Now some other news before I write about my day trip to Canberra today. There are annual events that are still going strong and other annual events that have been cancelled permanently or postponed.
Last year was the first year the annual Beams Art Festival was permanently cancelled after 5 years. I was very disappointed as I like to attend the Beams Art Festival the night before the Blackmores Running Festival each year.
This year I will not be travelling to Melbourne for the annual City2Sea Run in November as this annual event has also been cancelled permanently due to lack of local community support. I was notified via an email today. The annual City2Sea was the sister event to the City2Surf in Sydney although it did not have the same ring to it and was always know as the "party" race as it was the last run of the year and so close to Christmas. It has also only been an annual race for a decade or so compared to the City2Surf which has been a major annual running event since the 1970's. I will have to find another race to replace it.
Then there is the postponed annual Blue Mountains Winter Festival which I actually had to confirm via an email that it was actually not going ahead this year due to some websites advising that it was still going ahead. This was due to this annual festival becoming too large and popular but there has been promotion of the return of the festival in 2019 already.
One event I have already locked in is the annual Blackmores Running Festival in September this year - The 10 km Bridge Run.
Other events I plan to attend this year and I am quite excited is the return of the Cake Bake and Sweet Show hopefully both in Melbourne and Sydney after their absence last year ( yes another cancelled annual event but hopefully only temporarily) . It was replaced last year by a not so popular Sweet Magazine Expo which I attended both in Sydney and Melbourne ( refer my previous blogs) - aparently poor Cake Bake and Sweet Show organisers were hounded by very angry attendees who went to the Sweet Expos complaining how disappointed it was when they had nothing to do with the event . I also think the organisers of the annual Cake Bake and Sweet Show were also hounded on Facebook about why they didn't run the event last year and to bring it back and so they have - Yay!!!
OK back to my day trip to Canberra for a family event. My brother, father and I drove down to Canberra leaving around 8.30 am this morning and arriving in Canberra around noon. I don't drive therefore usually take the train or bus from Sydney to Canberra but prefer the train. My brother drove and used his GPS and we made several toliet stops along the way for my father.
The scenery is very different by car verses rail. The train allows to to get quite a close up view of the huge turbines on a wind farm whereas you only get a very distant view of the turbines and wind farm via the road. In front of the wind farm is vast spans of land which just look like a baren paddock to me but my brother kept insisting that this was once full of water - he called it Lake George. I am unsure if he is correct. Does anyone reading my blog know? On the other side of the road nearby there are vineyards.
photo below
I didn't take many photos as there wasn't much to see at the rest or service stops we stopped off at.
Some rest stops didn't even have a toliet others had a hole in the ground with no running water (typical me I packed wipes and tissues and a bottle of water). Everytime my brother stopped at one of these the next rest or service stop had full facilities including a service station and food outlets!
One of the rest stops we stopped at - nothing to see here.
Arrived in Canberra (we did not stop at The Big Merino or Goulburn as the Highway now bypasses it)
First stop was to find the Southern Cross Club near the Jamison Centre to meet up with one or two of our cousins - I spotted the sign to Jamison Centre on the left so my brother had to make his first lane correction as we were in one of the right lanes and about to turn right following the GPS. Next we had to find the Southern Cross Club - I spotted it on the right - another lane correction. Into another outdoor parking lot around the Centre in Belconnen. Finally we arrive and I spot my cousin outside the Southern Cross Club.
Next after a quick coffee stop at the club and catch up onto our next stops.
Blue Gum Chapel - no idea where this was but we were tailing one of my cousins cars to get there.
Onto our next destination Gungahlin Cemetery.
By now you may have guessed the reason for my day trip down to Canberra with my brother and father - in loving memory of our aunt and my father's older sister known as Mary Lee
Another passing which makes it for me one passing or funeral each year for the past 6 or 7 years. Another sad occassion.
It was good to reunite with my family again - you learn a lot about them. One thing was everyone wanted to know how my family tree was going - at the moment nowhere , I started it many years ago but stopped as I became too busy.
Other things I learnt were
1. My aunt that passed away has the same birthday as my younger sister.
2. One of my nephews in Canberra now has a one year old daughter who is so cute and in China with her mum at the moment - which makes my aunt that passed away a great grand mother.
3. My brother shot gunned his 4 wheel drive in Cape York and someone videoed it and uploaded it onto YouTube which had over 100 000 views. My brother could have killed himself if the vehicle he was driving in flipped and all he could tell me about was how all the food in the back of his 4 wheel drive tipped out and hit him on the head especially the potatoes! You could see he had no way of climbing out of his vehicle and someone had to push him out. The risk taking younger brother I had no idea about! I told him he might as well show his cousins.
3. One of my cousins works for Australia Post and has been for quite a few years now and seems to know ALL the gossip there - I dare not ask her where all my missing mail is though! (refer all my previous blogs about my missing mail)
4. I have a very good long term memory - my brother had no idea of who 80% of our relatives were and I had to introduce them to him. All 4 of our first cousins have grown up kids which makes me an aunt to them all. I have met most of them and remember who they are and advised my brother of who they are as he had no idea. My brother boldly goes up to 4 of his nieces and nephews and introduces himself to them with " That's uncle to you guys!"
5. My cousin in law has the same name as my uncle (my dad's brother) however he has always been known by his surname.
There are probably many other things I found out about my relatives, the above are just some of them - some family tree this is going to be!
Final stop of the day was a late sit down lunch of fingerfoods such as assorted sandwiches, spring rolls, prawn twists, battered fish cocktails and deep fried chicken kiev balls at the Gungahlin Lakes Golf Club on 110 Gundaroo Drive Nicholls ACT before departing Canberra back to Sydney.
GPS turned off - it was just one straight road all the way back to Sydney leaving Canberra around 5 pm with only 1 essential service stop to refuel, pick up a drink and toliet break along the way. We could not figure out how to exit off at the first service stop along the Highway which was up on the hill quite a distance from the Highway therefore stopped off at the next one. No holes in the ground dunnies this time which is just as well as it was getting very dark very early - by 6.30 pm it was as dark as it is at 9 pm - this is why we have daylight savings. You wouldn't want to fall down the hole or get bitten by a spider! Even worse encounter a snake looking for somewhere warm to hide in as the temperature did drop that night from a daylight high of 31 degrees c to a night time low of around 12 degrees c.
My father had fallen asleep after the service stop and we arrived home by 8.30 pm. It was still another 30 minutes before my brother would arrive back to his home.
End of a big day. Preparations for work tomorrow.
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