Kites, cars and apples

Time to head back home to Sydney. Just a few jumps of the trampoline first, the along the other side of the Alpine Way to Jindabyne. The autumn lake scenery was beautiful, the gright yellow poplar leaves a different shade of gold to the grasslands around them.

We stop at the Snowy Hydro Discovery Centre and learn about the massive hydroelectric and irrigation scheme, pedal our way to 2200W on the bikes and admire the displays. Then off again and up towards Canberra through the rolling Monaro Plains.

The creperie at Bredbo is closed and with it our lunch plans. Anyway, Alex is eager to return to Canberra's National Arboretum to fly his kite.

Canberra has many places to eat but you must leave the highways and parkways to find them. Unwilling to search them out along with the parking that must accompany it I divert us at the airport junction. There is a last minute choice: Pialligo, because where there are nurseries there are often cafes, or the developments near the airport where fast food chains await.

We try Pialligo and are rewarded with an easy parking spot and a cafe of reasonable quality (the white chocolate and peach cheesecake is divine). Plus there are apple farms with direct sales. Bonus!

Sated, we continue on to the arboretum, where Alex spends an hour flying his kite. We purchased it from the shop on our visit there last year. Above us contrails streak the sky between the clouds, while the grey smoke of backburning rises above the ranges.

Hang-gliders soar overhead as we pass dry Lake George on our way out of Canberra. I've never seen them there before.

The clouds darken as we approach Sydney, spattering us with the first rain in weeks, or so it feels. Along the way we stop at Goulburn for fuel, pulled aside for a random breath test before we can enter the petrol station. Fortunately the ginger beer was of the non-alcoholic type.

It's dark by the time we reach home, the heavy traffic on the M5 an unfriendly reminder for me that we weren't in the lonely countryside any more. Still, it is good to be home.

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