Australia 2018

Grafton to Brisbane

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It was time to leave Sydney and head north.

Train to Grafton

This time I decided to take the train as for as Grafton. As readers many have ascertained, I actually quite like traveling on NSW Trains, albeit there are a lot of improvements that could be made to the service. At some point they will have to replace the old XPT rolling stock.

The Australian Hotel

I had made a reservation in the Australian Hotel which is in South Grafton. Previously, I have stayed in the Royal Hotel which in on the other side of the Clarence River.

I am not an expert on Grafton, however I suspect that South Grafton is probably thought to be  ‘less desirable’ compared to the part of town that is on the northern side of the river.

Cold Chisel Tribute Band

Refer to separate post.

Along the Clarence to MacLean

Leaving Grafton, I rode along the western side of the Clarence river towards MacLean.
Last year, I had continued past MacLean to Yamba. I really like Yamba. However, this year I was running out of time and decided to skip Yamba and stay overnight in the MacLean Hotel.

Woodburn

The next day, I headed up the Pacific Highway to Woodburn. This was not very pleasant. This part of the highway is being rebuilt.

I stayed in a bit of a dodgy motel. It is doing good business housing the roadworkers. They are ‘making hay while the sun shines’. That won’t last long. I suspect that the place will close when the town is bypassed

Ballina

Next morning, continued on to Ballina. As I entered the town, it started to pour with rain. I decided to stop and booked into another ‘The Australian Hotel’.
When the rain cleared. I went for a walk along the river foreshore to the local ‘club’.

These places are ‘so the same’ irrespective of the town. They all have shocking carpets and a seemingly never ending supply of old people to rip off with their poker machines. It is rather depressing.

Old Friend in Lennox Head

In the morning I made the short ride to Lennox Head. I had arranged to meet an old school friend in the town.

We met in the main street and after a coffee, we headed up a very steep to her house where I met her husband. She told that they had owned the house for a couple of years and were now sharing their time between Lennox Head and Sydney. She is retired, however, her husband is still working and is able to operate his consulting business from both locations. It seems to be an ideal arrangement.

It was great to catch up with her.

Byron Bay

Next stop was Byron Bay. Readers may have guessed that I quite like the place.

The Blues Fest

One of the things I did on this visited was to go the ‘Blues Fest’ music festival. This is a major event that is held on property about 10 kilometres north of the town every Easter.

I bought a ticket for the day that Robert Plant, formerly of ‘Led Zeppelin’ was playing. He was due to play at 9.30 p.m.

In the late afternoon, I caught a shuttle bus that was running between Byron Bay and the festival. As you would expect, there were lots of signs directing traffic to the festival site.

Notwithstanding this signage the driver managed to miss the entrance to the festival and we headed back on the road to Byron Bay.

Fortunately, none of the passengers were fussed and on his second attempt we were dropped off at the festival.

I have been to a few of this type of event over the years. This one seemed to be very well organised.

One feature of it was the wide range of ages of the patrons – including families, ‘millennials’ through to ‘baby boomers’. The music on offer catered for all the ages.

There were plenty of food and drink outlets. However, I was disappointed to find that the ‘craft beer’ tent only sold ‘industrial craft beer’ e.g. James Squire and not real ‘craft beer’.

I wondered around the various venues before Plant was due to play. Finally, it was 9.30 p.m. and I headed to the tent where he was on.

It turned out that I was one of the younger people in the audience. It reminded me of being in Alnwick in the northeast of England last year. I went to the screening of a film of a concert that David Gilmore gave to commemorate concert that Pink Floyd did at Pompeii. The film was screened at cinemas, and other venues, at the same time and on the same day at venues around the UK. I saw the film at the Playhouse in Alnwick. I was very much one of the youngest in the audience. Many of the other patrons had Zimmer frames.

The Plant show was okay. I was disappointed that the only Led Zeppelin song he did was ‘Whole lot of love’.

Once the show was over I joined the crowded heading back to Byron Bay. There was a very long wait for the shuttle buses.

Kings cliff

Leaving Byron Bay, I rode north to Kings Cliff where I stayed one night before continuing on to Main Beach in Surfers Paradise.

Commonwealth Games

The night I arrived in Surfers Paradise was that start of the Commonwealth Games. There were lots of people around.

I ended up watching the ‘Opening Ceremony’ in a bar in Main Beach. Surprising few of the locals seemed to be interested in watching the ceremony.

Riding towards Brisbane

In the morning, I head off towards Brisbane.

This involved riding passed the swimming centre. This was very impressive with huge temporary stands that were full to capacity. The use of temporary stands is such a good idea.

The main road through Southport was closed off for the triathlon. I got to see some of the athletes running.

I was trying to follow the ‘One Bike Route’. When I got to Coomera I completely lost the trail and headed to the train station. I had previously been advised that no bikes were to be taken on the trains between the Gold Coast and Brisbane for the duration of the games.

As it turned out getting on the train was no problem and I was soon in Brisbane

Back in Brisbane

It was good to be in Brisbane. I caught up with a couple of cousins and visited my aunt who is in her 100th year.

I also caught up with the Cooma girl with an unusual name. That is always good.

Flickr Links
Grafton to Byron Bay
https://flic.kr/s/aHskzkjEEy

Byron Bay and Blues Fest
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmdYRdvd

To Brisbane
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmjDaUxM

Garmin Links
Grafton
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2577944815

Maclean
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2580075743

Woodburn
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2583634462

Ballina via Lennox Head
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2597483353

Byron Bay
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2597481686

Kingscliff
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2605887745

Surfers Paradise
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2605887792

Remembering Cold Chisel

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On my trip from Sydney to Brisbane, the first leg was the train to Grafton.
I had booked into the Australian Hotel in South Grafton.

After settling in, I decide to walk across the river to the main part of the town.
I stopped into a pub that I been to before. I noticed that there was going to be band plat there that night.

The band turned out to be a Cold Chisel and Jimmy Barnes tribute band. For most Australians of my age, ‘Chisel’ songs are very much the ‘soundtrack of our generation’.

The band turned out to be really good. Listening to them brought back memories seeing the real ‘Chisel’ live. I have seen them in many places over the years including: Jindabyne, Canberra, the Entertainment Centre in Sydney and in London.

The London experience is worthy of more explanation.

It was November 1982 and the band had been touring Europe. London was the last stop on the tour. An American friend of mine was in London at the time studying at the LSE. She noticed flyers for band’s appearance at the Marque Club in Wardour Street in Soho.

The Marquee club was very famous as noted in Wikipedia:

“In March 1964 the club moved a short distance to what became its most famous venue at 90 Wardour Street. Here, almost every major rock band of note played over the next 25 years on the tiny stage. Residencies during the late 1960s alone included Alexis Korner, Cyril Davies, Chris Barber, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, The Who, King Crimson, The Syn, Mabel Greer’s Toyshop, Yes, Jethro Tull, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Pink Floyd (who played on Sunday afternoons as part of the Spontaneous Underground club).[5] Another band that made regular appearances was The Manish Boys featuring David Bowie, who first played there in November 1964; and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac gave their first performance there in 1967.[4] To find out who was playing on any given night, you could just call in at the ‘Ship’ pub a few doors away”.

Clearly, Chisel wanted to be added to the list of bands that had played there.
My friend was, and still is, a fan of ‘Australasian’ music (she is a huge fan of the Finn family, particularly Neil) including Cold Chisel. She went to the club and queued for tickets.

The night was memorable:

The club was very small, and it was packed. Most of the patrons, including myself, were smoking. They all seemed to be Australians. In fact, I think my companion was provably to only non-Aussie in the place.

Chisel played loud and long, belting out all their songs. Jimmy was drinking heavily from a bottle that contained clear liquid – almost certainly not water.

Towards the end of the show, my companion, who is quite petite, sat on my shoulders to get a better view. Just as the band started to play ‘Cheap Wine’, she fell backwards onto the people behind. Fortunately, they caught her and helped me carry her away from the heaving mass of Australian humanity. She had fainted.

A couple of days later the band was playing again at the much larger, ‘The Venue Victoria’.

My American companion and I also went to the show. Again, she was probably one of the very few non-Australians there.

Cold Chisel were (and still are) a great band. It is a pity that they could not crack the international market.

Seeing the tribute band in Grafton coincided with me reading Jimmy Barnes’ autobiography, a thoughtful gift from my daughter.

It is interesting that Jimmy on makes a passing reference to Cold Chisel’s tour of Europe in 1982 and makes no mention at all about their time in London at the end of the tour.

Flickr Link
Cold Chisel Tribute Band
https://flic.kr/s/aHskv5TDvV

About the Marquee Club
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquee_Club

Working Class Man
https://www.jimmybarnes.com/books/working-class-man/

 

East Gippsland Rail Trail

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I left Marlo and headed along the Snowy River to Orbost.

On the East Gippsland Rail Trail

From Orbost, I headed on to the East Gippsland Rail Trail. This is the second time I have been on this trail. The last time was back in 2010.

The trail is 95 kilometers long. The last time I did it, I travelled the whole distance in one day twice – Bainsdale to Orbost and back the next day. This time I was taking three days in one direction with a rest day.

Nowa Nowa
My first stop was Nowa Nowa. The route took me across the Snowy River and along a relatively hilly part of the country. It can’t have been easy to build the rail line here. A feature of this part of the trail is a series of timber bridges. These are amazing structures. Check out the photos.

As I was riding along I came across an Echidna. These guys are so funny. It was in the track and when it saw me it headed into the bush. However, it only moved into the bush about one metre where it curled itself into the ball. Check out the video.

I stayed a camping ground in Nowa Nowa. The business has recently been taken over by a new owner. He charged $30 for the night. I thought this was a bit rich for my little tent. My neighbour was a ‘long term stayer’ in a caravan. He told that “the new owner is a ‘rip off merchant’ and the pervious owner only charged $10 for small tents”.

Old farts on the Trail
As I was leaving Nowa Nowa, I came across a van towing a large trailer with lots of bike racks. I stopped to chat with the driver. He told me that he was the “support crew for a bunch of ex-servicemen who were riding the bike trails in Victoria”. They had done the ‘River to the Mountains’ in the North East, the Gippsland Trail and now this one. He was waiting for the riders to arrive from Bruthen.

As I headed off, I came across the first of the riders. They were travelling quite quickly. There was a very long gap before I came across the next rider and an even long gap before next lot. It was extraordinary how spread-out they were over. Clearly, there was ‘fast’, ‘slow’, and ‘very slow’ in this group.

Bruthen
When I got to Bruthen checked into the Hotel. At $40 for a single room, this was excellent value compared to the campsite in Nowa Nowa.

The big attraction on Bruthen is the Brewery. It has a good selection of beers including a ‘sharp’ IPA. The food is also good.

I decided to stay a day in Bruthen.

Bairnsdale
It is relatively short ride from Bruthen into Bairnsdale.

Into Melbourne
From Bairnsdale I caught the train into Melbourne. The service is an old 1960’s train. However, it does have the advantage of having a freight car. This enables you to simple roll a bicycle onboard without having to detach the panniers.

It was good to be back in Melbourne.

Flickr Link

https://flic.kr/s/aHsktU7i7M

Garmin Links

Marlo
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2527461064

Nowa Nowa

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2527461104

Bruthen

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2530615498

Gippsland Rail Trail
http://www.eastgippslandrailtrail.com.au/

Eden to Marlo

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I left Eden and rode the short distance to Boyd Town that is opposite Twofold Bay.

Boyd Town

The history of this place is quite interesting. Follow the links with the Wikipedia Article

Genoa

After a brief stop in Boyd Town I continued onto Genoa. The riding was quiet tough with narrow verges and some steep hills.

Genoa is a dying town. The Princesses Highway by passes it and so do most people.
There is a pub and ‘free camping’ which is somewhat popular with ‘grey nomads’ in campervans. I pitched my tent and headed into ‘town’ for some food.

I had a very ordinary meal in the pub. That was all that was on offer.

The only other customers in the pub were a couple on motorbike. She was Finnish and she was riding a Harley Davidson. He was an Aussie on a Moto Guzzi. They were interesting to talk to. He had riding in many parts of the world – India, Nepal, Argentina and Africa as well as the USA and the UK and Europe. I was impressed that she was ride such a bit bike.

Cann River

In the morning, I headed off with no breakfast.
It was a tough ride to Cann River over quite a steep hill. It was hot.

When I arrived in Cann River I decide that was enough for the day and checked into a motel. The pub does offer accommodation anymore. I had a meal in the pub. I was only marginal more palatable than the Genoa meal.

‘Old Coast’ Rd

In the morning I decided to take the ‘Old Coast’ Rd to Bemm River.

This turned out to interesting but tough. It is a unsealed road that appears to been recently graded. The problem was that there were large section of sand. This would be ok in a 4WD, but was not good on a heavily laden bicycle. I fell off three time as bike slide from under me. I also had to push the bike for large sections.

Snakes

I saw four snakes on this road. I didn’t stop to take any photos as they may have been Tiger snakes. They will come after people.

Bemm River

I had never heard of Bemm before. It turned out to be a really nice place. The town is on the lake between that river and the sea. Apparently, it is great for fishing, but is still a ‘well kept’ secret.

I stayed in the camping ground and had a great meal at the pub.
One of the topics of conversation among the customers and staff in the pub was the number of snakes they had been seeing. The locals put it down to “the lack of recent bushfires and good rains”.

Options for Getting to Marlo

There seemed to a number of options to get to Marlo, which was my next objective. These included: the coastal track that, as its name suggests runs along the coast, the ‘Old Coast Rd, which is a bit inland, and going back to the Princess Highway on a seal road and then another sealed road to Marlo.

I ruled out the first option on the basis of advice from the bloke who looking after the camping ground. He told me that there was “too much sand for you”. He also said that “there was a shit load of sand on the next part of the ‘Old Coast’ Rd.

Bellbird

In the end, I decided to take the long way to Marlo via Bellbird where I stayed the night. Bellbird has a pub and nothing else. The pub is for sale. Soon I think there will be nothing in Bellbird.

Marlo

In the morning, I headed off down the Princess Highway before turning east towards the coast and onto Marlo.

It was raining heavily when I arrived in the town and decided to take a cabin in the camping ground. This turned out to be a good idea and the rain intensified through the afternoon and into the night.

Snowy River

Marlo is where the Snowy River meets the ocean. There has been a lot of dispute about the amount of water the is directly down the river from the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

There seemed to be a reason flow at the moment.
In the morning I went for a walk along the Snowy River Estuary. It is worth doing if you are in the area.
Flickr Link
https://flic.kr/s/aHskwN52Th

Garmin Links
Eden
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2513819361
Genoa
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2513819434
Cann River
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2519788171
Bemm River
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2519788233
Bellbird
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2519788299

About Twofold Bay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twofold_Bay

 

Candelo, Merimbula and Eden

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I left Nimmitabel after short stop at the café for a coffee and lots of ‘pre-loading’ of water. It was going to be another hot day.

Down the Brown Mountain

It was a relatively short ride to the top of the Brown Mountain. This was followed by a short sharp descent down to Bemboca where I had lunch

Candelo

I decided to skip going to Bega and Tathra and head off the Monaro Highway to the small village of Candelo. The only accommodation available in Candelo was camping in the local park.

There were some other people in this ‘free camp’. There were a young couple from Malta who were travelling around Australia in a campervan and an older couple who were travelling a very large ‘campervan’ which was a converted bus. The bloke in the bus told that he and his wife had been “on the road for 7 years and couldn’t living any other way”.

I ended up having a meal in the Candello Bowling Club after deciding that the pub had a ‘touch of the Faulty Towers’. Neither the pub or the bowling club had EFPOS it was all ‘CASH ONLY’. I think these places need an ATO audit.

Onto the Coast and Merimbula

Leaving Candelo, I headed towards the coast. A short ride brought me onto the Princess Highway which is the main highway running along the coast into Victoria and through to Melbourne.

I had booked into a place that had been the Merimbula YHA. The woman running the place told me that “owners were trying to sell the place didn’t want to keep paying the YHA fees”.

When I was planning the trip I had hoped to catch up will an old Department Foreign Affairs colleague and his wife. They are both retired and have a house in Merimbula. Unfortunately for family reasons that were not in town.

I had two full days in Merimbula. It is a great spot with an excellent beach.

Nano Brewery

It was drizzling when I left Merimbula and headed south. I stopped briefly in the Longstocking ‘Nano’ Brewery just south of Pambula. As the owner explained, his “brewery is smaller than a micro-brewery”.

Big Ship in Eden

As I rode on to Eden, I was passed by a surprising number of buses heading both North and South.

When I got into Eden I headed to the Great Southern Hotel. The main street was a ‘hive of activity’. It turned out that there was a big cruise ship in town and the buses were transporting the passengers to the local sites including Merimbula.

Non-Pedestrian Crossing

I spent a full day in Eden. It has an impressive harbour which was once the site of a major whaling industry.

A feature of the town is the most bizarre traffic ‘control’ system that you will ever see. They are four ‘non-pedestrian crossing’. These are painted blue and give the appearance of being standard pedestrian crossings. However, closer inspection reveals signs telling the pedestrians to “give way to vehicle”. Several locals told me that “they have been the cause of many near misses”. I plan to bring is issue up with the local council and the Roads and Traffic Authority.

Flickr Links
Candelo
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmemNsTC

Merimbula

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmexLoyd

Eden
https://flic.kr/s/aHskww6YPy

Garmin Links
Nimitabel
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2501388657
Candelo
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2501388696
Merimbula
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2509201675

Nimmitabel

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After some days in Cooma, it was time to head to the coast.

My first stop was to be the very small own of Nimmitabel.

Strong Winds

I headed off along the Monaro Highway. It was good to be back in the saddle after of few months off the bike.

As I rode along the wind, which was already vert strong, got even stronger. This wasn’t a problem when it was directly behind me as it simply pushed be along. However, the road changed direction and this meant that wind was hit me side on. This made riding particularly difficult. It was even more of a problem when I was passed by big trucks. They caused a mini ‘wind shadow that sucked me towards them, irrespective as to whether they were coming towards me or from behind. I soon learned that it was between to stop when they were passing.

Check out the video of the winds blowing through some poplar trees.

The Federal Hotel

I had made a reservation at the Federal Hotel ‘on-line’. When I arrived at the hotel, I thought I had made a mistake as it was closed and looked derelict. As I was about to call the number of the hotel, the door opened, and bloke appeared. He said, “I assume that you are one I my quests for the evening”. He was the publican.

The publican helped me get my bike into the hotel and showed me to my room. The inside of the hotel was I lot different to the exterior. It obviously been recently refurbished. More on that later.

The publican told that he could offer a very limited range of food, so “you might want to try the café or the bakery”. I took his advice. As it turned out, the café was closed, and the bakery was about to close. I managed to get a pie at the bakery.

The Big Elephant

A feature of the bakery was a large elephant. Check out the photo. This was not something that you would expect in small village on the Monaro. I was told that elephant, who is known as George, was brought to Nimmitabel from Bali by the former owner of the bakery.

Later in the trip, I was told by a bloke in Eden who frequently travels on the Monaro Highway that before George, there was statue of a naked woman at the bakery. Apparently, this statue upset the locals and was taken down.

I like elephants, but is I also like naked women. It is a pity both statues could not be on show.

Old Blokes on Old Bikes

When I returned to the pub, the other guests started to arrive. They were also on bikes, but of the motorised kind.

They were a group of middle aged blokes from the mid north coast of NSW on a tour.
They were riding an assortment of old bikes including a JAP, an Indian, an AJS, a Harley Davidson and some older Japanese bikes. They were characters to say the least. There was some disharmony within the group, particularly when came to splitting the food and drink bill and the end of the night.

It was interesting to chat to some of them about bikes and travel.

The Pub is doing Well

I also had a chat to the publican. He told me that he was from Canberra and took over the pub three years ago. Prior to that, it had been closed for over ten years. He said that he refurnished the bar first, and then a few of the rooms. Over time he has done more work on the place. His busiest time in the in the ski season. Accommodation in the resorts is tight and the demand for accommodation is high in Berridale and Cooma. This a has now spread to Nimmitabel. He offers rooms, some with bunk beds, for only $60 per night. As a result, the place nearly always full booked in the ski season.

Proposed Rail Trail

I noticed a number ‘cut out of bicycles’ in on the building in Nimmitabele. These are part of a campaign for the development of a Rail Trail on the disused rail that runs from Queanbeyan through Cooma, Nimmitabel and on to Bombala.

I am a huge fan of Rail Trails. In fact, this trip will include the Grippsland Rail Trail from Bairnsdale to Orbost. However, it has to be said that the Monaro fairly remote from major population centres. It is likely that funding for the Rail Trail will be difficult to get.

Off to Brown Mountain

After a night in Nimmitabel the next leg of the trip was down the Brown Mountain to Candello.
Flickr Link
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmaT7UUE
Garmin Link
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2498586715

 

Cooma Again

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I took a bus from Canberra to Cooma. This would seem to be a rather old thing to do, given I have my bike with me. The simple fact is that this part of the Monaro Highway is very boring and I have travelled on it lots of times. Last year I rode along it on my way over the Snowy Mountains and down the Murray River (refer to post below).

Old Cooma Boy Remembers Girl with Unusual Name

On the bus, I got into conversation with a fellow passenger. He turned out to be a former Cooma ‘local’ who was making a flying visit to the town from Sydney. I told him a about my association with the town through working with the Australian National Audit Office (ANOA) and having the Snowy Mountains as a client. I told him that I got to know a girl with an unusual name when I was working in Cooma. I mention be in a previous post in 2013 (refer below).

It turned out that bloke been to school with the said girl. We chatted about her quite a bit. It is not just her name that is memorable.

The Royal Pub

I had booked into the Royal Pub which is in the ‘old’ part of Cooma. Over the time that I worked in Cooma, I must have stayed in nearly all of the motels and hotels in the own. However, I never stayed in the Royal Hotel. It is a classic country pub.

Craft Brewery Moves into Town
On my ride through Cooma last year, I stopped off at Brewery and Gin Distillery, that had opened up at Four Mile, which is as the name suggests, is 6 kilomtres out of the town on the way to Jindabyne.

I was intrigued as to whether the place was still going, as it didn’t seem to be an ideal location and the owners had told that they were not getting any support from the pubs in the town. I did a search on the internet and found that brewery was now located in the main street of the town. It turned out that the address of the Brewery was the Australian Hotel. I went there hoping to get a good craft beer.

As it happens, the Brewery is in the process of moving into the pub and at the time of my visit, the move was yet to be completed. However, it is good to see that business is still going and I wish them well.

Heading to the Coast

I was good to spent time in Cooma again. The next stage of my trip was towards the coast.

Flickr Link
https://flic.kr/s/aHsksYMz5e

Post in 2017

Mountains and the Murray Part One

Post in 2013

Heading Into the Mountains. Some Memories of the Past

Days in Canberra

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I took the train from Sydney to Canberra.

I spent much of the journey sitting next to a bloke who was very interested in trams and trains. He told me that he was a retired lawyer and one of his retirement jobs was being a member of the board of the Sydney Tram Museum. I have visited the museum. It is worth a visit.

I thought that I had been on a few trains in my time. This bloke and his wife have only a few major train trips, e.g. the Blue Train in South Africa, to complete before they have done all the ‘great train journeys’ in the world.

It was good to see that the train to Canberra was full.

Prime Minister’s XI

One of the reasons I was heading to Canberra at this time was so I could attend the Prime Minister’s XI Cricket Match. These matches are played between and invitational XI select by, or on behalf of, the Prime Minister and the oversea side who are touring the country at the time. This year the match was against England who had been soundly beaten in the ‘Ashes’ Test series.

The PM’s Matches were started by Bob Menzies who was a huge cricket fan. After his retirement the matches were replaced by contests between local ACT and Southern Districts rep sides and the touring teams. Bob Hawke resurrected the PM’s XI Matches when he became Prime Minister in 1983.

An old friend and fellow Highlander’s CC team mate had organised tickets for me and his family to attend the match.

Prior to going to Canberra, I spoke to another former Highlander’s CC team mate about the match. He said he wasn’t going because “it was a T20 game and it was at night”. He then went on to recall the match between the PM’s IX and the West Indies in 1984. He recalled the details of that match in ‘unnatural’ detail. I was at that match with him, but to not have such vivid recollections of it.

My mate pointed out that Bob Hawke personally picked his team. It included that then Australian captain, Greg Chappell and a young David Boon who was then starting his first-class career. The team also included two great Australian fast bowlers, Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. This was to be the last time that they bowled together.

The West Indies fielded close to a full strength team. Checkout the link below. That was a serious good team.
The PM’s IX Matches are a great event. One that most notable matches was in 1963. This match featured Don Bradman. I was taken to the match by my parents. Unfortunately, I have a very vague recollection of the match.

The ground where that matches of played is Manuka Oval. It is a great cricket ground. As my mate’s brother noted, it has that same surface area as the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
As it turned out, the Englishmen flogged the PM’s team. Nathan Lyon, the captain of the PM’s team was once a groundsman at Manuka. His ‘local’ knowledge was no use as he was hit for 5 sixes and a 4 in one over.

Lunch other Meals

The next day I had lunch with some ex Highlands, their wives and other friends.
On other days I also caught up with other old friends including fellow ex Canberra High students.

Rally Against the Adani Mine

On Monday, I attended a demonstration at Parliament House against that Adani Mine with an old mate and his wife. This a questionable project in Queensland. It is difficult to see the rationale for the project on any measure. I suspect that the mine will not go ahead because it is simply a dud ‘business proposition. The banks will not support it.

Old Parliament House

After the demonstration, we walked down the hill to the ‘Old Parliament House’. It is interesting to walk around the building, including the House of Representatives chamber and the Prime Minister’s Office.

I had a picture taken on the steps leading into King’s Hall. This is where Gough Whitlam made his famous “My God Save the Queen” speech on the 11th of November 1975.

Garema Place

One last comment: The buildings in Garema Place need to be demolished and whole area needs to turned into a European style ‘city square’.

Flickr Link
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmcMvCMH

Sydney Tram Museum

Sunday 25th February 2024 – Sydney Vintage Tramway Festival

PM’s IX Match 1984
http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1983-84/OTHERS+ICC/WI_IN_AUS/WI_PM-XI_24JAN1984.html

PM’s IX Matches including Bradman in 1963
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister%27s_XI