WEDNESDAY WAS QUITE A DAY

TRAVELLING ALONG THE HUME HIGHWAY
(Now that I am in Oz, I observe the the non-American spelling)

I departed Canberra early (7:30 AM) for Albury-Wodonga, the Twin Cites straddling the Murray River, the one in New South Wales and the other in Victoria, heading back to the Hume Highway. First stop was a small town called Jugiong (Aboriginal name meaning, ‘valley of the crows’), set in a beautiful valley and the location of The Long Track Café and Bakery where I hoped for coffee and small pastry. Alas, I arrived before the opening time of 10 AM and contented myself with a Pink Lady apple from the small fresh fruit and vegetables/wine shop next door. Mmmm…quite the most delicious apple I have eaten for many a day. Here is a photo of a typical Oz homestead overlooking the valley

All this meant that I had to stop by the café five miles from Gundagai (where the Dog sits on the Tucker Box). Here, at the Bill the Bullocky's Roadhouse, I indulged in a Devonshire Tea. Rather than take tea, I elected a café late to have with the two fresh scones, strawberry jam, and cream. Australia is a land where one can buy an excellent version of espresso just about anywhere. For Americans reading this, an Aussie scone (pronounced ‘skon’) is rather like a biscuit (English readers will know that I am not referring to what in America is called a 'cookie'), but lighter and somewhat sweeter. The way to eat Devonshire tea scones is to split them in two, spread first with strawberry jam, and then with the whipped cream…absolutely delicious, as many things invented in Devon are.

A song from the wartime has an Aussie soldier (a ‘Digger’) dreaming of his girlfriend,
'Oh, my Mabel waits for me,
Underneath the clear blue sky,
Where the dog sits on the tucker box,
Five miles from Gundagai…’

The story originates from the days when bullock teams hauled heavy loads through The Bush. Nowadays the dog is still there though his master, a bullocky, is long dead, immortalized as a statue still on a tucker box. Since the last time I stopped by to visit The Dog, he has been placed at the centre of a small fountain, so if he wants to leave, he will first have to swim a little.

Then it was on to Wodonga to meet up with Karl, my eldest grandchild’s father. We had lunch and then went out to visit with his father, Wal, who has to be close to the most remarkable man I have ever met. At the end of the day, a heavy storm arrived and we ate steaks while the deluge thundered on the roof and the sky performed its terrifying dance.


Wal lives 0n 100 acres just outside Wodonga, off the road that leads to the snowfields. Earlier in the afternoon, sipping an occasional beer, we drove in his 4-wheel drive up along the fire track he had cut along the ridge bordering his land to look out along the valley, across to the Hume Weir (one of the great dams in the Snowy River Scheme, Australia' version of the TVA). I was impressed by an old tree, much abused by the weather, that continually oversees this beautiful landscape.

More later from Oz.