Back on the road

And with a new travelling companion. Elliot, as a brand new post primary boy, managed to score the class bear in the end of year raffle. His role during the year was to accompany Elliot’s classmates on their many and varied adventures and to document them in his diary. Now, free of the classroom it would have been harsh to leave him at home, so let the adventures continue.

This is day three of our summer sojourn to Tasmania. Now the astute amongst you will realise that I have been slack and didn’t blog the first two days, but then it was just old ground to (another) family Christmas in Dubbo, and you don’t really need to know about that.

So we find ourselves camped under the trees on the Murray River at Tocumwall on the Victorian side. The corellas are calling overhead, the river is flowing past, and all is peaceful in the world.

With the budding astronomers in the back seat, an early start at the radio telescope, the “Dish” just north of Parkes was in order. Not much change from previous visits but always fascinating to read the history of the place and of radio astronomy in general.

West Wyalong was next for lunch. One of the pleasures of touring is exploring country bakeries. With quarantine restrictions going in to Tassie we are travelling with minimal food, so it was a good excuse. What I didn’t expect was the spanish TARDIS over the road. I’ve no idea what that was all about.

Jerilderie was a stop for afternoon tea. Ned Kelly country, but the speedboats on the lake and the military memorials were more the entertainments for the time.

The country down here is a beautiful golden straw colour, and there are huge piles of baled hay everywhere, in paddocks, in sheds, and on the road. Evidence of a good winter I suspect. Then we started seeing the open irrigation channels, the subject of water efficiency measures involved in restoring environmental flows to the Murray. Still makes you wonder about the concept of dairying and rice growing in this dry country.

Will be glad to get out of the heat. Mid-30s today, but I suspect it won’t be long before we will be glad to get into the 20s. Tasmania beckons.