Friday 29 August 2014

Age of Fishes Museum at Canowindra NSW




Canowindra is a small town by the Belubula River. It is another place that has got a main street lined with heritage listed buildings. It also is known as the ‘hot-air-ballooning capital of Australia'. However, we had not actually planned a trip to Canowindra, but just taken an alternative route back from Cowra. This took us through Canowindra to Orange and then back to Bathurst. When we were near Canowindra there were tourist signs for the 'Age of Fishes Museum' and wondered what it could be.

We had not seen any leaflets at the information centre in Bathurst about this one. As we got into town, we saw the sign but rejected the idea of going to it. But as we followed the road out of town, it took us right in front of the museum. We took this as a sign to stop and visit.



Oh Boy! What a wonderful surprise and pleasure it was to visit this Age of Fishes Museum. The only one of its kind in the world! Some 360 million years ago in the Devonian period the earliest fishes appeared - fish with armour shells, fish with lungs, and huge predators with jaws like crocodiles. Thousands of strange-looking armoured fish perished in a freshwater billabong as it dried up during a severe drought. They were concentrated in a small area and quickly covered with sediment which hardened to rock. Making a wonderful fossil that is preserved for posterity. 







The history of the first discovery is interesting. The museum has an outdoor display explaining the ages of Earth’s evolution. You can have a hand-held audio device that provides information as you move along the exhibits. An entirely informative and pleasant visit and more should be done to educate and publicise this museum.


Thursday 28 August 2014

A stroll around Bathurst




Bathurst is one of the oldest inland settlements and is also a gold rush town with colonial buildings and grand old homes built for the wealthy. The population is around 40,000. The roads form a grid pattern and easy to walk around the town. It is situated on the Macquarie River and Kelso (which was the initial settlement of Bathurst) is on the other side of the bridge. 

Since there are so many old buildings, conserving them is a must. The museums and war memorials and parks are really beautiful. My main pleasure is seeing the varied architecture. There is also a race track called Mount Panorama that overlooks the town. There are leaflets that take you on different tours of the town and I shall just take you along with the pictures as I walked from the starting point of the Railway Station.

 Railway Station at the top of Keppel Street


Victorian era hotel


Victoria era shops and decorative facades
 

 Brooke Moore Centre 1852. Eddwardian upper storey added in 1900

 Methodist Uniting Church in Gothic revival style

 Australian Mutual Provident Society (AMP Building)


 Court House

 Historial Society Museum


 Memorial Museum

 Bathurst War Memorial Carillon

 Surveyor Evans - surveyed route from Penrith to Bathurst 1813


 Boer War Soilder

 Trocadero dance hall 1937 - George Street

 Opposite Machattie Park - George Street

 Fountain in Machattie Park

Victorian Filigree House



 1876 Public School

Williams Street


 Ambulance Station


 Water fountains in front of Ambulance Station

 Logan Brae

 William Street
William Street

St. Stanislav College


You can drive around the race track but only at 60kmph. Thats fast enough when you see the hairpin bends at farily steep slopes. This is an open road and there is a vineyard and some houses. Indeed at dusk we saw a whole gang of Roos hanging about.

Part of the race track

 At the sign you see in the above photograph

Panoramic view from Mount Panorama





Tuesday 26 August 2014

The Japanese Gardens of Cowra




Cowra is in the Lachlan Valley and had a rich Aboriginal as well as European history. There is a major focus this year on the centenary celebrations of World War II in Cowra, as there was a major Japanese POW camp here and the visitor guide provided details of this. While there is a lot of see in the town we were there specifically for the gardens. 

Cowra of the 1940s was a typical middle-sized Australian town, with a small population of 3000 people. It was a site of a major prisoner of war camp for mostly Japanese and Italian prisoners. The majority of the Italians had been captured in the Middle East, while the Japanese had been fighting in and around the islands immediately north of Australia. The Japanese planned and carried out a major break out from the camp and it took days for all of them to be recaptured. In 1979, the Japanese gardens were opened as a Centre of Japanese Cultural Heritage in Australia

Painted Rhino at the entrance



Sculpture at the entrance

Close up of the granite.

 The Geologist insited on a close up!


Bamboos



Stone Lantern to keep evil out.

The gardens are beautiful with a lovely mix of Japanese style, flora and Australian flora. Even though this visit was in winter time, there were flowers and green bushes between bare trees. The information centre is helpful and provides guided tours, leaflet that identifies each plant by name and number (plant guide) and also an audio device to listen to history and information at particular marked spots. 




The Magnolia Blooms

Listening to the audio guide 

There is a small Japanese house - Edo - to show a sample of building style. The next few pictures are from inside this edo. The house is simple with minimal furniture, a couple of rooms and a bathroom.




As you move past the house and on to the gardens, there are bare trees and blosoming mangolias. There is a man made lake in front that is fed water by a cascading waterfall and creek. There are couple of bridges that one can cross over. There were few ducks living there and also carp but did not get to glimpse the fish as the water was a little murky.



















Edo and its surroundings

The path winds around the gardens and takes you up to the rocky outcrop and wonder views surrounding the gardens. The boulders allow for small flowering plants to grow around them. 



Outdoor Bonsai

Lake with an outdoor seating shelter in the distance




 Crossing Bridge and a Stone Lantern in the lake





 Cherry Blossoms emerging early 



Wonderful Gums
















 This is a plant called 'Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow'



There is a small enclosed nursery with some real beautiful bonsais. I would love to be able to grow bonsais but for some reasons have never managed to. I have given up after 3 attempts as it saddens me to see the plant wither and die.









 Ducks sunning themselves in the lake

 Yet another Stone Lantern



The owl wind chimes are beautiful

The tour of the gardens ends here an now we are off home......




Its good bye from the Galahs
 
Its good bye from the ducks
And its good bye from us.