2022 Jan-Dec Australia
Having just turned 70, I think Keith felt he had to prove something to himself. For some unknown reason, he decided to walk from Point Cartwright to Moffat Beach – the uninterrupted coastal strip stretching from north to south of Currimundi – a distance of 15km. The walk mainly follows the cycle path and is reasonably flat. I dropped him off at 9.30am and he made it to the Kawana Surf Lifesaving Club for liquid refreshments (think beer!) at midday – and more at the Dicky Beach Surf Lifesaving Club at 1pm and a final well-deserved thirst quencher at the Moffat Beach Brewing Company by 2pm. I thought he was mad, but well done, Keith!
Undeterred by our last disastrous camping trip, in March we ventured out again – this time we enjoyed a trip with our friends Lyn & Bob to Mt Kosciuszko, Australia’s highest peak in New South Wales. We decided to take the inland route and explore parts of NSW that we hadn’t been to before. After a hectic start, once again we stopped at the lovely caravan park at Milmerran for a couple of nights to unwind. Then it was south to Moree and Narrabri to visit the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The ATCA consists of six 22-metre antennas that work together to collect radio waves from space. It is operated by the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) as part of the Australia Telescope National Facility.
We stayed at the Warrumbungle National Park near Coonabarabran in NSW for a couple of nights. This area is distinguished by its dramatic rock formations and majestic bushland, which you can explore via its fantastic hiking tracks. Warrumbungle National Park is also one of the best stargazing spots in Australia. Here, the pristine night sky above the volcanic landscape is unimpeded by artificial light, providing jaw-dropping views of the Milky Way, constellations and planets.
Then it was further south to Dubbo to explore the Taronga Western Plains Zoo, commonly known as Dubbo Zoo. It opened in February 1977, to provide more living and breeding space for large animals such as elephants and antelopes which needed more space than was available at the restricted Sydney site. The zoo is an open-range design, with walls and fences replaced by concealed moats which divide the animals from the visitors. This creates the impression of actually being with the animals in the wild. We spent the entire day exploring on foot and taking lots of photos of the wide variety of animals.
Parkes was our next stop – we wanted Lyn & Bob to see ‘The Dish’ from the film of the same name. The 64m dish was one of several radio antennae used to receive live television images of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. An icon of Australian science, the Parkes telescope has been in operation since 1961 and continues to be at the forefront of astronomical discovery thanks to regular upgrades. Astronomers from across Australia and around the world use the telescope to undertake world-class astronomical experiments and observations.
Heading southeast from Parkes we stopped at Cowra. Keith and I had been fascinated by Cowra when we travelled around Australia in 2007 and wanted to share it with Lyn & Bob. Cowra was the site of a Prisoner of War Camp during World War II. In 1944 over 1,000 Japanese POW staged a mass breakout that was the biggest in British and Australian War History. 231 Japanese POWs lost their lives and four Australians also died during the breakout. Today a walking trail goes through the camp ruins, and a scale model of the camp is on display at the Cowra Visitors Centre. I had been fascinated by the Pepper’s ghost hologram show – a nine-minute presentation telling the story of the breakout from the perspective of a local resident. Pepper’s ghost is an illusion technique, used in theatre, cinema, museums, television, and concerts, in which an image of an object offstage is projected so that it appears to be in front of the audience.
Finally, we reached the Mt Kosciuszko National Park and camped at an idyllic spot overlooking a stream where the sunset reflected the gum trees. Next day we set off to climb (well, more of a walk, really) to the top – at only 2,228m high it is easily accessible and we enjoyed the walk. The paths were well maintained and had raised platforms where necessary to protect the flora. We were very pleased with ourselves!
Unfortunately, the next day dawned cold, wet and miserable. Our drive to see the snowfields turned out to be through poor visibility in low fog! Lyn & Bob decided that they’d rather be warm and dry so decided to begin the trip back to the Sunshine Coast, while Keith and I wanted to visit my sister in Sydney. We packed up the wet tent and headed toward Canberra. Finally, the sun came out, and we stopped by the side of the road alongside a small park in Cooma and laid out the wet tent and all the other muddy gear, being careful to prevent it being blown away. A concerned local must have thought we were going to set up house in the park and came over to check us out! After reassuring her that we were just trying to clean and dry our gear she seemed satisfied.
We enjoyed a quick visit with my sister and husband, but our trip was curtailed by the need to reach drier land – Australia had been suffering extreme flooding. The rivers along the coast were all flooded so we opted to take the New England Highway back to Queensland, only stopping one night along the way.
Apart from that, 2022 was a year of consolidation – community work and enjoying all the benefits of living on the Sunshine Coast. Health wise, Keith continued the BTK inhibitor chemotherapy which seemed to be working well, thankfully. We were also thankful that Medicare agreed to foot the bill for this expensive treatment.
We both enrolled in U3A (University of the 3rd Age) doing various courses which kept us occupied; I learned about video editing (although our laptop just wasn’t up to the job, so I had to buy a whizz-bang desktop computer); Keith did a short course on e-publishing; we both enjoyed ‘International Dining’ – an excuse to go out to different restaurants once a month; and we both enjoyed ‘Travel Chat’ where a group of 20-30 like-minded people share their travel experiences. Over the year, we gave four presentations to the Travel Chat group – this forced us to organize some of our stories and photos. We were also asked to give two lectures to different groups. We found that there was still an appetite for our sailing adventures – and it gave us an excuse to reminisce a little as well.
By the time we fitted all this in, together with Keith’s twice-weekly golf (which continued to improve), our time for leisure was seriously impacted! Although we resigned as Treasurer and Secretary to one of the local community groups, we were immediately dragooned into similar roles with another group. We hoped this would be less demanding but were then informed that they organise an annual ‘Lights on the Lake’ event – a festive family fun day involving children’s activities, entertainment and a parade of man-powered craft decorated with Christmas lights along the Currimundi Lake beside the local park. As the event had been cancelled for the last two years due to Covid, its popular return resulted in about 2,500 attendees! The organisation kept us busy for the three months prior to the 4th of December.