The Squizzy Capitol - Nov 16-Dec

After leaving our very kind friends in Lithgow we traveled to Bathurst where we visited the Bathurst airport. Shortly after we arrived we watched an Albatross jet fighter take off for a test flight. You could be in the hot seat at 5 G-force for a small price of $3200 for half an hour. I told Nick he should talk to the pilot, see if we could get a deal. He suggested working for them, but they weren’t looking. Though he did get some good tips on where he might be able to do maintenance. Maybe next time!
So its on to Orange, the unofficial wine capitol of NSW.

We spend the next three nights at the best free campsite we have stayed at yet. 60km outside the city is a well maintained, cut grass 30 acre land with walking trails, ponds and hardly anyone there. Each night when the sun went down, we sat under the trees, a cool breeze on our cheek, tea in hand “no-worries” we thought it cant get any better.

After some sight seeing, a few laps in the swimming pool at the Ex-Services club, and a afternoon skyping we decided to keep going onto Canberra, the capital, and try and get educated about the history of Australia and its parliament. After a tour of the second floor we watched as people were going through a metal detector, proceeded by a long corridor.  Asking the guard what this was all about she replied “The senates are in parliament, you can ask them questions and have a squizzy”. A squizzy? Nick and I looked at each other after she had left. A whaaat?? We laughed as we asked another guard at another station. He smiled, it means “a look around”.

From there we set off to the Australian Museum.  There we learned about the discovery of Australia and rich history of building the country and industry.  Nick admired a truck with a giant hook on the front used to catch buffalo. But the highlight of the day was learning our new slang Ozzy word, squizzy-and coming from such a important landmark. HA!

Also visited the Zoo in Canberra. We got to see the locals: Kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, koalas, little penguins, snakes, chameleons, as well as visitors from Asia: Red Pandas, India, Africa; meer cats and giraffes. Nicks favourite was the curious otters.
The next day we visited a 1915 power house-run by coal.  In the past decade it has been turned into a glass blowing studio and gallery. We spent 4 hours in the afternoon watching a group of 3 create a large round vase sculpture for a hotel in Japan, just one of 50 that take 5 hours to make each. What an interesting process. Wouldn’t that be fun as your career?

After getting a good feel for Canberra, it was off to the coast again.  We have missed the ocean. We find ourselves at Shell Harbour not far from Sydney. This is where we found a lot of beaches have showers. J

2500km after leaving Sydney we find ourselves right back where we started.  We made it a loop so we could make it back to catch Stereo Sonic (a full day electronic music festival). Thousands of people danced the day away for the outdoor music show. There we tried a deep fried potato ring on a stick, which we thought should definitely be added to the “a-la-stick” menu at the Calgary Stampede.
One short stop in Blacksmiths along the coast and we have decide its time to start our fruit picking career in St. George…………..