The Joy is in the Journey

After settling in at our camp at Yarrawonga we met up with the Crisps and shared an Italian dinner at the Mulwala Ski Club.  The next day we played the Lakes Course of the Yarrawonga Golf Club. Someone let Jim do the scoring even though he is known to be inventive with the scoring system. Perhaps the handicapper needed to be aware that he hasn't played in the last 3 months and his partner was going to be wayward, to say the least. On the other hand Joan was off to a flying start and we didn't catch she and Eric all game. Not to worry, "Its just a game," they said. I didn't find the water, but if there was a bunker on the fairway, and there always was, I seemed to be in it. This is the first 18 holes I have played in at least 12 months, so I needed a rest by the time we'd finished.  So much digging in the sand!  Suffice to say Jim bought the first shout.   We bought supplies on the way home and then shared a tandoori chicken dinner in the camp kitche...

7/10/10 Today was a public holiday today for SA Labour Day, and the first day of Daylight Saving. We drove out of the fertile valley, through arid plains until finally we arrived in the Riverland Area of SA. Barmera is home to the Overland Corner Hotel, first established in 1859 and popular with sheep drovers moving stock from NSW into SA. Barmera lies north of that Goyder line I mentioned in an earlier post, but because irrigation has been available it is a highly productive agriculture and viticulture area. They are selling 4 butternut pumpkins for $6 on the side of the road but I just can’t think of a way 2 people can eat that many. We have a site right on the banks of Lake Bonney, a popular spot for water enthusiasts apparently.  There are plenty of other people here and all manner of watercraft. I had no idea there were that many things you could tow behind a boat! When we lived upstream from here in Cobram we were very happy with an opportunity to jump on a pair of s...

We pulled out of Port Augusta with a completely revised and improved opinion of the town then headed south to Watervale. We met Denise and Col in Katherine some years back. They have owned an original stone cottage on a property here for 30 odd years and in Easter of 2010 we joined them here with some other friends and did a section of the Rail Trail on hired bikes, calling in on several wineries as you would. We also caught up with Des and Leslie Menz friends from Cobram who had moved to Clare, on that visit. Much fun was had during the days and at night we sat around the firepit, entertaining each other with stories of shared experiences all extrapolated and exaggerated way beyond the truth.  Denise and Col now live here permanently and lots of improvements have been made to the cottage, but as always when you own an older place, there are lists of things still in the pipeline. Its a work in progress. Below you can see the coat rack we helped to reinstate on the porch wall a...

1st October Driving south we appreciated the changing scenery, more rocky jump ups and curves in the road than we have seen in awhile. Crossing the dry Finke Riverbed reminded us of the time we chose this spot for lunch in the shade of the Ghost Gums. By the time I had unpacked the makings for sandwiches the boys and Eric we handing it all back to me to put away as the flies were so thick and ferocious. Next was the turn off to Uluru with Erldunda Roadhouse on the corner. We didn't bother to count the number of vehicles lined up for fuel but I think 30 would be conservative and they had to be patient. Fortunately we only needed coffee, having a tail-wind today has been good for our fuel consumption. We were playing Spotto again and the target was Sturt's Dessert Pea but the one in the picture above was the only one we found. It flowers after heavy rain so I guess there hasn't been much of that lately.  We did have a few unexpected spits on the windscreen from this cu...

Sun 29th Sept to Tue 1st Oct We have a terrific site at the Wintersun Caravan Park on the north side of town. It is shady throughout the day and thank goodness as the sun is relentless and it is 33 deg in the shade at the moment. If you are going to do anything that involves being outdoors you do it early or late.  Driving past Traeger Park brought back memories of a football grand final that was much closer than the one played out at ‘The G’ yesterday. In 2001, Eric was manager of the Rivers Team from Katherine Region and they made it into the final. The team was made up from mostly Katherine township Primary School aged boys, but also communities at Ngukurr (5 hr drive) and Larjamanu (10 hr drive). Eric had never even seen these boys train due to their remoteness, but had been told to hold some places in the team for them. They had to go shopping the first day they arrived in Alice as a number of players had never worn a pair of footy boots and the rules stated all players ...

Thursday 26 th September I have officially retired! I had a lovely last week at Alawa School where the school council presented me with a gift at an assembly and several students read out some lovely reflections about my contributions to the school. It was very touching to hear words like: ‘the birds sing and the flowers bloom when you are at the farm’ and ‘while the name Smith is common, you are certainly not’. They presented me with a book of drawings they had done, many of which featured my banana, watermelon or pineapple shirts. Then we had a few drinks after school with the staff and they gave me a fabulous sculpture for our garden and topped it off with some Yeti wine goblets. If you haven’t come across Yeti products yet, I recommend you check them out. Great for travellers. The Australian School Sport 10-12 yrs Athletics Titles are over and so are our volunteering duties. We are tired but have enjoyed being involved in such a well-run event and to see so many of th...

Theme of the Local Hero,   Mark Knopfler's  Going Home If you have a google account you should be able to click that song title and click to listen to the song, an instrumental, as you read the final leg of this journey. So many songs about going home, Leonard Cohen, Tinpan Orange, Carol King, to name a few. But the lyrics are all wrong.  Our journey is coming to an end. We have this last day in Katherine and then we head up the very familiar stretch between here and Darwin.  This morning we took the bikes out for a spin. When we lived here we often went riding and have fond memories of riding with a bunch of friends around the Zimin Dve Circuit, or to the Cumbidgee Lodge or Springvale for breakfast on the weekend. Today we planned to do the Low Level to High Level circuit. Our park is situated right on the trail. Getting to the Low Level took no time, all down hill. While we stood watching the river flow beneath us Eric recalled a great story. We were both ...