16 October 2012 - Wilks Park, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales

It was disappointing to find the skies overcast and suggesting rain when we woke, however the rain came to nothing more than a few splashes on the windscreen as we travelled up here to Wagga Wagga.

Its only about a hundred and twenty kilometres from Albury to Wagga Wagga, travelling up on the Olympic Highway through lush flat grazing lands interspersed with bright yellow canola crops. There are few settlements on the road which runs adjacent to the Sydney – Melbourne rail line. Culcairn is the most significant with a population of 1,400, sitting at 215 metres ASL, and like the others on the line, is a small rural centre boasting a post office and large grain silos beside the rail.  The main road does actually run through Culcairn and so one gets to see the grand buildings of old, such as the stationmaster’s house, the police station, et cetera. But we did not stop here or in Henty, Yerong or The Rock that followed. At the oddly named Uranquinty, we stopped briefly and took the opportunity to read the signs that threw light on the large strange shaped buildings to the south west of the settlement. During World War II Uranquinty was a major pilot training centre so we supposed the buildings must have been hangars of some kind.

It’s not much more than another ten kilometres to Wagga Wagga, and just south we passed the entrance to the Army Defence Training Centre at Kapooka . We later learned that Wagga Wagga boasts another Defence Training Centre at Forest Hill, this one for the Australian Air Force, and the Australian Airline Pilot Academy. Perhaps the latter still utilises the operation at Uranquinty? No doubt we will discover the answer to that in time.

We came in to Wagga Wagga, through a rather dowdy untidy part of town, but arriving at the Information Centre and subsequently walking up the main street to purchase fresh bread for lunch, decided that it was quite lovely after all. The city is home to 72,000 people and is apparently the largest inland city in New South Wales. The Murrumbidgee River runs through the city before travelling on some distance to meet the Murray.

We popped into the Regional Art Gallery to see a couple of exhibitions that did not do much for me, or Chris for that matter. When we discussed how we felt about most of the work, he described it as “introspective” as well as something slightly more derogatory. So right, I thought, and like so much modern work one comes across in galleries.

The Gallery is also home to the National Art Glass Gallery which owns five hundred pieces of work, much of it out on display. We were rather ambivalent about the featured exhibition however did find some absolute treasures amongst the permanent collection. This is all shown in a special purpose gallery with the wall on one side of the two storey building, one great big window. Quite appropriate, I thought.

From here we checked out this free camp on the north side of the Murrumbidgee and found another sixteen camping parties had done the same. While it is near the approach to the most recently built bridge across the river and quite a busy road, we feel quite safe and “legal”, so here we will stay.

We went for a wander back into town, across the bridge and along the river bank. A lovely walk of about an hour to shake any cobwebs away.

It is still overcast but quite warm. Hopefully tomorrow the sun will shine on the solar panels.