Russ Travelling Australia

I moved on to Koroit which is right on the edge of an extinct volcano, Tower Hill. I’m staying in the council caravan park which is next to a small botanic gardens. Koroitj is the aboriginal name for Tower Hill, a crater 3 Km by 2.4 Km across and 90 metres high. It last erupted 30,000 years ago and is of national geographical significance. It was made a reserve in 1961 but the bush is still fairly degraded with lots of weeds. I put the drone up and this is a panorama assembled from those drone photos, you can just see Bass Strait in the background.

I had the drone up at 400 feet the maximum allowed by CASA regulations, I would have liked it to go higher. I can’t see the drone at that height so I just put it straight up and bring it straight down. There is a viewing area where I put the drone up and this photo was from ground level.

The is another viewing platform to the east of Tower Hill that also gives good views of the crater.

You can drive over a causeway to the “island” in the centre of the lake and there is a delightful picnic area and a number of walks that spin out from there. Parts of the bush are in good condition and there are emus, kangaroos, koalas, echidnas , and lots of birds and reptiles (reportedly and thankfully!). This is a view of the picnic area, lots of BBQs and tables.

Warrnambool is only 15 Km from Tower Hill so I drove there to check out the water tower artwork. The water tower is set on a highpoint near the coast and celebrates the contribution that migrants and refugees have made to Warrnambool and Australia. I decided to put the drone up to see what the tower looked like from a height.

While in Warrnambool I learned that there was some street art in the city centre and a few other places around the town. So I went back to Warrnambool the next day and went to the info centre to get a map. While there I noticed the restaurant next door and determined to go there for lunch. So I headed off on foot from the info centre and walked around the CBD and found that most of the street art was disappointing and more like graffiti than works of art, at least to my taste. But there was some good stuff. There was no information to explain the artwork which was also disappointing.

These cockatoos were along a laneway so I could only photograph two at a time, there were five in all and they were all very well done.

After walking the CBD, I drove to some artwork around Warrnambool and the best of that was on the abutments of a couple of railway bridges.

So back to Pippies for a lunch of calamari and green salad, which was excellent. The salad dressing was unusual and delicious, but based on palm sugar, so that was a pity as I thought I might try to make it.. The restaurant overlooks Bass Strait and a bay behind the breakwater, a delightful outlook.

I have extended my stay at Koroit for another day (fourth day only $15, bonus!) and will now head off on Monday. Tomorrow I will go to Port Fairy and look around there and probably force down some fish and chips on the wharf.

I was going to move on today but I had reports from my friend Rhonda, and a couple that I had sought directions to the silos from, that the current exhibition at the Geelong Gallery was excellent and well worth a visit. What convinced me was a discussion with Deen last night, I was explaining that I don’t go back or do U turns and she said “just consider it a day trip”! So I did and it was certainly worth the 200 Km return trip.

The artist is Rone and it was he that painted the silos at Fyansford that have since been demolished that I was going to visit yesterday.

Apparently the artist has a passion for painting in deserted buildings or structures that are partly demolished, in the silos photo you can see the rough edge of the partly demolished supporting building under the silos. He did the same thing at the APM Paper Mill at Abbotsford in 2017 and photos of that artwork and other work at the mill are featured in this exhibition at Geelong. The quote below summarises Rone’s philosophy of painting in abandoned and partly demolished buildings

The two photos below are of artwork at the Abbotsford papermill that Rone painted in partly demolished buildings. Unfortunately the photos were framed in glass and there are reflections of people looking at other paintings in the Gallery in my photo.

Rone had painted artwork in all seven rooms of a deserted Federation weatherboard cottage at the papermill. Rone said of that work: “Now on its last legs, marooned in a sea of progress awaiting its final end, [it] serves as a potent symbol of defiance in the face of relentless change”.

The Gallery and Rone have recreated two of those rooms in a massive hall in the gallery. It was fantastic, wonderful detail even down to spiders webs. The hall in which they created this display was at least 15 metres wide and about 45 metres long with one room at each end.

The recreated music room was set in very low light to give it a dark moody feel.

The framed paintings hanging in the recreated rooms were painted by Rone and a number of them were of paintings Rone had liked when he visited the Gallery as a child. He had dappled them with light brown spots that sometimes develop on old paintings, that aside, they were hard to distinguish from the originals.

The paining in the middle is of a Hans Heysen painting of the Flinders ranges and you do feel like walking over and straightening it up, just adds to the feeling of abandonment.

Rone had also recreated a family room that he had painted at the Abbotsford papermill.

It is interesting that McCubbins renowned painting “Burial in the bush” was an inspiration to Rone as a child and it is owned by the Geelong Gallery, sadly it was on loan to another gallery at the time of my visit. It is a wonderful painting that most of us have marvelled at, you can understand why it inspired Rone.

I am so glad that I made the “day trip” to the gallery, it was a heart-lifting experience, well worth the effort.

Sadly there was no Blog for the whole of 2020, just a few cancelled holidays; with fingers crossed the holidays will be happening this year. It felt a bit strange packing the caravan and I had to remember where to put and find things. It was also a new experience applying for a permit to enter South Australia and then another one will be needed to get back into the state in which I was born! So strange.

In this trip I plan to visit silo and water-tower art in Western Victoria and Eastern South Australia, plus some places of interest along the way. I will be away from home until early June so plenty of time with not a lot of distance to cover, so it should be relaxing. My U3A cryptic Crossword Practice Group is still running once a week so I have planned camp stops on Wednesdays where there is mobile coverage, hopefully good enough to run the Zoom session.

I thought I needed to take a photo of the first camp on this trip to prove that I am not dreaming, I am really on holidays, so here it is.

Today’s trip was a leisurely couple of hundred K’s and everything seems to be working OK on the caravan after such a long lay-off, so that’s good. The first stop was a water-tower at Werribee, a small tower in a simple garden but impeccably maintained. The contrast between the original tower and the painted tower is massive. It shows how an eyesore can be transformed. The tower was built in 1914 and is 18 metres high.

This is the tower as it is now, it celebrates what was the major primary industry around Werribee using irrigation to grow vegetables.

The back of the tower was also painted with a platypus and a green frog.

I headed off to Fyansford near Geelong, but found that the cement silos had been demolished so it was off to the Lismore water tower. A small tower on the edge of town, only about 10 metres high and in the front yard of a house, which is now a cafe. It features two dancing Brolgas which are native to the area.

After painting the brolgas the artist returned 4 weeks later to “hatch the eggs” so he painted the chicks.

Tomorrow it’s off to Koroit for a few days to visit Tower Hill, Warrnambool, (Water Tower), Lake Condor and other sites in the area. It’s good to be travelling.

I love having a GPS, with one you can travel through a city trouble free, so my exit from Sydney was a breeze.  After an overnight at Murramarang Resort (read Caravan Park but right on the beach) I called in at Bermagui to see their water tower.  The artwork printed on plastic and glued to the tower, Merimbula and Eden turned out to be the same.  It was well done and colourful but I prefer the tower artwork that the artist has actually painted on the tower, as was the case for all the others I have visited.  I’ll let you judge.  The first photo is of the tower and the second a close up of the artwork.

Bermagui Water Tower

Bermagui Water Tower Close up

The strikingly colourful Bermagui artwork is titled Spirit Dance and was originally painted by indigenous artist Joe Mackenzie in an attempt to help his young sons Latrell and Kobe to get to sleep, with its friendly protective spirits to ward off bad spirits.

I forgot to mention that it rained at Murramarang and I had to pack up in the wet, we got about 20 mm overnight.  I suppose I shouldn’t complain, it was the first rain for 7 weeks.  It cleared up after a couple of hours but the rain started again just when I was setting up at Merimbula, bugger.

The water Tank at Merimbula is at the top of a hill overlooking the town next to the fire station.  It was colourful but again a printed artwork stuck to the tower.

Merimbula Water Tank

Merimbula Water Tank Close up

This artwork is detailed and colourful and depicts what both locals and visitors alike appreciate about living in this part of Australia.  I learned there was another tank artwork at 5 Km north of Eden on the Princes Highway so I checked that out on the way to Mallacoota.  It depicts an octopus and crayfish engaged in a fight in indigenous art style.

Eden Water Tank

Eden Water Tank Close up

This artwork was taken from a painting completed by the artist some years earlier and the painting can be viewed in a local gallery.

I met up with Deen at Mallacoota on Wednesday afternoon where we will stay for 4 nights.  On Thursday we set off for a BBQ at Sou-West Arm on the Genoa River, a favourite spot we first visited in 1973 and many times since including with a UK branch of our family Justine, Robert, Lucy and Holly in 2016.  This time at Sou-West Arm, as well as the BBQ, we were to scatter some of Marg’s ashes.  Both Cam and Deen have ashes to scatter and Deen chose this place for her lot as it held good memories for her, and it was a place loved by Marg.

When the kids were about five and seven we stayed at Mallacoota with Barry (Marg’s brother), Cas, Sam and Bren and visited Sou-West Arm.  The kids rushed down to the picnic table and in an instant were on top of the table as a big goanna made a massive noise in the galvanised rubbish bin.  Much laughter from the parents.

Russ & Deen Relaxing at Sou-West Arm Mallacoota

After lunch (Deens delicious hamburgers in a fresh rolls) we moved to the end of the jetty and took turns to cast the ashes, sad, but also lots of wonderful memories.

Jetty at Sou-West Arm Mallacoota Panorama

We walked to the end of the arm to enjoy the view to the upper lake.

View to the Upper Lake Mallacoota from Sou-West Arm

We were blessed with the weather for this important event, mostly sunny, 20 °C with a cooling light breeze.

There was a very strong wind on Friday, but otherwise a perfect day, so we headed off down Genoa River Firetrail to a picnic area on the Genoa River in Croajingolong National Park.  150 metre walk to the picnic area where we got the fire BBQ going.  It was such a peaceful place with a tiny Flame Robin catching our attention from time to time.

Genoa River Picnic Area

On the walk down to the picnic spot we found a White Ladies Finger native orchid, something Marg would have spotted from 50 metres, she could even spot orchids from a moving car!  A delightful tiny flower on the middle of the very dry walking track.

Ladies Finger Orchid

That night we got Deens TV going in her campert  watched the Tigers fantastic performance on Friday night and on Saturday decided on a restful day with a counter lunch at the Mallacoota pub would be the go.  That night we watched the Magpies nearly win in a wonderful fightback.  Our evening meals over the time at Mallacoota has been 1/2 a dozen oysters mornay each using oysters I bought from an oyster factory in Pambula on the way down.  Delicious.  Tomorrow we start the journey home to Melbourne with an overnight at Nicholson River, so this will be the last post for a while, thanks to the people who posted comments.

On another beautiful sunny mild day I set off for Hornsby to see their water tank, a fair part of the journey was on Pennant Hills Road again, but no B-Doubles and no caravan so it was an easy 50 Km drive.  The artwork on the tower was excellent but a security fence and trees made it hard to get photos, but I really liked the paintings.  This one is from across the road to give an idea of the tower’s situation.  I was across the road to take these and it was a busy road so I just kept snapping and eventually managed a break in the traffic so no cars in the photo.

Hornsby Water Tank

I managed to take a few close up photos through the fence and between bushes.

Hornsby Water Tank

Hornsby Water Tank

Hornsby Water Tank

The next tank was at Lower MacDonald, a small settlement in the bush on the Hawkesbury River near Wisemans Ferry (Wisemans Ferry does not have an apostrophe for some unknown reason).  It was a delightful drive through forest and the Berowra National Park where the road dropped down the edge of the escarpment.  This section of the road had eight hairpin bends that were 5 Km/hr absolute max plus lots of others to be taken at 15 to 25 Km/hr.  But the forest was beautiful, all green with lots of native grasses and grass trees.  The road was smooth and after the decline it was a delightful winding road, lots of motorbikes out enjoying the bends, but otherwise the traffic was light.  There is another steep decline down to Wisemans Ferry, but not a many sharp bends.  Along the way there was a lookout over the Hawkesbury and Wisemans Ferry which is the long shape in the centre of this photo.

Hawkesbury River at Wisemans Ferry from Hawkins Lookout

A ferry has operated at Wisemans Ferry since 1829 and is probably the longest continuously operating ferry service in Australia.  The crossing is 366 metres long and two ferries operate in parallel so there is not long to wait for a ferry, which takes about 4 minutes to cross the river.  Wiseman was a convict who was granted land in the area and started the ferry in 1827 and then moved it to the present site in 1829 when the road was repositioned.

The water tanks at Lower MacDonald are small ones but the artwork is good and they are in a bush setting.

Lower MacDonald Water Tank

Lower MacDonald Water Tank Perched Cocky

Lower MacDonald Water Tank Flying Cocky

Lower MacDonald Water Tank

The return journey to camp followed different roads but most of it was through the countryside and enjoyable.  Tomorrow is a rest day, well a more restful day, with a clear agenda, hopefully celebrating a Lions win, and then off down the coast on Monday to end up at Mallacoota where I am meeting up with Deen on the 18th for a few days, so I’m looking forward to that.  I will check out a couple of water towers on the way south at Bermagui amd Merimbula.

All the water tanks I plan to visit on Friday are in the Blue Mountains and my first was at Katoomba, but before the tower I went to Echo Point to view the Three Sisters, which I haven’t seen since I was a child.  There are still three, unlike the twelve apostles in Victoria where we are down to about eight.  The view over the mountains is stunning and worth putting up with hundreds of tourists, of which I am one.  You can understand from the photos why the Blue Mountains were such a barrier to settlement further west until Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson found a way across in  1813.  They were successful because they followed the ridges rather than the valleys.  As a result of their exploration Bathurst became Australia’s first inland city.

Three Sisters from Echo Point

I took a panorama of the view including the Three Sisters.

Three Sisters & Blue Mountains

And another from the other side of the viewing platform.

Blue Mountains from Echo Point

After enjoying the views it was off to the Katoomba Water Tank which was probably good in its heyday, but leakage and weathering have taken their toll.

Katoomba Water Tank

Katoomba Water Tank Sharks

Katoomba Water Tank Close-up

I then travelled to Wentworth Falls to see their water tank but could only find a plain green tank, apparently the artwork is on the other side but I couldn’t see how to get there.  So off to Mt Riverview water tank.  This tank has artwork as a strip around the bottom of the tank.  The green patches are where the paint has lifted off.

Mt Riverview Water Tank

Mt Riverview Water Tank Rosella

Mt Riverview Water Tank Blue Wren

Mt Riverview Water Tank Snake

The last tank for today was at Lapstone just off the Great Western Highway which is the main highway into the mountains.  The highway is two lanes each way and winds up the hills, a very easy and pleasant drive.  The artwork is eye catching, I love the frog the best.

Lapstone Water Tank

Lapstone Water Tank Closeup

A couple more tanks or towers tomorrow and that will be Sydney done.  Richmond has a very busy shopping strip within walking distance of where I am camped.  There are a few takeaways, a Dan Murphy’s and a Coles, so I have everything I need!

So it was back to reality today travelling with a caravan through Sydney, at one stage I was on the very windy Pennant Hills Road in the middle lane with a B-Double on either side, I did breath in!  I set up camp at the Richmond Club, who have a 20 site small camping area.  I will travel out from here to the various water towers around Sydney.  Today I visited the Edmondson Park tower at Bardia.  I really liked the tower which was very colourful and interesting.  There was construction work happening on the site so I was able to take photos inside the fence after seeking permission from the Irish workforce.

This was my first view of the tower.

Edmondson Park Water Tower First View

I then walked to the side to take this photo.

Edmondson Park Water Tower Side View

Ans a close up of the side view.

Edmondson Park Water Tower Close up Side View

I then had to seek further permission to walk through the worksite to the other side of the tower.

Edmondson Park Water Tower Another View

This tower could well be my favourite.  Tomorrow I will be off to Katoomba to see some more water towers.

The drive from Wauchope to Maitland Showground was along the Pacific Motorway through forests for most of the journey, an easy drive that seemed over before it started.  Once set up I drove to see a water tank at Coal Point on Lake Macquarie, about 40 Km away.  The artwork was only in a band around the bottom of the tank, but it was well done.  I was lucky to be able to stop and ask a trail bike rider for directions, as the best way to get to the tank was from a different street, rather than the one listed on the website.  As you approach the tank this is what you see, the glimpse encouraged me to keep climbing up the hill.

Approaching Coal Point Water Tank

I especially loved the owl, but the possum and lady bird were well done as well.

Coal Point Water Tank Front View

The back of the tank was more like artistic graffiti, but well done and colourful.

Coal Point Water Tank Back View

The side of the tank had a bird theme.

Coal Point Water Tank Side View

On Wednesday I went to Kurri Kurri to see their street art, sorry, should say murals, that is what the locals like to call them.  There are lots to see within easy walking distance of the centre of town and an amazing variety of subjects.  The town emblem is a kookaburra so every mural has a kookaburra somewhere in the painting, although I could not find a kooka in a few of them.  So, in order of my viewing, this is what I saw, appropriately the first into view was the town emblem.

Kurri Kurri Kookaburra Statue

Then came the toilet block, I take a risk here because have already copped some flack about taking photos of ladies toilets!  The kooka is in the second mural.

Kurri Kurri Toilet Block Mural #1

Kurri Kurri Toilet Block Mural #2

Schoolyard Mural

The school walls had murals painted on them, but they were hard to photograph, but here is one painted by the kids.

Kids Mural

Bullock Team Mural

Snake Handler Mural

Good to see the proper use of an apostrophe.

Galloway’s Electrical Store

Steam Train

Double Decker Bus

Christmas Mural

The firemen mural is on the side of the fire station and has flames coming out of all the windows, I could only capture the main part of the mural.

Firemen Mural

Preschool Puzzle Mural

Backburning Mural

Car 54 Where are You

Time Tunnel Mural

Timber Cutters Mural

Cricketers – High on Hotel Wall

Christening Mural

So that is the best of the Kurri Kurri murals, well worth the visit.  Tomorrow I am off to Richmond in the west of Sydney for a few days and then I will start moving down the coast toward home.

Corindi Beach Caravan Park where I am staying is on a headland with a great view down the coast.

Corindi Beach

I visited Woolgoolga about 20 Km south to see the water tower there, sadly it was an old artwork, faded, with damage and not very good anyway.  It was of a seascape with whales cavorting, but disappointing.

Woolgoolga Water Tower

The Woolgoolga RSL had excellent artwork on the side of their building facing the road showing soldiers in combat, very well done.

Woolgoolga RSL

On Friday I received a call from Pete and Barb, long time great friends, who were camping at Wooli about 25 Km north of my camp, but a 60 Km drive.  So we met up at Wooli and spent a few hours together including a bistro lunch.  It was great to catch up and have a good chat, catching up on family happenings and other stuff.  I returned via a 4WD track which was shorter in distance but took longer, but I enjoyed it better than the highway drive.

Next day, Sunday, (I have to keep saying the days so I can keep track) I moved to Wauchope because I could!  There is a pioneer timber town here but I’m not big on touristy things and when the reviews said the entry price was steep, that made the decision.  I’m staying at the showgrounds for $20 a night.

On Monday I went to see a massive Red Bloodwood, called “Old Bottlebutt”, in the forest nearby, 16 metres around the base, 4.7 metres around where the trunk starts, 53.8 metres high, and the crown is 15.5 metres diameter.  Very hard to photograph with the sun casting shadows but it is a magnificent tree.

Red Bloodwood – Old Bottlebutt Base

The tree looks very healthy as you can see in the photo of the canopy.

Old Bottlebutt Canopy

On the way to the tree there was a valley dotted with palms with the sun highlighting their leaves, it was so pretty, not sure if the photo captures that though.

Palms on the Walk to Old Bottlebutt

On the way back I took a shortcut and ended up facing the embankment of the road I was heading for, about 4 metres high, just as well I had low range 4WD and the slope was rocky and dry, a bit exciting.

After that I headed for Ellenborough Falls which are the second highest single drop waterfalls in the Southern hemisphere.  The road to the falls was extremely windy and narrow but fortunately not much traffic. You view the falls from a platform suspended off the side of the gorge.  Not much water flowing as it has been so dry.  Wallaman Falls west of Ingham in Queensland are the highest single drop waterfall at 268 metres.

Ellenborough Falls

Ellenborough Falls Panorama

In 1981 Marg, Cam, Deen and I visited Wallaman Falls and this is a photo I took at the time on a Minolta reflex film camera, you view the falls across a wide valley, but they still look magnificent.

Wallaman Falls Queensland

Tomorrow I move on the Maitland for a couple of days to see some street art and a water tower.  There are lots of bushfires in NSW at the moment and controlling them is proving a real challenge because everything is so dry and water is scarce.  Very strong and cold winds are making the task more difficult, and also not very pleasant for campers.

Hardly a holiday hotspot but for Street Art, well worth a visit.  It is also the home of my cousin Neville and his wife Noreen whom I haven’t seen since I was at their wedding 59 years ago.  It was great to catch up and we shared lots of memories and found out about children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, etc.  I met up with Neville and Noreen at their home on the afternoon of the day I arrived and had lots of chat and an excellent meal with a delicious food and wine.

Neville and Noreen had checked out the Street Art earlier and knew all the locations of the Street Art so we spent a couple of hours the next morning and then some more time after lunch.  We visited well over 50 sites and walked most of the way.  So this post is about all the Street Art.

Uncertain

This was art was painted by Alysa Mae illustrating conflicting moods, a sense of sadness with an attempt of masking that with the use of scenery to create a sense of calm.

Unnamed

Another by Alysa Mae has a woman gazing into the beyond, expressing and under-lining sense of uncertainty and fragility and with and expression creates a moody undertone with a possible hidden narrative.

Elisha Rei, the artist, comments the Geisha girl, a suggestive self-portrait, is inspired by the aesthetic of Japanese ukiyo-e prints and connects with her heritage.  The painting is on the end of the Toowoomba art gallery and is at least 3 stories high.

The rest of the artwork lacked explanation on the theme or meaning of the art so I have just loaded the ones I liked best.

Three “Kiss” Women

Polar Bear

Blue Bowerbird

Japanese Lady

Reading to Children

Young Woman in Sunglasses

Aboriginal Artwork

There was a long mural representing the Toowoomba community.

Toowoomba Community

The portraits I liked best from this collection are:

Young Aboriginal Man

Young Farmer

Young Girl

The artwork below covered a wall about 10 metres long.

Large Aboriginal Artwork

Elephant Growing a Tree with a Treehouse

There was a small alcove with two seats, about three metres square, and there were aboriginal paintings on the four sides, the following photos are of this artwork.

Seating Alcove #1

Seating Alcove #2

Seating Alcove #3

Seating Alcove #4

This photo was on the wall of a mexican Restaurant.

Mexican Artwork

Perched Bird

Four Wolves

Horses Head

Snakes Head

Eagles Head

So that’s a small selection of Toowoomba’s Street Art, lots of high quality paintings and great to walk around the lanes and streets and to be surprised by what is around the next corner.  It was a highlight of my trip around the eastern states viewing public art sites.

I moved off this morning from Toowoomba getting on the road at 6.30 because I had a 500 Km journey ahead.  I am now at Corindi Beach Caravan Park about 40 Km north of Coffs Harbour.  It is right on the coast with green grass over the whole park, I haven’t seen that for a while, there is a cool breeze, sunny, clear skies, and 30° C, but someone has to do it.  But I have to say I still prefer the more basic camping spots where people are more friendly and speak to you, here people walk passed and avoid eye contact, maybe I look too disreputable with shorts, socks and boots.