Day 3 - Canberra

We had most of the day free yesterday, so decided to take a drive out to Bungendore, which is a small, somewhat touristy village not far from Canberra.  

We had a quick wander around, a nice morning tea, and then back into Canberra.

Lake Burley Griffin was looking rather lovely in the sunlight.

Early in the morning I had received an email from Jennifer of Bronze Wombat to ask if I knew about the exhibition celebrating 50 years of the Canberra Quilters.  No, I didn’t.  Thanks so much for letting us know.  

Guess where we headed to next?

It was just a small exhibition at the Canberra Museum and Gallery, but a nice little snapshot of the group.

They started from very humble beginnings.

Quilts were how I remember the first patchwork I encountered.

Some rather famous names in the Australian quilting world have emanated from the Canberra Quilters.

There was one special quilt that is normally housed at the National Museum.  

There were a few non quilt items on show as well.  

 

I really liked these jeans.

If  you get a chance, call in to see the display. It is on until mid March 2026.

While we were in the gallery, we visited the permanent exhibition of some of Sidney Nolan’s works.

By then it was lunch time, so we went for a walk.  There is some interesting public artwork in all the open spaces.  It turned out that we were right near the main shopping precinct of Canberra.  We found ourselves something to eat before returning to the van for a lazy afternoon.

Day 2 - Young to Canberra

As we headed off from Young, the weather was a bit different, as in it was rather cloudy.  It looked rainy, but we only got a brief sprinkle on us.  The landscape is looking rather summery - dry parched paddocks, reflecting the very hot and dry summer we have experienced, particularly as you go further south in the state.

From Young, we were going to travel on a route we haven’t been on before, as it is not on the direct way to anywhere from home.  We were to go through the twin small towns of Murrumburrah and Harden.

Murrumburrah was the first we came to.  It is a very historic area, as reflected by the architecture.  Sadly, it is all looking rather shabby, with only a few businesses trading.

We got chatting to one fellow.  He is the owner of this closed business.  It was opened by his Greek parents back in the 1960s and still has all the 1978 decor and fittings.

We stopped to check out the rather faded silo art, which was hard to get a vantage point for.

While looking at it, we noticed a sculpture.  It was a wonderful depiction of “Bill the Bastard” horse from World War One.

You can read about it here. 

After our little wander it was time to head over to Harden.  The main street was off to the side of the highway, so very little passing traffic.  There were three op shops.  The first was in the St Paul’s church.

The buildings were also old, but not as many as Murrumburrah.  Both these towns have died in recent years, as Young has grown to be a regional hub and is only about 30kms away.

Back on the road, we noticed a sign to the village of Galong.  We’d never heard of it.  As it was only a couple of kms off the road, we swung in to have a look.  There are no businesses there now, but another place that had been a hub back in the day.

Lunch was at Yass, and as we’ve been there a few times recently, I didn’t take any photos.  

We did see one oversized load.  I don’t know what was in that box, but it was obviously heavy, going on the number of axles on the trailer.

Of course Charley Bilby has come along for the ride.

From there it was just on to Canberra, where we settled into the caravan park for a quiet afternoon.  We did enjoy a piece of the passion fruit slice that we bought from the little CWA shop in Young.

The day ended with another lovely sunset.

We’re Off Again

Don’t you love how you can make things up as you go along once you are retired.

We were supposed to be heading off on our latest adventure today……then Mick came up with an idea.  (He often reminds me that he comes up with some good ideas.)  As we were pretty much organised, why not set off late morning yesterday?  This meant we could make a detour and take the scenic route.  It sounded like a good idea to me.

We are headed to Canberra, but rather than go directly through Boorowa, we have headed a little further west to Young.  

Young is one of those towns that is always on the way to somewhere else, so we don’t usually stop to have a good look around.  We did a few years ago come over for the Cherry Festival, but that’s the only time.

We had a nice wander up and down the street.  There are some beautiful old buildings.  You know I love looking at the tops of buildings in country towns.  We were surprised at the size of the shopping area as well as the industrial side of things.  It is apparently the main hub for the region.

Mick was delighted to find a book he has been searching for in one of the op shops.  I must say, the two op shops we visited were large and very well set out.  There is also a lovely wool shop called “The Wool Room”.  Sadly, they didn’t have what I was after.  I’m looking for a red 4 ply hand dyed sock wool to knit another scarf.  They seem to be rather thin on the ground.  Anyway, it was a lovely, well stocked little shop I would like to visit again some time.

We camped the night at the local Showgrounds.  There are some beautiful old pavilions. Apparently, some of them date back to the early 1900s.

We really liked the old sheep sheds.  It would be nice to come back one year to the local show, which is held in September.

We were warned that there would be harness racing on last night.  Most of the activity was on the other side of the arena, so we could hardly even hear it. 

Although we know nothing about harness racing and aren’t really interested, we wandered over to have a look.  It was only a very small crowd watching.

We supported the local Lions Club by buying a steak sandwich each for tea. That was a bonus.

We had a chuckle at one feature.  Hollywood has their big sign, as does Mount Panorama at Bathurst.  It turns out that so does Young, although it isn’t quite as prominent.

Once we returned to our van it was time to cook some pancakes for dessert, as it was Pancake Tuesday.  We always forget to pack something, and this time it was some sugar and golden syrup.  I had remembered to buy some pancake mix (I’m cheating, I’m on holidays).  Anyway, it was a gorgeous evening to be sitting outside enjoying our pancakes.

And to cap it all off, we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

Out With the Old and In With the New

When we bought this house, ten years ago, we needed a small couch for our little sitting area and found the ideal one.

We loved it……but as you can see by the arms…..so did our cat Joey. Fortunately, the couch was just a cheapy, so we always said that after Joey passed away we would buy a new one.

Well, Joey passed away just over two years ago and we still had the old couch.  You see, apart from the Joey damage, we really like this simple couch.  

I came up with the grand plan that I could reupholster the damaged parts with interesting woollen fabrics and some old tapestries, à la some very creative ones on line.  The only problem is that, although the seat cushions look like they are separate, they are not.  I’ve never done any upholstery and I found this rather daunting.  As you can guess, it hasn’t happened and I have finally come to the conclusion that it won’t.

Time to go shopping.

Ta da! A very different look.  This one will make the area seem much darker and cosier.  Not what we were originally planning, but it will work.  Funnily enough, after we ordered it, we discovered that Mick’s sister has the identical one.  

Anyway, it looks very “brown” as it is, so time to see if we can accessorise it a bit, to brighten it up, or at least cosy it up.

Plan A - Using the quilt that use to be on our vintage lounge. Nah.  Still rather drab.

Plan B - using the reverse of the colourful quilt that was on the previous little couch. - Better, but still nah.

Plan C - Using Mum’s knitted rug and knitted cushion,  Better again, but not quite.

Plan D - Use the woollen quilt just like on the previous couch, with Mum’s cushion.  You know what?  I think I like that bright pop of colour best of all.  It really needs something to reduce the “brown-ness” of the couch.  We may change things up leading into winter, but for now, it will do.

Which look is your favourite?

By the way, Mick finds it rather comfortable to have a snooze on, so it is a success.