After a day spent with old friends in Canberra, visiting the Botanic Gardens and Floriade, we went back to the hotel and scrubbed up for the main dinner function of the reunion. It was held at the very nice Hellenic Club where we had a banquet in the Ginseng Restaurant.
We all met in the foyer of the Hellenic Club. It is 50 years since we all attended ASOPA* to study to become teachers in Papua/New Guinea and the Northern Territory. We easily picked up our friendshp like it was only yesterday.
Soon we adjourned upstairs to the restaurant where we had a delicious meal and loads more reminiscing.
The next morning we awoke to dull, rainy weather and freezing temperatures and this is supposed to be Spring. We had our last activity of the reunion which was a farewell breakfast at "The Oaks Brasserie" at Yarralumla Nursery and then we all said our goodbyes before dispersing to different corners of Australia.
We had planned to drive further south and visit The Snowy Mountains where I was going to climb to the top of our tallest mountain, Mt Kosiuzsko (not a difficult climb) and TOH* wanted to check out the amazing engineering project of the "Snowy Mountain Scheme"where the river was made to change direction and flow inland to irrigate the plains instead of flowing out to sea. There were many tunnels, dams and hydro power stations built too.
However, when we awoke to freezing temperatures and snow on the hills around Canberra, we changed our mind and headed north west towards the sun. We decided to take country roads back to Brisbane and stop and explore country towns on the way. I hope you enjoy the trip with us.
Naturally, first stop was the coffee shop. It was still very cold and the warmth inside was welcomed. It was a lovely little cafe and library in the town of Yass. Yass is a clean and well preserved little town with some very attractive old buildings still in use today. The population around Yass is made up of quite well off cattle and sheep farmers.
*ASOPA= Australian School of Pacific Administration.
*TOH= The other half
