My Friends, the Magpies
The Australian magpie is a highly intelligent and iconic bird native to Australia. It is known for its melodious song and bold behavior. The magpie plays a significant role in Australian culture, often appearing in folklore, art, and sports team mascots. We have a family of four of these birds that live around our house […]
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Avenues of Honour
An Avenue of Honour is a memorial road or pathway lined with trees, planted to commemorate individuals, especially soldiers, who served in wars or conflicts. This tradition was popular in Australia and New Zealand, symbolising the remembrance of those who served and, in many cases, those who died. Although significant after World War One, this […]
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Our Local War Memorial Has Had a Facelift
Continuing with my recent attention to military commemorations, I see that the upgrade of our local War Memorial in Templestowe is now complete. The memorial was first constructed at the intersection of Templestowe Road and Anderson Street. At that time, this was the geographic cnetre of the town – near the town hall, courthouse and […]
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Honouring my Grandfather’s WW1 Service
Once again, I have attended the annual commemoration service conducted by the Friends of the 15th Brigade Organisation at the Shrine of Remembrance to honour those who served and died in the Battle of Polygon Wood in 1916. The ‘Battle of Polygon Wood’ during WW1 was a significant engagement in which Australian forces played a […]
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Our Darwin Tour – A Retrospective
We have been home from Darwin for a day and after catching up with things around the house, it’s time to look back on our trip and review our travels. I returned our rental car yesterday and its information screen gave me some interesting details. A direct road trip from Darwin to Melbourne via Jabiru […]
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Back in Victoria
Our last day in Adelaide gave us a rest from driving. We did a little essential shopping where we caught up with a group of soldiers raising money for Legacy. The corporal in charge was an old timer in the Corps of Transport and we had a long chat about various units that I knew […]
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Adelaide – Our First Large City and Rain
The distance between Coober Pedy and our next stop in Port Augusta was a little over 500 kms. You may ask what is there to see along the way? The answer is (apart from two roadhouses and an artificial town) absolutely nothing! The landscape changes slightly from open desert plains to grey saltbush. After a […]
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Coober Pedy – Its a Gem, But Its Also a Remote, Dusty, Mining Town
We planned a two-night stay in Coober Pedy to give us time to see its attractions and something of life in the town. We had actually seen most of it by lunchtime. It’s very remote – the nearest city of Alice Springs is 680 kilometres to the north, and Port Augusta to the south is […]
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Coober Pedy -A Gem of a Town
We have enjoyed the lower temperatures of the last few days (26C) although the next few days are forecast to get hot again. We went out to dinner at the Big Winch Cafe in Coober Pedy tonight and we had to ask them to turn their cooler off as it was making us feel very […]
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Across the Desert to Marla
Just about in the geographical centre of Australia and located in the heart of the Red Centre, Alice Springs is a vibrant modern town with a thriving population of 28,000 people. It was made famous by the Neville Shute 1950’s novel ‘A Town Like Alice’, In modern days, Alice Springs has evolved into a modern […]
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Disappointment in the Western MacDonnell Ranges
We drove 125 kilometres west along Namatjira Drive from Alice Springs to find the attraction that we planned to visit was closed. Not far from Alice Springs we came across the grave of Rev John Flynn, the founder of the Flying Doctor Service. It sits under a high bluff and is topped with a rock […]
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Alice Springs Sight Seeing
After checking out the local temperatures, it seemed that yesterday was a good day for walkiing around the Alice Springs Desert Park. The forecast was showing a maximum of 33C -a far cry from the hot and humid 38C that we have been experiencing in the far north of the Territory. Not only that, but […]
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