Gidday family, friends and interested others. I'll be progressively adding photos when I get my album sorted.
I have been a bit reluctant to commit pen to paper (or finger to ipad) as some folk took serious objection to the truth when I exposed a fuel price scam on a trip last year. I hope the message got through before being redacted.
![Snowy Trip 2015.1 begins]()
Snowy Trip 2015.1 begins
Over that now, and with a travelling companion, we planned a trip including various Towns, Cities, sites and sights on our respective bucket lists. These were to include the
Ballina Naval Museum,
Stockton Beach and
Newcastle,
Lithgow Small Arms Museum, Cowra War
Cemetery, Australian War Memorial, Bateman's Bay,
Bega,
Kosciuszko National Park. We didn't count on Cyclone Marcia, which caused a rather abrupt end to the trip.
Following is a brief summary of the trip, areas visited, and
places camped.
Day 1 - 1 February 2015
Glenugie
Rest Area, Glenugie
State Forest, NSW
Left
home after leisurely morning at 0900 Qld time. Crossed into NSW and pulled up for good coffee at Kingscliff.
Refreshed, crossing many of the State's mighty rivers, next stop was the Naval and Maritime Museum at
Ballina - $5.00 entry.
Well worth the investment, and brilliant, historical maritime museum. Could spend many hours here, with very helpful volunteers - one was 88 year old ex-navy guy.
![Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum]()
Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum
![Las Balsas]()
Las Balsas
![Las Balsas raft]()
Las Balsas raft
Talk about history which was never taught, we saw one of three "Las Balsas" rafts which drifted nearly 9,000
miles across the Pacific from Ecuador to
Ballina in 1973. Crews wanted to prove South American Indians could have done it many generations ago. They did!
Also fascinating was the story of the large and fast MV Limerick, a large NZ merchant ship sunk by a Japanese submarine in April 1943. The wreck of the Limerick was only discovered by accident in 2013, about 18km off the coast at
Ballina. For anyone interested in Australia's maritime history, spend a little time exploring the extensive range of exhibits, and chat to the knowledgeable volunteers. My companion identified the model of the vessel his father served on in WWII.
![MV Limerick]()
MV Limerick
![AHS Centaur]()
AHS Centaur
Camped just south of
Grafton after interesting day. Unfortunately, the Glenugie
Rest Area is just off the Pacific Highway, the stories about the incredible 24 hour traffic noise are so true.