COVID-free no more!

As 2021 comes to an end it’s a shock to see daily COVID cases in the state of New South Wales hitting a new record high of 21,151 today. Two weeks' vacation in the outback is suddenly looking very prescient indeed!

 
According to NSW Health, more than 14 percent of tests processed in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday were positive, indicating a significant rate of cases undetected in the community.

I’ve already booked my booster shot after we arrive back in Sydney. It’s hard to believe that as little as six months ago we were all freaking out over one or two isolated cases. The new normal has certainly changed. Party safely tonight everyone!

The ultimate river R&R

 

Our Murray River adventure continues. We’re now comfortably settled into our Airbnb digs on the bank of the Darling River. This river is the largest tributary of the Murray River catchment. For the next five nights, we’re enjoying plenty of R&R doing absolutely nothing every day.

Our accommodation is impressive, to say the least. We’ve based ourselves in a modern apartment-style home with soaring ceilings and a wall of glass that looks out over manicured lawns and the Darling River. It’s part of a hobby farm located on Yankabilly Island, a semi-isolated landmass that was once the eastern bank of the river itself.

The farm is located just 10 minutes drive from the town of Wentworth. This town’s claim to fame is its location at the junction of the Murray and Darling River systems. Earlier in the day we stopped in town and climbed a local observation tower. Here we could see the brown and murky waters of the Darling slowly merging with the greener hues of the Murray. This is my second time in Wentworth. I was last here in 2003.

UPDATE: 2 January 2022
We’ve finally had our first river swim. The Airbnb homestead has its own floating jetty. We ventured down to the river yesterday and enjoyed a couple of hours splashing around the muddy Darling. The outback heat here has been extraordinary. We’ve endured temperatures approaching 40 degrees most days. Thank goodness the home has air-conditioning!

Murray River: first sighting

We’ve made it! Garry has finally spent a night on the banks of the Murray River. We’re currently in Euston on the NSW side of the river near the Victorian town of Robinvale. When we first planned our itinerary, we mapped it out in such a way that it could be driven in its entirety without ever crossing into Victoria. While the border had reopened, we thought it prudent that we always stayed overnight in NSW – just to be safe! As a result, we’re staying in several towns where the NSW destination is often a sleepy twin of its nearby Victorian neighbour.

Euston is one such town. It’s basically one street village on the banks of the Murray River. The biggest venue in town is the local community club. We’re staying overnight in one of its riverside motel units. Here we can sit on the porch and look out over the mighty Murray. Sadly, our first river vista is somewhat marred by the presence of large power pylons spanning the river in this location.

Earlier in the day, we stopped at the Shear Outback centre. Located outside Hay, this venue celebrates Australia’s iconic sheep shearing traditions. Here we watched them shear a sheep and toured its interpretative centre filled with all manner of shearing paraphernalia and outback farming exhibits.

Today's scenic lunch spot was the Swing Bridge in Balranald on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. This proved to be a picturesque location filled with wildlife including plenty of Rosellas and Kookaburras. The area also has a scenic walking track. However, recent rains have flooded the area so this excursion was off the table today.

We’re also patting ourselves on the back as we enjoy some much-needed COVID-free outback air. With more than 11,200 new cases in the state of New South Wales today we think it’s the best place to be.

Koala spotting

The second night of our transit toward the Murray River saw us stop overnight in Grong Grong. The motel we'd booked proved to be the only disappointment on our entire vacation. It was rather plain and a little shabby around the edges, to say the least. However, I’d chosen it so that we’d be close to Narrandera and its popular Koala Reserve.

To reach Grong Grong, our touring route took us through Young and then on to Temora. The town of Temora proved a memorable stop. On the outskirts of town sits the Temora Memorial Museum. It’s famed for its semi-annual airshows when lovingly restored Second World War spitfires and other vintage aircraft take to the skies.

The museum itself houses an impressive collection of planes. Highlights for us included a visit to the restoration hanger where we witnessed a spitfire undergoing routine maintenance. The Tiger Moth and Vampire jet were also highlights. This event was well worth a pit stop – and even better – it cost us nothing thanks to event vouchers issued recently by the NSW Government. As the pandemic grinds on, these vouchers have been given to residents statewide as part of a program designed to help struggling local businesses.

The following morning, we made our way into Narrandera to spend a couple of hours searching for koalas along the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. In 1972, at a time when no koalas had been seen around these parts since 1900, koalas were re-introduced into a local reserve from Victoria and Queensland. Through heatwaves, flooding and fire, a healthy population has survived. Today, there are an estimated 200 koalas living in the area.

We did well. During a 5km hike through the gum trees, we ultimately spotted three adults plus one baby clinging to its mother (you can see its little leg sticking out in one of the photos posted here). There’s something wonderfully satisfying about spotting koalas in the wild.

We stopped for lunch on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River outside Darlington Point before making our way on to Hay for our next overnight stop at the beautifully restored Convent Hotel. Sadly the image below isn't the hotel but one of the town's historic buildings.  However, the hotel itself was still a picturesque clutter of white-washed colonial buildings in the middle of town.

Bathurst and Beyond

Our journey towards the Murray River took us through some NSW’s most renowned regional centres. After leaving the Blue Mountains spent three nights progressively making our way southeast towards Euston, where we’d planned our first sighting of Australia’s landmark river.

On Boxing Day we drove inland towards Bathurst and then on to Cowra for our first overnight stop. As all good tourists do, we took time out in Bathurst to drive the Mount Panorama racing circuit and enjoy its scenic views across the town. No speed limits were broken during our circuit!

We stopped for a picnic lunch on the shores of Lake Carcoar. Picnic lunches have become one of our signature activities on these road trips, both here and overseas. Over the years we’ve built out an impressive “picnic basket” stocked with all manner of cutlery, crockery, and utensils. However, for this trip Garry has taken things to a new level. He’s bought a mobile fridge Eski that plugs into the car during the day and then into a regular household socket at night.

The following morning was spent touring Cowra’s war-themed tourist attractions. During the Second World War Cowra housed a major POW camp. More than 4,000 Axis military personnel and civilians were detained here in a massive complex built on the outskirts of town. Almost half of those interned were Japanese soldiers and officers.

At 1.50 am on the clear moonlit night of August 5, 1944, the largest Prisoner of War breakout in modern military history occurred at Cowra. More than 1000 Japanese prisoners launched a mass 'suicide attack' on their guards.

Armed with crude weapons, four groups each of approximately 300 Japanese threw themselves on to barbed wire fences and into the firing line of Vickers machine guns. Protected only by baseball mitts, blankets, and coats and using their comrades as a human bridge to cross the tangled barbed wire, more than 350 Japanese clawed their way to freedom.

All escapees were captured during the following week. A total of 107 POWs were wounded, and 234 prisoners died along with 5 Australian soldiers. This tragic event has since been immortalised on the camp’s original site with a series of interpretative signs. The site’s most compelling feature is a reproduction of one of the camp’s original guard towers.

Cowra is also famed for its Japanese Garden. It was established as a symbol of peace and reconciliation between Australia and Japan. A commemorative drive connects the Cowra Japanese Garden with the site of the POW Camp and continues to the Australian and Japanese War Cemetery.

The gardens, opened in 1979, cover five hectares of a landscaped hillside, They’re simply stunning. Garry and I spent several relaxing hours exploring its many hidden features.

Blue Mountains Bliss

Garry and I have abandoned Sydney for Christmas. This year we’re celebrating the Yuletide season at Echoes Boutique Hotel in the Blue Mountains. This hotel is part of the famous Lilianfel hotel complex sitting on the edge of a spectacular escarpment in Katoomba. We’ve talked about dining at Lilianfel for years so this is another of those bucket list moments for us.

We booked two nights at the hotel, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The weather kindly played its part and after a few brief showers, we enjoyed plenty of sun-speckled experiences during our stay. The view from our hotel room was magical. While the room itself was a classic hotel room and slightly cluttered, the view outside was breathtaking.

Every morning we sat in our courtyard looking out over immaculately manicured gardens that fell away in a series of hedged tiers to reveal the neighbouring valley in all its glory. I’ll let the photos in the post speak for themselves.

Our Christmas degustation lunch was equally memorable. We debated endlessly which option to choose as the hotel complex offered several Christmas meal options during our stay. However, the menu and venue we ultimately settled upon proved a real winner. A copy of the lunch menu we enjoyed at Darley's restaurant is posted above. The Lamb Rump was insanely tasty.

We also took time out after our hearty Christmas lunch to wander down to Echo Point (just a block away from the hotel) to soak up the classic Blue Mountains vista that is the Three Sisters and Jamison Valley below. These first two days on vacation have certainly set the tone for what’s to come.

Oh yes, the scrambled eggs below? Just a fancy breakfast I made myself before we headed off on vacation.What better way to kick things off than fresh ground coffee and scrambled egg brioche sliders finished off with truffled cheese.

The final tweak

Almost two decades ago I brought a corner TV cabinet from IKEA. When we moved into Crescent Street we'd always intended to replace it with something more in keeping the new apartment's look and feel.  18 months later we relocated to London and these plans went on hold. At the time the cabinet fitted reasonably well with the look and feel of our home in London.  

However, when we returned to Australia in 2011, the cabinet was once again no longer fit for purpose once we'd refreshed the apartment. For the next decade it became a daily reminder of unfinished business. Last month I finally decided I'd had enough. I searched online and eventually found a suitable, interim replacement.

Garry thought I was mad buying furniture, sight unseen, online. Incredibly the cabinet I bought came from the USA. Remarkably it's survived four weeks of air travel, moving in and out of multiple transit depots before finally arriving this week.  The physical product isn't too bad.  Its finish is a little "cheap" but it's a vast improvement on its predecessor!  What took us so long?

Garry's also gone shopping and bought us a portable car fridge.  He's decided we're doing enough road trips that it's time to ditch the old Eskis and replace them with something that'll keep everything cold without the need to constantly buy bags of ice or refreeze chiller blocks.

Oh yes, I should also give a quick shout-out for the "new" rug. We bought it last year while shopping one afternoon for a microwave to go in our office kitchen. On a whim, we decided the rug we'd brought with us from London was well past its use-by-date. We saw this rug on sale and ultimately came home with it, but no microwave.