Day 21 – 16th April – North Ryde to Mittagong – 109 Km
Day 22 – 17th April – Around Southern Highlands
The weather didn’t hold. The rain on the way home from the Blue Mountains continued through the night and into the next morning. I can’t remember the last time that I have had to wear wet weather gear to pack up to leave a caravan park. It was not only wet but cold as well. By the time we reached Mittagong the sun was breaking through but it was still cold. We hope that winter has not arrived.
Autumn tints at Mittagong
The next two days were about visiting relatives and friends. We set up at Mittagong Caravan Park before travelling on to Bowral to visit Ruth’s younger brother and his wife. Wall and Ginny are long term Southern Highlands residents. We had a good “catch up” and an excellent meal.
The next afternoon we visited Cliff and Marion at Burradoo. Ruth and Marion were friends in their teenage years. We have seen them on visits by them or us over the years. It is one of those friendships where each time we meet we simply pick up where we left off last time. We stayed for a bit longer than we had intended so had to make a dash back about 65 Km to Mt. Annan for dinner with Ruth’s youngest sister Dot and her husband Peter and their two beautiful daughters, Deahna and Madison. Another great meal and a very pleasant evening!
Day 23 – 18th April – Mittagong to Gunning – 131 Km
Our departure from the Southern Highlands marked the end of visiting relatives but we still had one friend to go. My correspondence with Barry Medway started through the ExplorOz.com web site when we both owned Holden Jackaroos. Barry still does. When he heard that we would be passing by he invited us to park our van at his home near Gunning, which is near the better known town of Yass.
We paused at Goulburn to top up supplies and found a park with kerb space to park the van for lunch. In the interests of reporting things “BIG” we paused at the service centre at the southern end of town to see the Big Ram. It dominates the area, dwarfing McDonalds and Subway.
The Big Ram at Goulburn
Barry is a retired farmer who still lives on his farm property. When we arrived he was busy helping his son to prepare several hundred sheep for shipment. We were invited to dinner with Barry and Ros, his wife, and enjoyed another excellent home cooked meal. We spent the evening discussing many issues including travelling remote parts of Australia. They are off on a trip that will include the Great Central Road that runs west from Ayres Rock and The Pilbara.
The farm house is in an elevated position so we were very aware of the freshening westerly wind that moved to the south west and brought with it memories of Victoria.
We left Barry the next morning assisting his son to load the sheep into trucks for a journey that will ultimately lead them to the dinner table. Perhaps your dinner table?
Day 24 – 19th April – Gunning to Temora – 182 Km
The turn off to Temora is a few kms south of Yass. A service centre is located where the southern entrance to the town leaves the highway which bypasses Yass, as it does Gunning. We refuelled and had morning tea before heading on. The main centre of civilisation on this road is the twin towns of Harden and Murrumburrah that sit cheek by jowl separated only by a small creek. Jointly they represent a substantial community.
Yass at a distance
Temora is larger than I had remembered with a main street lined with older buildings including some that are both stately and colonial. Woolworths and McDonalds are here and even a small branch of Harvey Norman. The many agricultural equipment suppliers confirm that this is a grain area. We drove past many fields of wheat stubble and several silos, most with additional wheat stored under tarpaulins.
Our van is in the Temora Airport Tourist Park which is part of the airport grounds. As we set up for our stay we could keep an eye on arriving small aircraft as they landed and were carefully lined up at the side of the runway. Towards evening a loud roar alerted us to a small jet fighter taking to the skies to give us an appetiser for tomorrow’s main event.
Temora Airport Tourist Park
Day 25 – 20th April – Temora Military Air Museum
Temora Aviation Museum entrance
We have come to Temora for an Angel Flight Fly/Drive In at the Military Aircraft Museum. For those who don’t know of Angel Flight, it is a charity that organises volunteer private pilots to transport people with health and financial problems (the two often go together) from country areas to the city for treatment. Volunteer drivers (I am one of them) meet the plane at the airport and transport the patient and other family members to the place of treatment. I am called an Earth Angel. Pilots are Air Angels.
Angel Flight has been in existence for 10 years. The Fly/Drive In is a celebration of this mile stone. There are many more pilots than drivers as it is easier to fly to a place like Temora than to drive.
DH-82A Tiger Moth
Ryan STM S2 USA trainer
The museum is worth a visit. It is located on the site of a WWII pilot training base where Tiger Moth bi-planes were used to provide basic training for fighter and bomber pilots. The older of the aircraft date back to WWII but some come from the Vietnam era. All are capable of flight and on a flying day such as this some four or five aircraft will be demonstrated by experienced pilots. The line up for our visit was a Tiger Moth, a Ryan trainer, a Boomerang which was an Australian designed and built fighter, a genuine WWII Spitfire fighter and a Cessna A-37B Dragonfly, a jet fighter produced during the Vietnam war.
CA-13 Boomerang fighter
CA-13 Boomerang in flight
Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII
David Lowy, son of Frank of Westfield shopping centre fame, founded and heavily supports the museum. He is a world class aerobatics pilot and has been a world champion. He flies the Cessna jet fighter. It and the other aircraft are flown to demonstrate their capabilities so there is a great deal of noise and much craning of necks as all eyes are skyward. The sound of the Rolls Royce Merlin V12 engine in the Spitfire was a real treat to an former teenage reader of Biggles books like me.
Cessna A-37B Dragonfly Fighter
Cessna A-37B Dragonfly Fighter in flight
In the evening we attended a dinner at the Temora RSL club, a sort of 10th birthday callebration. An excellent meal and very few speeches allowed pilots to talk aircraft all night. We Earth Angels and our partners just listened or allowed our attention to wander.If you would like know more about the museum go to www.aviationmuseu.com.au
Day 26 – 21st April 2013 – Temora
A lay day! Work catch up, washing and some reading and blog writing, of course.