Bullett’s Birthday Trip – The Road Trip to Rocky.
Day 1 –The Poacher’s Pantry
The night at Redwood Gardens was memorable, if nothing else, no mobile phone coverage, no TV, no internet, basically a room and a bed and a couple of magazines. What could a couple of weary travelers do, except hit the sack early and sleep for about 12 hours. The view from the back of the room revealed a lovely lake and access to your own row boat, tree and grassy bit. The breakfast room called and we took our little basket of goodies and had our breakkie, most of it was milk, cereal and yoghurt, so in the end we had just toast and a cuppa, just like home, really. We hit the road again
We found our way into Canberra and did a tour of the Old Parliament House, no security, the grand cost of $2 and a very interesting guide, allowing us to sit in both Houses and explore the Halls of power.
A short walk up the Hill and it was a different story. No cost, having to go through the Security screening and no tour. Probably because you couldn’t really go anywhere, couldn’t go into the houses: you could just wander the public areas and have a look from a distance. The prices in the souvenir shop were outrageous, but it certainly is a very impressive and beautiful building. The Great Hall had an amazing big mural of the Australian Bush and it was certainly the highlight.
We then decided to go to the War Memorial, which we could see from Parliament House. It became obvious a short time later that being able to see something did not necessarily mean you could get there. Driving around and around in circles and only being able to turn left, meant the short trip was more challenging and took longer than it should have. We crossed the lake three times and I was sure we were going to be lost in Canberra forever. What is it that you can’t turn right, anyway? Finally, we got there and checked out the War Memorial, by then, we had had enough of Canberra and headed to the Poachers Pantry, near where we stayed, for a late lunch.
It was lucky we were late, because had we been early we wouldn’t have got a feed because they were totally booked out and full. Arriving late meant some people had left and we could get a table. We had the most amazing lunch of smoked meats, cheeses, dips, pickled vegetables including beetroot accompanied by crusty bread and crackers. Mmmm! It was yummy, all washed down with a lovely Merlot and followed by a Blackberry Shortcake dessert, which we didn’t need, but indulged in anyway. We bought some goodies and left for Bathurst.
The first thing we did was a couple of laps of the track in the Citroen. She went really well, but man is that track much steeper and scarier than you would think from the TV coverage. How they do it at the speeds they do, I don’t know and I don’t want to know.
We called in to visit Pat and Neil Collie, who live next to the track and who Gerard used to stay with, and have a lovely evening with them. We certainly didn’t need dinner. We wandered around their cherry orchard and Pat gave me a tour of the house and how they accommodate the race teams. They have an amazing setup, and no doubt have made a lot of money over the years, by turning their garages into accommodation for 20 or more people and the rest of the downstairs area has a lounge, bathrooms, kitchen, BBQ area etc and all the trappings you need to feed and bed that many people. It’s just amazing the equipment and stuff that they have to do it all.
We headed into town fairly late and found a Motel with an $85 room, at the most, which we paid $110 for and they wanted to charge me $120 for. It was kind of like the Motel in Hamilton we used to stay in (CITS people will know exactly what I mean).
