26 March, 2010

Day 11 - Heading home ... :(

March 12

Firstup, we nearly forget to get our photo together, so Steve did the honours here :) Debbie ready for work, and running a bit behind schedule, too, so quick Goodbyes ...

Not as bad as it could have been, but we missed a vital turnoff to the Hume Freeway, and ended up on the Westagte Bridge ! Alright if you look straight ahead ! It's  a l-o-n-g  way up !
I think this is still on the Westgate Bridge - the sign says Toll Point. Where they charge you :)
A funny looking bridge / tunnel on the Motorway.
OK, we're on the right track - Shepparton. Although we turn off before there, to head towards Murchison, to go to Prison :)
Google maps instructions written down, just in case ...
The entrance to the Prison. You can see in the background the actual prison building. We weren't allowed to take any photos in the prison grounds, only from the road. My ancestor Jock Winter built this place back in the 1860 -70s for £76,000, and the Victorian Government bought it from the family for a Low Security Prison, not sure how long ago. Must refresh my memory again.

Typical old English style building.
Pretty self explanatory ...
The Murray River. The Victorian / NSW border - see the "dashes" down the middle LOL
Actually the middle photo shows the peak height - in 1885. Don't think it will see that height again.
This border town is called Tocumwall, and that's the renown Murray Cod - Yellow Belly, fish.
Jerilderie - the infamous Ned Kelly saga. They have lots of tin "men" on the rooves of the shops, "shooting" at each other'
This "hump" looks so strange. It is dead flat, and all you can see from the distance is this hump in the plains. It is a bridge that goes up and over the railway line. Obviously there has been loss of life here, and this was the solution.
See that speed sign ? It has a 100 speed limit over a 110. The maximum speed in NSW changed, in December 2009, state wide (pretty much, except for the Motorways) and someone had to go around and put these 100s over every sign ! What a job !
A shop one of my cousins / great uncles used to own, until fairly recent times.
Looks like they knew we were coming to town ... It was a RBT testing vehicle, just down from where we were staying. This is where we got the sad news that Debbie and Pauls doggie, our beloved "mate", Bucky, had passed away suddenly. We were shocked, to say the least, and all I wanted to do was go back ...I don't think it would have hit so hard if we hadn't of seen him that morning, seemingly perfectly healthy ... :(

So, as we travel, we see some strange vehicles ... we thought of Anne-Marie and Ken, when we saw this one ....

More tomorrow, when we go on to the Zoo at Dubbo ...
Bye for now ... hope you are enjoying the journey so far ...

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