Wagga to Corowa Oct 29^th

We headed down the Olympic highway through The Rock, Henty and Culcairn for lunch and arrived at historic Corowa on the banks of the Murray mid afternoon. A pretty little town with great claims of being at the heart of the forming of the Federation of Australia. Many buildings in main street proudly display their year of establishment.

Of course, with the NAB running the most professional foreign currency desk and dealing room in Australia,  we had to visit the local Corowa NAB to transact some cross currency swaps.  Once we mentioned Andrew, Scott and Amanda’s names, all went smoothly and priced very tightly. The Nab seem to have a strong presence down here in the Riverina.

We stayed at the Corowa caravan park. Lovely bush surroundings by the Murray. However, there were all these permanent weekender cabins and absolutely no one was there. We had the whole  caravan park to ourselves. Georgia was spooked by this but I told her, this is fantastic, we have the whole place to ourselves, enjoy the serenity while it lasts. Apparently the park will be totally full for the Melbourne Cup long weekend.

The solitude did not dampen my bowling capabilities as in the twilight I bowled Andrew Burton around his legs with a vicious leg spinner that completely bamboozled him, as the mighty Murray watched on in awe. Andrew acknowledged this by throwing his bat into the Murray. A quickly convened judiciary hearing fined Andrew his dessert after dinner.

The next morning we went on a self- guided Federation tour of the town. We found the Corowa courthouse where popularly elected delegates by the people from each territory was first proposed. They would convene to form what would ultimately become the Federation of Australian.

After a visit to the local library for schoolwork, we visited the Corowa Whiskey and Chocolate factory in the afternoon, where the children made a giant freckle chocolate each.

We are learning that people in the caravan parks or whom you meet while walking etc want to talk to you and share stories.

Next stop Deniliquin.

Sydney to Wagga

Wagga Wagga Oct 27^th

Well we left Sydney at 8.15am (peak hour, well planned!) and blended in to the peak hour traffic with our Jayco Eagle. After brief stops at Suttons Forest, Yass and the Dog on the Tuckerbox, we arrived in the thriving metropolis of Wagga Wagga or as Arnold would say “Vagga Vagga”. We are staying in the Big 4 caravan park on the Murrumbidgee River.

I experienced my first happy hour and have instantly fitted in with the grey nomads and made life- long friends with Hal, Sandy and the Probus club boys from Sydney. Actually, I recognised a former RailCorp employee Ken (pictured on the left) who gave me some great travel tips with his mate Ken on the right of me.

Sera S will know him. Fiona is still organising the van to her liking and trying to find her rhythm. We have worked out that things close down for the night in the park pretty early.

We have visited the Botanical gardens , the zoo, the Wagga Wagga sporting hall of fame museum

and are about to have a spot of cricket by the river. Georgia and Andrew begged us to take them to the Wagga library to do some schoolwork. Tomorrow we go to the RAAF museum.

Next stop Corowa, NSW on the Murray River.

I am still trying to work out this blogging and how to arrange pictures etc. Ronny Barrantes will be proud of me. Can someone please comment that this has been published successfully.

In seven days we depart.
At the moment, our adventure looks like a to do list. Tasks to be completed, things we need to pack, pins on a googlemap. In seven days it will become a new lifestyle and I am not sure if you can or even should prepare too much for that. I think I can relax a bit now.