Tag Archives: road tripping

cats… pigs… kangaroos…and black ice

20 Apr

After another day of road tripping,  it’s hard to single out one particular highlight or blogworthy moment… So many bizarre and interesting sights.P1130621

Like yesterday, the changes in landscape have to be seen to be believed…  we left the lush green grazing land of the Murray Valley and headed into the High Country, crossing the rugged great dividing range before emerging back into the wide open spaces that looked like a moon scape covered in huge P1130647round granite boulders …it was as if there had been a nuclear attack and we had missed the news (which would have been very possible given the remote location and lack of phone or internet reception).

Throughout the 500 plus kilometres, I was struck by the seemingly unnecessary bends in the road…I mean had we driven in a straight line I reckon it would have been a 300km trip.. Now I’m not silly … (noP1130665 comment please) I DO realise that if there is a mountain or a lake there needs to be consideration of the best way over or around it…. BUT there were so many wide open spaces where we twisted and turned for no obvious reason…and I began to wonder if the road gangs responsible got bored and decided to get a bit creative with their graders.

I know I am not a geologist or a road engineer, but seriously did it need to be that complicated?

At one point we were winding through one of the more scrubby landscapes and came across…

sign #1 care black ice on road...then

sign #2 pigs on road…then finally

sign #3 cats crossing…and bugga me a cat ran across the road as if on cue…all this as we negotiated the twists and turns that could easily have been a a straight road…and NO mention of the kangaroos that appeared from behind the bushes when we least expected them.

If anyone reading this blog has a clue …I would appreciate an explanation… because it sure doesn’t make any sense from where I sit.

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in abundance…

18 Apr

So many kilometres…so many observations.

Its been a day of huge skies and open space with a few quirky and notable localities…I wont call them towns …because I always imagine that towns are alive and house people… not so in many of the addresses we passed.Galore

The most amusing was “Galore”.. a teeny location with a sign to identify that we were in fact there …one house…and a community hall. It was amusing from the point of view that when  I googled a definition of the word we found:

aplenty, in abundance, in profusion, in great quantity, in large numbers, by the dozen

Ironic ??mmm I think someone goofed 😉

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road trippin memories …

16 Apr

Well four full on days of Uni are done… World Voice Day is beginning to wind down… “Mr 50Something” has arrived in Wagga Wagga (down the road from Gumly Gumly) and its time for some road trippin….time to get out there and absorb real regional Australia.

splatt 2Funny how we all jump at the chance to fly the globe and see what the big wide world has to offer … while right here on our doorstep, there is so much to see. I must admit to being guilty as charged to an extent, however this little sojourn will retrace one of my early life adventures….

My talent for causing all sorts of medical curiosities began down this way some 42 years ago while on a family caravanning holiday. I became ill on Christmas Day in Swan Hill.. and was rushed into the local (and VERY regional) hospital where they managed to drag the local Butcher (oops I mean Surgeon) away from his pork crackling to come and remove my appendix.

That in itself is a reasonable story …but add the fact that it was 43 degrees and my family (and other travelling companions) were stuck in the local caravan park for 2 weeks while I went on to develop a massive infection, and have my belly explode open….(SPLATT!!)… made it quite an adventure.

OOPS! Swan Hill WAS meant to be an overnight pit-stop.

I have vivid memories of Dad visiting daily ‘to keep me company’ wearing his dark sunglasses and finding the comfy chair in the corner so he could be cool and have a snooze. More power to him I say … because I STUNK… I mean like rotten meat (damn that butcher), He always was my hero !! 😉

Anyway all these year later , and by a series of very odd ‘coincidences’  I discover that the hospital is located on “Splatt St” … So what??? I here you ask  .. Well Splatt is my Mum’s maiden name (and, lets face it, not exactly Smith or Jones)… something tells me I need to visit… so here we go with a sense of adventure and fingers crossed..

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