Whittlesea Tigers

For the second week of term, Peter brought in a number of tiger shaped kits for assembly and applying the stripes with texters. It did not matter what colour the children chose for their cat. Those who missed out on the animal made something/anything on a base board of ply.

Tallarook Tigers

For the first woodcraft for the term at Tallarook, Peter prepared a large number of pieces to make a tiger shaped animal. After assembly, the students had to draw in the stripes, or simply colour it in the way they want it. There was just the right number of kits so everyone was happy.

Whittlesea Towers

For the first Woodcraft Club for the term, Peter gave the students a base board and invited them to create what seemed right from the many pieces available in the trays. A few students opted for making a tower and it caught on. Peter was very impressed.

Sketching West Wyalong

 To keep from fretting or getting frustrated waiting for NRMA to arrive to check out our car, Peter crossed the road to a seat and sketched the main street of West Wyalong. The following day he returned to the spot to finish it (6B pencil on paper)
We did not realise until later that the famous Australian artist Russell Drysdale visited West Wyalong in 1949 and sketched the main street (his sketch below). Later on in his home, he painted the scene and this painting has been heralded as one of the top ten Australian paintings. It is really neat for Peter to have sketched a street that was also tackled by one of the great Australian painters.

West Wyalong

Just after we had passed through West Wyalong and begun to increase speed on the open road again, our car suddenly shut down. We were not aware that it was beginning to overheat and it went into protection mode. It allowed us to drive very slowly back to West Wyalong where we stopped and called NRMA. Service came after an hour and the mechanic told us the grim news that we had to wait here until Monday when he would be able to obtain another water pump. It was Saturday afternoon. Fortunately there was a motel nearby and we could at least drive that short distance to it and settle in for the rest of the weekend.

During our enforced stay we learned much about West Wyalong. For one, it seems that many a driver has a break down at this place on route to somewhere far away and had to stay for a time. We also learned where the best coffee was and the worst. We found a good Chinese restaurant. We went to the Community Church there (B on the above map). Later that day we walked the length of the Green Corridor from West Wyalong to Wyalong (the orange dots on the map) and back again beside the highway.

The start of the Green Corridor walk (A on map)

A maze near by the walk (A on map)

It was quite a good adventure maze

Fountain near the start of the walk (A on map)

Community Church (B on map)

Because it had been raining quite a lot for West Wyalong we were not able to walk on the concrete paving that tourists use. When it rains its other use is applied, that of carrying the storm runoff. We had to walk beside the path some of the time (location C on map) 

The walk then became much more manageable when we reached the Avenue of Honour (location D on the map)

At location E and F we found a poppet tower and a pioneer house, both not original but impressive nonetheless. 

Then we walked into the Wetlands since it was along our return walk on the south side of the Highway. The number of restrictions and cautions on this sign is unusual. Below are a few of the scenes within the wetland.

Location H is the large brick Anglican Church

A nice looking coffee to end it...

Forbes Crossover

With the help of mobile phones, texting, electronic navigation, and some amount of Divine Providence, we were able to overlap time and space with the Funks on their way up to add to the family reunion festivities, doing things we were going to miss. None the less, our meeting with them on route was an extra special moment for our trip south and it worked. We met just before noon in the mid NSW town of Forbes. At the time our car was still functioning and it was not until the next town that we had trouble. So in hindsight we felt very blessed indeed.

Saying Goodbye

On our last day in Queensland we had a coffee with Barb's brother in Toowoomba and he showed us about the city back-ways to see a number of its murals, part of a central city initiative. It was a special final moment before beginning our travel south, this time on the inland Newell Highway.

Forest Hill

We took Barb's mum to her brother's farm at Forest Hill. We actually got lost getting there and found ourselves in Ipswich asking for directions. Oh well. This was yet another big family bunch reunion. We enjoyed camp oven roasted beef and lamb. In the afternoon Barb's brother showed many of us over the whole property including the new "turkey's nest" (dam). Close to the house many tried their hand at cracking the cattle whip. Great memories!