My First Car: Datsun 120Y

This photo shows my first car – a Datsun 120Y. It’s shown here parked out the front of my mother’s house back in the day – at Stratford near Gloucester in New South Wales, Australia.

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Pies

I don’t mind a good pie – there just aren’t too many places where you can get a decent one these days. These I got from Thompson’s Bakery at Raymond Terrace – cheese and bacon cocktail pies, or party pies if you prefer. I know you can get good pies at both Bulahdelah and Gloucester (normal size), while these smaller ones are pretty good at the Terrace. Other than that I wouldn’t rave about any others nearby. I would also say the same for the sausage rolls by the way.

I suppose it’s a good thing as it prevents me from buying a lot of them and piling on the weight.

Rocky Crossing – Enjoying a Dip

This photo was taken at Rocky Crossing near the New South Wales town of Gloucester, in Australia. I’m cooling down after a hot day one Australian summer on a causeway.

Stroud Parade

ABOVE: View from Silo Hill

 

Today was the first day of my annual leave allottment (technically it starts Monday) and so I decided to get out and do something. The Stroud International Brick and Rolling Pin Throwing Competition seeemed to be the thing to do today. So I decided I would offer my mother and her husband a seat in the car and head off to Stroud. Turned out only my mother would be coming. Disappointingly the day was wet and miserable – a typical Australian winter’s day I guess. Still, we thought we would go and have a look anyway.

 

ABOVE: Stroud House

 

We arrived at Stroud just as the main street was being closed for the parade. So we got our park and headed into the centre of town to gain a reasonable vantage point, with the option of some shelter should the weather turn especially bad. We got our place easy enough. Stroud was fairly packed for the event, but not as much as I thought it may have been – the weather probably kept many away. Still, a pretty good turn out.

So off they went, a whole menagerie of marchers in the big parade. It was an odd bunch, some seemingly out of tune with the country in which they marched and the context of the town. Everyone was having a ball, particularly the kids who seemed to be the targets of the often thrown lollies and sweets that were being hurled from the floats and marching rag tag line of marchers. There were North American Indians, whip crackers, witches and wizards, some rather fat ballerina types (pictured) and many other odd characters. There were also the police (representing 150 years of police work), firemen, SES and other services – even church floats, a debutante ball float, school groups – as it went on and on for some time. There were musical groups, including a couple of groups of Scottish bands and a ukulele group.

 

ABOVE: The Ballerinas BELOW: Marching Police

ABOVE: Debutante Float

 

Having attended the march we decided to not stay as the weather was rolling in again. We took a quick trip up to Silo Hill to enjoy the view and headed back to Gloucester.

Carson’s Lookout

Today’s daily is a bit of a stretch I think you could say. By that I mean, it is stretching it to define the post as a single photo/video. It is really a single slideshow, which sort of looks a bit like a video I suppose.

Anyhow, the slideshow is just a few photos taken at Carson’s Lookout on the Thunderbolt’s Way, between Gloucester and Walcha in New South Wales, Australia. The photos were taken on my ‘Waterfalls Tour 2010’ holiday last week.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinmatthews/sets/72157625448890347/show/

Taking a Break at Rocky Crossing

This photo was taken not long after the trip to Orange (see photos from the last few days). We stopped at Gloucester and visited Rocky Crossing for a quick cooling dip. Here I am really having a break.

 

Crossing Over

This photo is another from the slides that I managed to salvage from my grandfather’s collection. I have simply called it ‘crossing over.’ Why? Because my cousin Michael and I are crossing over a bridge. Quite simple really.

I am not entirely sure where this photo was taken, but it does resemble an old bridge that once crossed a stream as you headed into the Barrington Tops from Gloucester, in New South Wales, Australia. Perhaps someone will recognise the location and either confirm or correct me on that.

I am the smaller of the two boys in the photo. My cousin Michael is on the left of the photo.