2 March 2013 - Wheolo Park, Lake Forbes, Forbes, NSW

We are camped beside the long long lagoon that apparently bisects the town of Forbes. With no town map at our disposal, we came in by road from the south and were led to this spot by our Tomtom, so are really quite ignorant of our whereabouts. Since arriving we have walked a circuit of the lake but by no means to either end of the lagoon, choosing instead to cross it on two of the many bridges spanning the waterway. I did see a sign showing that there are 4.8 kilometres of walking and cycling track around this natural lagoon and I imagine we covered the greater part of it.

This morning we were away from our camp near Sutton soon after 9 am and took a direct route via back roads through to Murrumbateman. Canberra sits at the lower apex of a triangle, the top two points being Yass to the north west and Goulburn to the north east. If one were travelling through from Sydney to Melbourne, one would continue along the Hume Highway without turning south to Canberra as we did. Sutton is back up that eastern diagonal and so it made sense to cut across the triangle rather than travel the longer route down to Canberra and back up to Yass. No doubt I have confused everyone with this lengthy explanation, however it was the one I used to convince my husband that we travel the more minor roads, which were of course on par with most of NSW roads, bumpy and forever requiring maintenance despite the sealed surface.

When we were in Canberra last time, absorbing the history of the establishment of Canberra as the capital, Yass had popped up frequently being fairly central to the pastoral land all about the area. Prior to Canberra’s birth, this was the sole reason anyone would bother settling hereabouts. Today it was easy to see what brought those early settlers and their sheep to the area and why they stayed. We passed through beautiful gently rolling land all the way through to Cowra.

Reaching Yass, we parked up and walked up and down the main street as is our habit of old, bought some bread from the bakery at Woolworths, subsequently regretting it, and generally admired this lovely rural town. The population of Yass was 5,591 at the last census, many of whom these days dabble in viticulture and more modern pursuits rather than the service industries about wool growing. The town sits at an elevation of 487 metres ASL and today was catching the cold winds of autumn.

We gave the museum a miss as well as the Coma Cottage, home to the explorer Hume, who with Hovell, travelled through here back in the 1820s alerting the pastoralists to the country’s potential. For the fit, there is a fabulous walk starting at this cottage, the Hume and Hovell Walking Track, covering about 440 kilometres, following the footsteps of the explorers. Had we not another agenda, we might have stayed and done part of the walk, however Darwin calls and all that.

Close to Yass we joined the Hume Highway before turning northwards on the Lachlan Valley Way which for the first 129 kilometres runs well to the west of the Laughlan Valley through more beautiful pastoral rolling land. About twenty kilometres south of Cowra, the road passes over the low northern part of the Illunie Range and once over the top, down to Cowra which is in the wide expansive Lachlan Valley.

We pulled into a wonderful rest area at the junction of the Mid West Highway and the Lachlan Valley Way where we could have stayed the night, however it was just after midday and lunch was more on our mind. As I stepped out of the landcruiser, a great flock of galahs, more than one hundred I am sure, rose up in front of me and up into the trees; quite a spectacular sight.

Cowra has a population of 12,147 and is at an elevation of 310 metres ASL. At this lower altitude, the wind seemed less harsh, although throughout our trip today we have seen the damage caused by the winds of the past week; tree branches down everywhere.

The Information Centre is just across the road and houses an excellent mini-museum about the Big Breakout. Cowra has much to celebrate for just being a lovely rural centre, however spends most of its energy celebrating its history as a Detention and POW Camp during the Second World War and the biggest breakout in British and Australian War History. Indonesians, Italians and Japanese were detained here, the former two groups being engaged in many rural activities in the area. Once their dietary requirements were adjusted for, they fitted right in and made the most of their otherwise frustrating time. The Japanese on the other hand were humiliated by the fact they were prisoners, preferring to die for the Emperor and their families rather than be interned by the enemy. On 5 August 1944, 1,104 Japanese prisoners launched a mass escape from the camp armed with crude weapons;  235 soldiers were killed and 334 escaped only to be hunted down and returned to incarcerations before they had time to commit harikari. But those survivors had a very different experience from their Australian counterparts interned by the Japanese in South East Asia.

In the POW theatre located in the Visitors Centre, a delightfully diminutive hologram named Clare tells the story of the breakout bringing it all to a personal level. It was certainly worth the visit although we did not feel moved to drive up to the site of the prison  or any of the other tourist sites towing the caravan.

Aside from this exhibition at the Visitors Centre, there is the POW camp and Guard Tower, the Japanese War Cemetery, the Military and Migrant Camps, the Peace Bell, the Garrison Gates, the Japanese Gardens and so on and so on. As I said before, we are on a mission so did not do more than drive up the main street and back, an exercise that did little but satisfy the fact we had.

We continued north up the Lachlan Valley Highway, now through the wide flood plain and far more intensively farmed. We stopped at Gooloogong where we briefly considered staying. There is a short term camp there complete with power all for a gold coin donation. There were already about four camping  there but we decided to press on.

And so we came on to Forbes; I a little unsure whether this was the right decision. Saturday night at a rest area in the middle of town can be a problem, however it has all turned out well after all. I am sure we will be very comfortable here tonight.