Memorial to the Vietnam War
01 April 2016
After a leisurely breakfast, we packed our luggage in the car (for the last time). I had visited Canberra last September on a coach tour for Floriade. We also visited the War Memorial, but did not have a chance to see the different memorials that had been erected along Anzac Drive, and we both wanted to have a good look at them.
Memorial to the Australian Service Nurses
Memorial to the Australian Army
Again the GPS was faultless in getting us to Anzac Drive, and to a parking space, and we spent the next hour walking up either side of the drive, and seeing the beautiful memorials that were erected prior to the 2015 centenary of Anzac Cove.
Memorial to the Rats of Tobruck
It was a smooth drive back along the Hume Highway, and we decided to call in to the lovely old town of Berrima to have a nice lunch of soup and toast at The Magpie Cafe (below right) which is next door to the Surveyor General Inn, Australia’s oldest continuously licensed inn (below left). Berrima is widely recognised today as the best preserved example of a Georgian village on the Australian mainland. A fortunate series of events created the Berrima we see today. 1831 to the 1860s was a time of promise and growth, which came to an abrupt end when the railway bypassed the village in 1867. For the next hundred years there was little or no development in the village. Today’s visitor to Berrima can experience the quiet charm and romance that comes from those features of the village which remained frozen in time and which now so wonderfully portray those earlier times.
All was going well until we reached the M2 where there was a queue over 2kms long trying to leave the M2 for Pennant Hills Road. We were delayed for quite a long time, and delayed again once we got on to Pennant Hills Road due to the construction of the new road (WestConnex?) and one lane had been closed off. Not sure how people drive around Sydney day after day – their stress levels must be very high! It was also a hairy ride once we drove on to the M1 – most vehicles exceed the speed limit of 110 kph, maybe they were all glad the working week was over!
Finally we pulled in to home, and heaved a sigh of relief. It was about 6pm and it had been a very long day, and there is no place like home!
I had set myself a small challenge to self-drive in my own car during this holiday – and I met the challenge. In total over the 23 days I drove 5,600 kms (for anyone interested in statistics). We have seen the most wonderful scenery in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia – and these memories will last forever.
