Mar 11th - Bowral to Albury

We started the day by splitting up. Pam went back into Bowral for breakfast and to have a look around.

Another shot of pretty Bowral

Meanwhile Mark visited the Donald Bradman cricket museum which is on the site where the great man first played local cricket and the museum started off as a tribute to Donald Bradman, then expanded to Australian cricket, then further expanded to international cricket and everything about the game. It was a special place to visit but Mark did not meet any actual cricketers in here.

The ground and pavilion where it all started. The museum is hidden behind it.

One of the many displays about the greatest cricketer ever

This greatest of all time gallery was touching with paintings of the greats in old age age alongside them in their prime. This is WG Grace but Tendaulker, Hobbs, Sobers, Hadlee and many more were there

Next to the museum we ate pain au chocolate (from a patisserie Pam found in town) with these birds eyeing us up which was apt as it was right by this statue.

That be bottom right kept giving us the evil eye

As I live and breathe it’s Mary Poppins. Feed the Birds… no don’t!!!

It appeared the author was born here - they all like Mary Poppins in this country it seems.

So onwards to Canberra. People have said there is not much there and not worth visiting and we understand but wanted to include it and were rewarded with these fabulous views from Mount Ainslie.

You can see for miles in almost all directions

Mark at the summit. Pam next level down reading about Canberra’s designers

A sun tanned Mark with Canberra behind him

We drove along the amazing Anzac Parade and wanted to look at the amazing Australian War Museum Building but there was lots of building work going on and the outside was obscured whilst you needed a pre-purchased timed ticket for inside which we didn’t have. Still we had lunch and must remember the larger portions here as we are wasting loads - especially at lunchtime when the heat affects our appetites.

One of the many statues that adorn ANZAC parade

Plus one from outside the war museum

Before we left Canberra completely, we stopped off at Cockington Green Gardens. This is an old house and gardens that had been turned into a model village, with steam train, plus an interior with dolls houses( one of them a Georgian house with 34 rooms called Waverley) and a tea room with scones etc…. - we weren’t hungry!

The actual house ain’t too shabby to look at either

Pam studying a map of the gardens whilst on the train awaiting the ride to start

And this was the train

An Impressive doll’s house

The detail in the rooms were superb

The original owners were Australian and in the 70s stayed in Cockington in Torquay and loved everything British so came back and built this place as a tribute.

This is apparently Cockington in Torquay

A Scottish castle with some highlanders

And this you know. We think it includes druids.

It was sweet seeing so much of a tribute to our country though currently it is missing the snow and frost plus in Britain you are not being bitten by bugs constantly (unless you are in the Highlands but I blame that on Iron Bru). The place not only has English buildings as they have added an International section and though we have been to a few more countries now this highlighted that there is still so much of the world we haven’t yet seen.

A building from Turkey in the foreground with others behind

That just left a 3.5 to our motel in a place called Albury. It looked good and just the type of building that Mark loves. It had a laundry room (which we used) and an outdoor pool (which we didn’t).

Nice statues. We were on the 2nd floor

We really should have spotted the missing towels

Unfortunately, this was by far the worst of the stops we have had with a bad, springy bed; fights with air conditioning; faulty lights; a closed restaurant (we ate at Hungry Jacks which is Aussie Burger King and the staff here were about 16) and missing bath towels (which we noticed too late in the night so had to rectify in the morning). Still it was only one night.