I worked until 4pm today, and then went home and was pooped.

Yep, waited until dinnertime and the pain is amazing so it's obviously an infection, phooey, so I've started the antibiotics.

Sunday 29th June 2008

Aalya seems to think that 4am is a good time to bed share, what a funny girl she is. The girls were so excited about going to church today, they love Sunday school. After church we went to visit Grandpa (Hi Grandpa if you're reading this) and then Bruce had a Parish Council meeting at church, whew.

Saturday 28th June 2008

Woke up in our own bed, Bruce got up early as he always does, I heard him telling Aalya that the clock said 6.59 and in a minute it will click over to 7.00. The next thing I knew, I woke up at it was 8 o'clock. Bruce had a men's conference on at church, and we went shopping to look around a bit and to get some meat to cook up a nice dinner, and roast vegetables in the oven!! I took lots of photos of the girls as I haven't blogged photos of them for a while and the Grandparents in New Zealand love looking at their photos.

Friday 27th June 2008

Today I didn't need to go to work as they needed my desk and computer for end of year stuff so I did some shopping for next week and then go and collect Bruce from work. It was another nice trip home, although getting out of the car to use the public loo is a bit cccccold. We found a bakery that didn't have baked goods for sale - it was a cafe with nothing on show??? So we didn't buy anything, figured we wait and have lunch at Gunning. We got home in time to get the girls from school. Aalya had been so excited her teacher said, she jumped into Bruce's arms. Then Bruce and I took the girls with us while we had our hair cut and then Bruce went to the chiropractor. I think we're much busier when we have a weekend in Sydney!!