"Theres a track winding back
to an old fashioned shack
Along the road to Gundagai'
are the out of tune words that were sung as we travelled down the Hume Highway to the town of Gundagai on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. The lyrics had been stuck in my head for a good week so it was good to a have a valid reason to sing them.
We ended up at the River Caravan Park located on the banks of the river (funnily enough) and between Gundagai's two iconic bridges. We planned to stay here 6 nights and were given a shady site under some maple trees.
A few days into the stay we go to Wagga Wagga, about an hours drive away. I visit the cinema to see Rusty Crowes new flick 'The Water Diviner' ( I give it 3 1/2 stars). With a love of the big screen I have been to quite a few cinemas on our travels & have yet to find my favourite movie beverage - the frozen coke. Finally at Wagga I am excited to see they have a 'Pepsi Freeze', only to discover that the machine is broken. Oh well...
Our next destination is likely to be a free camp so I had to replace the inverter that was broken in Crookwell. No luck in Super Cheap or Autobarn but I managed to pick a suitable 360W one in Jaycar. After a big day in the big smoke I decided to do a detour to Junee on the way back to visit the statue of NRL commentator and local lad, Ray Warren. The countryside around here is quite spectacular. There were many sheep grazing, hay farms and sheep grazing in hay farms. On arrival at Junee I sensed Tomoko was a bit over my "Rabs" impersonations and was happy to leave after a few moments by
the statue. By the way... who knew he was a Manly Supporter?
Tomoko did a marvellous job with the New Years celebrations. She made toshi koshi soba noodles, eaten traditionally on New Years Eve. It was a quiet entry into 2015 and the next day Tomoko served an array of traditional New Years Day foods. We had them for brekkie as is the norm and after recovering later in the day decided to go for a drive. We went to the qaint town of Tumut and walked along the riverside park. It looked like they had just let water out of the dam as the current was running strongly. the water icy cool. We returned to Gundagai via Adelong and visited the old gold mine ruins. Many families were enjoying a swim in the pools and I would have joined them but it was a fair walk into the valley, one that Shaka would struggle with in the heat.
Shaka had been hounding us all week to see another famous monument...the Dog on the Tuckerbox, a few kilometres out of town. Soon after arriving I saw a heavily tattooed young lady hop in the pool in which the statue sits to get a photo. Abruptly a loud male voice came over a loudspeaker chastising her for dishonouring a national monument etc. She quickly removed herself and embarrassed, was soon on her way. It certainly served as a warning to any other visitors contemplating a selfie with the dog.
With the Dog on the Tuckerbox ticked off the list it's time we continued our Journey. Until then....adios amigos.