The last leg

A rest day in Canberra which is the purpose built capital of Australia...

 

...the beautifully presented war memorial...

...the new parliament building as seen from the war memorial...

...and the war memorial from the new parliament - the old parliament is the white building in the foreground...

Aboriginal rights have been a significant issue in Australia as they have in other countries settled by Europeans. A makeshift 'aboriginal embassy' occupies a tent in front of the old parliament since the nineteen-sixties. A referendum in 1971 resulted in a giant leap forward for recognition of the aboriginal nations as equal citizens in Australia. With only a day in Canberra, we could only look at some of the outside exhibits at the aboriginal centre. This one caught our eye... if only everyone in the world could see it this way...

The next day we started the final three-day leg into Sydney, starting with a few hills...

Ursula and Dani (a Berliner) are all smiles having made it to the top of one hill
and looking forward a nice descent as the reward.

The day was beautiful. Here is one of our last looks at the lunch truck, the blue marquis and trailer between the trees. We had come to rely heavily on it... it was always a welcome sight. 

Campsite that night was a bare site in that we didn't have showers, but we were beside a pub so at least there were WCs. Morning came with the usual pile of bags to go on the truck - only once more for all of this.

Doug, in the meantime, saw fit to serve a gourmet breakfast to the local turkeys and chickens. And in case  you're worried about the poor turkey, apparently he/she/it is not in as much danger as he would be in Canada at this time of year - seems that Christmas is not necessarily a time for turkey...

But today, the second to last riding day, was not a riding day for Ursula and Rae... Bob Edwards from earlier on the trip (Aussie - lives in Sydney) had come down with his wife, Margaret, joined us for a TdA dinner in the camp last night, and picked us up a little after everybody else, baggage truck included, had left. We started with a visit to one of the beaches near Nowra and found a bicycle-friendly café for our morning coffee.

Initial intent was then to visit the Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm Museum at Nowra followed by some activities that would be of more interest to the ladies. after which Bob had arranged through some of his connections a visit to HARS - the Historic Aircraft Restoration Society - and its fleet of flying vintage aircraft. Our timetable was upset by an electrical outage at the Fleet Air Arm Museum that significantly delayed our visit - indeed the visit would have been totally scuppered were it not for the great kindness of one of the Directors who was able to get us in. Both of these sites were absolutely marvellous. Thankfully Bob and Rae have very tolerant and understanding wives because in the end, beyond a nice lunch, they didn't get any activities that were more to their liking - we owe them one (okay... much more than just ONE). Here are a couple of aircraft that we won't see in Canada...

Fairey Gannet at the Fleet Air Arm Museum

deHavilland Australia Drover at HARS

Bob and Margaret got us back to camp in time to put up the tent and have the last campsite dinner of the excursion... tomorrow we'd ride into Sydney and the excursion would be over... that's stuff for one more blog entry...