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.

Comments

The Kamioka mines: from silver to supernovas

Part of the Kamioka zinc mining and smelter complex Just after posting about the Kamioka Railway another photo from that 2006 set piqued my interest. Up there in the mountains the landscape looked blasted not just by winter but by something more. It was the kind of lonely place where you would not expect to find major industry, so this sight was quite surprising. Even more surprising is the history associated with this photo. According to some sources mining and refining of ores in Kamioka dates back to 710 AD and only closed in 2001. Undoubtedly the mine was a major reason for the existence of the Kamioka Railway. Refining of zinc still continues to this day under the parent Mitsui Kenzoku zaibatsu . Gold, silver, copper, zinc and lead were all dug out of the rock here. Unfortunately, the process released cadmium into the river, which, when taken up by the rice that was grown in the river, caused the terrible itai-itai disease - meaning "It hurts! It hurts". Cadm...

Down the Oito Line

Riding the length of the Oito Line from Itoigawa to Shinjuku (well, Matsumoto, really, but you might as well go the whole way) has long been a dream of mine. It suddenly gained urgency when I read that the last length of it between Itoigawa to Minami-Otari would be closed once the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Kanazawa and Toyama opens by next year. Now, as mentioned last time, B and Alex are among those that would much rather catch the very fast Shinkansen, but in the end she decided to follow me, despite the very early morning. We rode the Hokuetsu Express from Toyama to Itoigawa, completing a little more of that West Coast for me. Though the coastal stretch was short there were some nice views at times. I should like to see more of Itoigawa one day, explore its geology. But now we had to quickly cross over the platform bridge to catch our train to Minami-Otari. To my great delight it was a KiHa 120 railcar, my favourite. I felt a degree of sadness standing up at the front...

To Melbourne on the XPT sleeper

Excited by the prospect of reliving the experience of seeing my very first movie and hearing the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra perform it I bought tickets to The Empire Strikes Back in Concert in Melbourne back in February. Then I did nothing about actually getting there. Much as I love Melbourne, due to family commitments I didn't want to spend more than the Sunday away. Flights there and back made sense, but my flight down to Melbourne in late October reiterated the fact that I usually don't enjoy descending into the city. And the concert was in December, a season of summer storms. I really didn't feel like driving the whole route alone and in a hurry, so that left one choice. The train. My very first trip up to Sydney from Melbourne was aboard the luxury Southern Aurora. Or it was supposed to be luxury. I wouldn't know because I spent the whole ride up very sick with the flu lying in the top bunk, unable to stay awake for my whole of night vigil. Now only...

travelling allrite

Search This Blog