Sorry everyone, this turned out to not be a great sightseeing day and the photographs are few. We left Benalla this am with the goal of finding out what the symbol was on the dash that keeps turning on and off. We went to the local Toyota dealership to ask and learned that this model of the Toyota van has a mid engine, rear wheel drive and that the engine actually sits on it side. Because of this and the angle of the oil pan, they added a sensor to let us know when the oil is low but not out. Go figure, we have a van that runs great but seems to use about ½ litre of oil every 1200 km – oh well at least it seems to be a good running van. Nothing to do but buy the oil and put in the engine.
Ok, to do this you have to lift the passenger seat and lay it on its back. Then there is a ‘trap’ door to open to access the top of the engine. Sounds like fun doesn’t it? We are mechanically capable so this really was not a serious challenge, other than we have to move things in the back around so the seat will lay back. Off we head on the road to Canberra (pronounced we are informed as “Canburro”). Wouldn’t it be nice if everything was spelled phonetically? Of course with the Canadian phonetics.
The drive through the city again reminds us of our different driving styles. I tend to make quick decisions and go (maybe too fast sometimes) and Wes likes to make slower decisions and drive cautiously (losing many chances to get out and going). Well since we never fight, all I can say is I learned quickly to keep my suggestions to myself (as the passenger) and wait out the drive.
The drive was on freeway not exciting at all, especially since there was no lighted icons flashing on the dash. However the landscape was interesting. We travelled through country that reminded me often of the type of landscape found in Nova Scotia. Hills (called mountains here) with trees and other vegetations. Then there would be large areas of flat land with fields and crops growing. It was not uncommon to find hay fields or cattle grazing. There were several fields that I would liked to have had a picture of to share of rolls of hay wrapped in white plastic sitting on the field. It looked to me like large marshmallows scattered around the field. I was driving as we passed them so no pictures, sorry.
We stopped at a roadside rest area for lunch and discovered that by chance we had stopped at a famous statue location of a ‘Dog on the Tuckerbox’. The Dog on the Tuckerbox is an Australian historical monument and tourist attraction, located at Snake Gully, five miles (8 km) from Gundagai, New South Wales. The statue was inspired by a bullock driver's poem, Bullocky Bill, which celebrates the life of a mythical driver's dog that loyally guarded the man's tuckerbox (lunch box) until death.
While there we checked out the local store and I bought an Australian hat. I picked up a Bramah Drover Cooler hat which is suppose to protect from the sun, with the mesh top provide a cooler hat and can be folded, squished and packed without any problem of recovery. We will see about that.
We continued down the highway to arrive finally at Canberra. Wes had done some research and we headed to the selected campsite only to discover that they do not have a camp kitchen. We have become spoiled so we took their suggestions and moved onto the one we are at. Really nice location and has a outdoor pool – non heated I should add. But it was nice enough this afternoon we decided a swim was in order so we took our first swim in Australia.
Around dinner time a bus arrived with a load of students and the driver pulled into our campsite. He claimed that we were parked in the bus parking. Of course we were parked where we were instructed to be parked but rather than argue we went to the office and requested a different site. They claimed they would be talking to the bus driver since that was not his site nor was he to cause problems for the guests (us). No idea what happened but we did get moved to a nicer place. Since we will be here for 2 nights, we are content.
In addition while checking in we learned that as Canadians we were entitled to a guest membership to the Family Parks associated campsites so are entitled to a 10% discount at any associated campsites in Australia and NZ. Now we have two different associations giving us discounts to stay at their campsites so all feels good.
The fact that 2 buses of students arrived reminded me that retirement is good. No problems with the students in case you wondered since they had dinner at the other end of the park.
After dinner when it cools a bit there are often people taking their evening stroll. Well the wild life feels the same since a member of the lizard community felt that a stroll down the lane was in order.
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