Across the Dividing Range

From Corryong on Monday, we carried on up the upper reaches of the Murray River, finally crossing it and over the state line from Victoria into New South Wales, all in gorgeous rolling pastoral country, climbing slowly into the northernmost extent of the Snowy Mountains. These reach up to over 2200 metres, with the tree line at 185o. We didn't get so high, but after a serious stoop down a winding road cut into the the sides of the gorge down to a hydroelectric dammed reservoir and then back up again along an equally hair-raising route up the other side, we finally reached the highest point on our journey at 1500 metres in relatively open heathland. There's snow and skiing conditions up here in winter, so that there are turnouts along the road for motorists to fit their snowchains, all quite strange after our travels through summer Ozz!

Then down again and along rolling valleylands to Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, ceded to the Commonwealth by New South Wales as a compromise after deadlock between Sydney and Melbourne as to choice of capital city in an agreement of 1908. Work began on building Canberra (named after the Ngambari, a local indigenous tribe) using a masterplan for a garden city radiating out from a hub along a series of grand avenues in 1913. Work went slowly, hindered by the 1930s depression and the 2cnd World War and it reportedly still had the air of a small country town in the late 1940s, but now it and suburbs have reached almost 400,000 population, spread out between the gardens, memorials and hills, nestled betwen the eastern and western parts of the Dividing Range at 600 m over the sea. A very pleasant and impressive place indeed, and not at all like the image I mistakenly had of a boring ostentatious necropolis! (Too much attention paid to Bill Bryson, who was clearly very bored by the place!) - the picture below taken along Anzac Avenue towards the Parliament Building.

We had a lovely evening with Becky and Phil, friends from Timor-Leste, newly moved to Canberra - Becky now working on the Solomon Islands bench of AusAid and Phil combining his IT expertise with his biking passion, now up and down the hills in and around Canberra. A very pleasant reunion after almost 5 years, a great barbie courtesy of Phil and a lovely bed and shower after weeks of campervan life! Then yesterday Tuesday another reunion, this time after 46 years! But first we skimmed through the National Gallery's Aboriginal Art exhibit, highly impressive, some works with highly critical themes - see below, with the gallery's and the artist's commentary!

"Daniel Boyd’s gloriously tongue-in-cheek appropriation of the Aboriginal languages map in Treasure Island 2005 seems particularly relevant with the recent reprobation of Indigenous land in the Northern Territory by the Federal Government, and with the minerals boom that Australia is experiencing, making only a very few people wealthy – and Indigenous people are rarely part of the newly rich. "With the European nations vying for ‘unoccupied lands’ (‘terra nullius’) the race was on to find the fabled ‘Great Southern Land’ and nothing was to stand in the way of obtaining it, not even a complex culture tens of thousands of years old. Intentions to me seemed dishonest and dishonourable, traits I found too similar to modes of operation related to piracy. Being so closely intertwined in the fabric of the British nation, the process of the colonisation of terra nullius allowed me to experiment and explore different subject matter under the blanket of piracy and construct an alternate version of our history. Introducing elements of piracy such as the parrots and [eye-]patches allowed me to deconstruct the romantic notions that surround the act of our colonisation and reconstruct them from an Aboriginal perspective".Daniel Boyd, 2006...."

Anyway, after this cultural interlude, we met up with Russ Temple, classmate of David in the Manchester Geology Honours bachelors programme from 1961 to 1964 and we haven't met again since graduation in 1964, although Russ did work in Stavanger for a while. He moved to Australia in 1969 and worked at the Bureau of Mineral Resources, now part of Geoscience Australia, before partial retirement some years ago (like David, we old geologists don't just retire, we keep plugging on....). Russ kindly drove us around the main sights of Canberra, then guided us out to and around the Geoscience Australia offices - impressive modern buildings, of course set in parkland - a beautiful setting for a great workplace (Ros had a lot of contact with them during the Timor stay and was most impressed by their efficient and friendly service...). A pleasant lunch reminiscing and catching up and then sadly it was onwards yet again, all too quickly....

Again over rolling tablelands over the eastern hills of the Dividing Range and then down yet another rollercoaster, back to the east coast which David drove down 4 weeks ago.... Past Bateman's Bay, where he stayed on Australia Day, past Ulladulla ("safe harbour"), Yatte Yattah ("2 waterfalls"), all in lovely fresh green countrysde, all the greener for all the rain they've had this summer, with wild lilies in bloom all along the road. A big contrast to the countryside between Melbourne and Adelaide! Finally out to Bendalong Tourist Park, one of the most beautiful sites yet (recommended by Becky & Phil - thank you!), surrounded by grazing roos and chattering multicoloured parrots.... All with an "ensuite " powered site - our private loo just by the van, more luxury.... Staying here for a final relax before the last leg into Sydney after another 630 km driving the last couple of days......