Bush/grass fires

Avoiding the fires, we were not too keen on travelling the unsealed roads towards Queanbeyan, so we drove to Bathurst, only stopping at the Info Centre to buy the token fridge magnet (we now have over 50 various magnets), via Sofala – an old gold prospecting village – perhaps 20 people live here now. Lo and behold, we came across our friends Sue and Jeff who were off to Carcoar Dam to camp.

We had time up our sleeve, so we decided to stop at the Dam. Stopping for a curry pie at Blayney – the worst pie ever – according to Murray, we arrived at the dam to be greeted by Sue and Jeff. This is a popular camping spot with locals-for fishing, boating, water skiing etc. This is free camping with no ‘rules’ – gennies/parties go all day and night, dogs roam freely, and people empty their caravan toilets in the public toilets. Fortunately no-one lit a fire. After 3 nights we moved on – once again saying goodbye to our friends Sue and Jeff.

Cowra beckoned us – famous for their Japanese Gardens, and during WWII – it had been a POW camp. There was a Japanese breakout on the 5^th August – remains of the POW camp can be seen, along with a Japanese War Cemetery, and a peace bell. An extremely interesting “Peppers Ghost” , created by www.shirleyspectra.com.au  display can be seen at the ‘Info Centre’.

 It was extremely hot – mid 40’s, we keen for a campground with a pool.  5kms from Cowra we found a camp ground – very empty, but a nice covered pool.

We spent a day exploring Cowra – at the Japanese Gardens – we met people we knew – Sue and Jeff! They were staying at a camp ground at the other end of the town. We met up for a meal at L31 – very nice food, in fact equal to the meal we had at Captain Flat.

This time, last year we were held up travelling by floods and now it is bush/grass fires that are our biggest concern. Fortunately we have been able to travel, skirting around them, and to date have not seen or smelt any fires. We are careful though, calling into Info Centres and checking the roads that we wish to travel and keeping to the main highways and towns.