Is There a Category for Caravans?

February 18, 2016 Itching for Hitching

We decide to spend a night in Mansfield as the town just happens to be gearing up for the High Country Targa Rally. The main street is lined with hay bales and there are race marshalls stationed on every corner. The caravan park is buzzing with motorsport talk and at 5:00pm in light rain we nip across to the owner’s house to take up his offer of watching the time trials from his deck. There are about fifteen of us crowded on the deck, the owner’s family, friends and patrons and we have the best view possible. Being on a … Continue reading Is There a Category for Caravans?

NSW, Well Bugger Me!10 Comments

The Lavatree

February 7, 2016February 7, 2016 Itching for Hitching

The Dorrigo Sewage Works in NSW has an unusual garden sculpture, a Lavatree. It is a tower of old toilet bowls filled with flowers. The sign describes it as: Lavatree, species Pissina Flushturdum. Continue reading The Lavatree

Vic, Well Bugger Me!7 Comments

Moments in Time

February 2, 2016February 2, 2016 Itching for Hitching

Up early to catch the autumn sunrise on the beach at Marengo, near Apollo Bay, Vic. It’s chilly and invigorating and certainly long pants weather. The rock shelf is tessellated and very flat. I find a family’s names carved in the rock and dated 1913 and what looks like a return visit of the same family in 1936. I can’t stop thinking about them. Who are they? Continue reading Moments in Time

Well Bugger Me!8 Comments

The Big Lap

January 13, 2016January 13, 2016 Itching for Hitching

Australians and New Zealanders it seems, have an inbuilt wish to do at least one ‘Big Lap’ of Oz. It’s almost as if one can’t meet one’s maker without having first done the ‘Big Lap’. Not that long ago we found ourselves only a day away from home and enjoying lunch in the Gift Hotel in Stawell, Vic. It’s located right opposite the sports ground that hosts the famous Stawell Gift foot race. I was on crutches due to a recent stumble (a different kind of trip but more on that in another post) and we were enjoying an excellent … Continue reading The Big Lap

WA, Well Bugger Me!2 Comments

Renewing the Dead

January 4, 2016 Itching for Hitching

As it is only a short drive from where we are taking in the views at Kings Park in Perth, I drag poor Brian to the historic Karrakatta cemetery to find the graves of his great grandparents, Michael and Elizabeth Flynn. They had originally left Melbourne for the Kalgoorlie gold rush arriving in 1907. We find Elizabeth’s grave but not Michael’s, only the section where it should be. I get chatting to a woman who is photographing headstones for her website. I love those people their work is priceless when you live in another state or another country. She tells … Continue reading Renewing the Dead

Point of Interest, WA, Well Bugger Me!2 Comments

The Waterwheel at Cape Leeuwin

January 2, 2016January 2, 2016 Itching for Hitching

Not far from the Western Australian town of Augusta, at the very south west corner of Australia called Cape Leeuwin, there is an old water wheel that once provided spring water for the Cape Leeuwin light house keepers. It is now calcifying and turning to stone. The water still flows and drips over the waterwheel. The water is sweet. Continue reading The Waterwheel at Cape Leeuwin

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Sundials in a Sunburnt Country

December 27, 2015 Itching for Hitching

There is a fabulous ‘manual’ sundial in the park at the goldfields town of Moonambel in Victoria, where one must raise ones arms to make a shadow and it is accurate. The instructions say that if it is cloudy just enjoy the view of the mountains and use your watch! Then there is this fabulous mosaic one beside the lake in Hamilton, Vic. Continue reading Sundials in a Sunburnt Country

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Take an Optic at This

December 8, 2015December 14, 2015 Itching for Hitching

Along the riverbank at Wentworth in southern NSW where the Murray meets the Darling there is a landscaped levee bank which on closer inspection turns out to be a grand illusion that incorporates the houses, trees and power poles behind, but only when you stand in the correct position. Continue reading Take an Optic at This

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Waltzing Matilda

November 18, 2015December 14, 2015 Itching for Hitching

To say that I’m emotional is an understatement. Just south of Kynuna we turn off the Landsborough (Matilda) Highway to pay homage to the Combo Waterhole. There is 8kms of good dirt road then a two and a half kilometre walk through paddocks of Mitchell grass and through billabongs. As we walk in we pass a bunch of old blokes (our age) with towels, they’ve just been in for a swim. This is part of the Diamantina River and the billabongs have been cleverly dammed with large stones to maintain water during the dry. The dams are called overshots and … Continue reading Waltzing Matilda

Point of Interest, WA, Well Bugger Me!2 Comments

Looking for Dinosaur Footprints

November 13, 2015December 14, 2015 Itching for Hitching

We’re feeling quite settled in Broome WA. Brian has chosen to forgo Japanese cemetery visits and rock hopping to cook dinner and I’m on a mission to see the dinosaur footprints. The tide is 30 mm below the required level for viewing them, yippee. People are wandering left, right and centre about the rocks as there are no marked pathways to get out onto the lower rock ledge. It’s a case of every man for himself and hope that you don’t break a leg. A mother is trying too hard to teach her kids about dinosaurs “now remember what I … Continue reading Looking for Dinosaur Footprints