December 2008 End of year

The Big Trip

Hello bloggers.

A lot has happened since the last post in all avenues, except blacksmithing. I haven't had any enthusiasm to fire up since before the holiday trip over to the east coast. My forging mate, has had to take a long stay over in the states to be with his son and his family and won't be back till close to Christmas. It's no fun forging without him.

Our trip over to Nowra and Grafton went quite smoothly and was very enjoyable. The new car performed well, but unfortunately, got boofed in the back corner by some drunken mongrel in the early hours of the morning. It is in the paint shop now getting fixed. It's cost $300 excess and three weeks off the road , so it put a dampener on the holiday fun.

Over at Nowra, we had our Photographers reunion, with what seemed, the entire branch that is still breathing.















A good night was had by all. I didn't get to speak to them all, but it was great to see some of the legends of the Navy phot branch.

The next day involved a BBQ at my old chiefs place. He did a sterling job with the catering.
There was a smaller crowd and quite a few wives present as well. The weather was great and the food and drink never ending... almost the perfect party.














I'm third from the left in the middle row. One of three guys holding beer bottles.....hmmmm!

We drove around the country side in our free time and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Outside of Nowra, there hasn't been a lot of change in the 30 years that have passed.
Our stay at the Caravan park was excellent. We will definitely return there one day.

The Airshow on Sunday proved a winner as well, going by the crowds. We got to the base early and it was like a ghost town, but by midday it was packed to the fences.
There was a good display, both static and live, of aircraft of all vintages. Sadly, there wasn't any A4 Skyhawks and Grumman Trackers flying. That would have been nice.

The Aviation Museum was better than I expected. The time, effort and expense that has gone into it has shown dividends. Here is a couple of shots...

We left Nowra early on a Monday morning. I was dreading the drive north, fearing the peak hour traffic on the Hume highway around Picton. However, it proved to be a pleasant trip. Once we got onto the old Putty road, we had the road to ourselves and a full day to get to Grafton.
We arrived at Grafton at 18:00 and booked into the hotel.
We had happened upon Grafton during the Jacaranda Festival and fireworks display. The town was full of visitors and every man, woman and child was hell bent on getting wiped out with alcohol and other exotic condiments. A good nights sleep was only a dream.
Suffice to say, I don't think that particular spot will be on our accommodation list next time.

The days passed at a fast clip and we ran out of time to carry out our plans of photographing the entire Glenreagh to Dorrigo route. We did manage a walk up the line to the tunnels and some of the line to Timbertop, but that was about it.

The return trip to Adelaide was slow and measured. We stayed overnight at Dubbo, then arrived home at 10pm the next day. We averaged 43 mpg in the old money, and petrol was on the way down by the time we arrived home. Typical.
As I said earlier, the car performed well, but the complaint about the seat comfort, or lack of, was well justified in the write up on our model. I guess we will pick stop overs with a spa tub next time.

In other news, one of my brothers has landed a job in the outback and my son has headed for Alice Springs to live and work. I guess our next trip will be up north to Alice.

Merry Christmas all who read this and I'll see you next year.

Cheers,
Rob