ToyVoyagers - Travelling Toys - Little Things on Big Adventures

Well, we're finally here... this is Canowindra (Ka-noun-dra), a small town with only 1,200 people. Very small, but yet, quite a well known little town and you'll find out why a little later...

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...as you can see the main street looks very old, again with the very old buildings. These are quite common for all over Australia, even in the cities like Sydney you'll find areas that look very similar to this... although usually not as small as some of the towns you find in this area...

First things first, Sara had to get one of the mystery shops done, they went to Westpac (one of the banks) and rated the service and deposited some money into an account which she will get back... now that that's done it's time to do a bit of roaming around this little town...

First thing we came to this information sign... because the writing is so small Sara will just type it out in case you want to read a bit about what Canowindra is all about....

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Canowindra is in Wiradjuri country and Canowindra and Belubula are Wiradjuri words. The fertile lands of the Belubula River increasingly attracted European pastoralists after the foundation of Bathurst in 1815. To stem the tide of settlement, Nineteen Counties were proclaimed in 1829 and the Belubula River, after survey in 1834, became the boundary of the County of Bathurst with no settlement permitted north of the river.

In 1829, the first land grant, Canowindra was a 640 acre block promised to James Collits. This block later passed to Thomas Icely and a site for a village was reserved adjoining the 640 acres where traffic forded the river at the site of the present Swinging Bridge. In the expansion of settlement westward, Canowindra became the next frontier town after Bathurst and Carcoar, serving traffic to the Lower Lachlan. In 1844, a public pound was proclaimed on the village reserve and in 1846 Thomas Icely had a mud hotel, the Travellers Rest, and a store built on his land, well sited to serve traffic routes converging at the ford.

In November 1846, Governor FitzRoy crossed the flooded Belubula on his tour of the 'unsettled districts' where disputes had arisen over land occupancy. After FitzRoy's tour, land regulations were altered to allow more permanent settlement beyond the boundaries of the Nineteen Counties. In 1847, the first Canowindra Post Office opened in the store next to the inn. In 1852, William Robinson bought from Icely the 640 acres and became licensee of the inn.

Events of the 1860's changed the fortunes of Canowindra, bypassed by traffic routes to the new gold rush town of Forbes. In 1860, the village reserve was surveyed into building blocks but few sold as the township was growing on private land north of the river. In 1860, William Robinson died suddenly and his son, William II, leased the south-side inn and by 1862 had moved over the river to be licensee of the north-side Canowindra Inn, where he was mine host in the eventful year of 1863 when the hotel was held up three times by bushrangers, Benn Hall and gang. As hotels were often referred to by the name of the licensee, it is easy to understand the confusion that arose over the site of Robinson's Inn of 1863 bushranger fame, which was not the old mud Travellers Rest south of the Belubula but the Canowindra Inn on the north-side near the site of the present Royal Hotel.

The development of the Canowindra township was further interrupted by a minor gold rush, beginning in 1868, at nearby Belmore (Moorbel), when businesses moved or opened there, threatening to overshadow Canowindra as the commercial centre. The government reserved a strip of north-side land with access to the river, bounded by present Tilga and Rodd Streets, known as the 'government town'. The first bridge over the Belubula was built in 1874 on its western boundary and the Church of England and government services, school, police and court house, were granted land there.

Canowindra Goldfield, proclaimed in 1879, included a square mile reserve centered on Belmore's Blue Jacket Hill which excluded the 'private town' of Canowindra but included South Canowindra. Modest homes, built there for miners, later became the homes of Lucerne workers as lucerne became the district's 'green gold'. The elevated building sites in the old Canowindra Village Reserve are now highly sought.

Now moving on, we came upon a small museum that looked to be closed... it had a lot of older farming equipment outside but the gate was padlocked so we couldn't have a look at all... oh well maybe next time... :-)

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...although right outside the museum was a lot of these plaques....

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...Sara wasn't quite sure what they were, but figured they were put there to commemorate the original settlers to this area, the main families that lived here as it went over who the people were, their names, where they lived, how many kids they had... quite interesting to read some of them. One of them said this guy had 14 kids with one wife, and 7 kids with another! Wow, that's a lot of children!...

Right near the museum was another information sign, again it's going to be small so if your interested feel free to read below... Sara will type it out... it's about Canowindra's Railway History...

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Need for railway: Agitation for a railway to Canowindra began in the 1880's. The district proved ideal for primary production as land was cleared for agriculture and closer settlement. Access to markets was crucial. Rail had reached Cowra via the Great Southern Line in 1885. Completion of the railway bridge over the Lachlan River and the Blayney to Cowra line in 1887 made the Great Western Line a reality. Cross country link lines were always the vision of the Railway Engineer-in-Chief of New South Wales, John Whitton, but routes proposed were controversial. The line from Orange to Forbes, completed in 1893, offered hope for a link from Cowra through Canowindra.

Canowindra Line Approved: The Cowra to Canowindra Railway Act was passed on 15 December 1908 and land resumptions began for construction which quickly followed the turning of the first sod at Cowra West on 11 January 1909. A parcel of land in Canowindra from Blatchford to Clyburn Streets was resumed for railway use and site layout plans were prepared by Assistant Engineer, John J C Bradfield, who went on to design the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

Extention to Eugowra: The long-promised 26 mile line extention to Eugowra opened on 11 December 1922. Although the Canowindra to Gregra Railway Act was passed in May 1924 to link with the Parkes-Forbes line, it was never built (Grega was a siding near Manildra).

Grand Opening and Growth of Town: On 4 July 1910, the 23 mile branch line was opened with a great ceremony. The official party arrived with 800 people on a thirteen carriage train from Cowra. Two WELCOME arches were erected with pylons of lucerne bales and bags of wheat.

The railway terminus was a tremendous boost to the town. Prior to 1900, Canowindra's population hovered around 400. By 1911, it had risen to 1,500 and continued to rise until slowed by World War 1. The railway brought businesses to the western side of town and new commercial buildings were erected in the dog-leg main street. Mill Street was surveyed for two flour mills.

In 1927 a rail motor service replaced steam-hauled passenger trains. The 'Tin Hare', as the rail motor was affectionately known, proved a return service on wee days from Cowra to Eugowra for over thirty years. Pupils from Billimari could travel daily to school in Canowindra and the driver would stop to pick them up at unscheduled stops near their homes. Families with small dairies loaded their cream cans on the motor train for delivery to the Butter Factory in Canowindra. By 1970 diesel-electric locomotives had replaced steam on goods trains.

Decline of Rail Services and Site use: Land between Blatchford Street and the stationmaster's house was early given over for a town park and the Historical Society opened a museum in the park in 1970. Rail services to Canowindra gradually dwindled as better roads and motor transport reduced demand. The passenger station was closed on 10 August 1974 but goods trains continued until 10 October 1991 when the last government train hauled wheat from the silo. The Lachlan Valley Railway Society leased the line for limited passenger and grain services until 1995.

Meanwhile, the station house was brought, restored and opened in 1988 as part of the Historical Society Museum complex. From 1993 Canowindra Lions Club leased land near the passenger builing as a park. Part of this lease was acquired in 1996 to build the Age of Fishes Museum. Floods in 2001 damaged the Cucumber Creek Bridge rendering the line impassable and future use uncertain.

Now they mentioned something at the end there which caught Sara's eye as they were driving more down the main street... the Age of Fishes Museum...

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...now Sara's a bit of a sucker for fossils and ancient stuff so of course we made a stop at this museum in question and had a bit of a look around...

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...first thing we did after paying the admissions to enter is we watched a short little video it talked about the major fish fossils that have been found in this area, some that are extremely old dating back before the dinosaurs even, and some fish getting as big as 5 metres long in length. Canowindra is huge for this fossils of these ancient fish, the video mainly talked about a time when there must have been a huge rainfall so the river broke and made huge billabong's. Then over a few days the billabong dried up and all the fish died as they were stuck... this is where all these fish fossils are mainly found... here's a bit of information more on these ancient fish before we move onto the fossils...

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What Would Canowindra Have Looked Like?
360 million years ago, the area around Canowindra would have looked very different from today. The map above shows some of the main features of the Canowindra area back then -
-a coastline that is near where the town of Muswellbrook is now.
-a large river basin, with highlands on either side
-lots of green vegetation along the river system, with the rest of the land like a desert.
Over time, the Canowindra highlands were eroded away by wind and rain, creating sediments that washed down into the river basin. When compacted together, these sediments made the fine, hard sandstone and shales which are now found in the Canowindra area.

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What Was The Earth Like Back Then?
For most of the Earth's early history, it's land has been like a desert with hardly any vegetation. During the Devonian Period (410-354 million years ago), the rocks and sand were stained red by oxidised iron (rust). Early plants grew on the land, such as mosses and fersns, and some even grew up to 30m tall. But, because they needed water for their spores to germinate, plants only grew close to water. This made the rivers, lakes and billabongs rich, green places in stark contrast to the dry, desert-like land.

The main animals living on the dry land were invertebrate, such as insects, centipedes, millipedes, spiders and scorpions while they rivers, lakes and billabongs and seas were filled with fishes.

The Devonian Period is often called the "Age of the Fishes" because it was a time when the fishes spread all over the Earth and lived in every kind of aquatic environment. All the major groups of fishes were living during the Devonian Period, but the most common were the placoderms and sarcopterygians.

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Was Canowindra Always On Dry Land?
500 million years ago, the area that was to become Canowindra was deep below the ocean. By 400 million years ago, it was under shallow water and by 360 million years ago, the time that the Canowindra fishes lived and died it had become dry land.

Throughout time, the coastline of eastern Australia has always been changing. Tectonic activity (movement of the rocky plates of the Earth's surface) created volcanic activity on the edge of the continent. This in turn created more rock, adding to the existing land area and making the seas off the coast of Eastern Australia shallower. The tectonic activity also lifted parts of the sea floor so high that they became dry land.

Over time, rivers flowing towards the east carried large amounts of sediment which settled in the shallow seas, filling them up and creating even more land. And so, over millions of years, the land area grew and the coastline moved further and further to the East.

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How Big Was The Billabong?
The billabong in which the Canowindra fishes lived was quite big. A billabong is a semi-permanent waterhole that is linked to a river. This billabong was part of a huge river system that flowed through the Canowindra area during the Devonian Period. The site containing the fossils is about 10m across, but the original billabong would have been much bigger to support more than 3,500 fishes (the approximate number of fossil fishes found) plus other animals and plants.

Also, there are no fossils of plants or invertebrates with the fossil fishes, so this suggests that the fishes died in the central and deepest part of the billabong away from the edges where plants grew. So the original billabong may have been 100m or more in width.

...so were almost ready to move onto see the fossils, first we got to learn how the fossils were discovered and a bit of history about that...

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How Were the Fossils Discovered?
First... In 1955, a slab of rock with hundreds of strange shapes on it was dug up by a bulldozer driver working on a road about 10kms away from Canowindra. Because it was unusual, the driver placed the slab at the side of the road where it was seen by a local beekeeper, Mr. Bill Simpson, in 1956 and reported to the Australian Museum in Sydney.

The slab was covered with fossils of ancient fishes from the Devonian Period (410-354 million years ago). Harold Fletcher, a palaeontologist (a scientist who discovers fossils) at the Australian Museum, was so impressed with these fossils that he arranged for the slab to be taken to the Australian Museum in 1956 to be studied and put on display.

The large scaly fish at the centre of the slab was found to be a completely new species never seen before. It was named Canowindra Grossi. Many of the other fossils were of small armored fishes which had already been found in other parts of the world, but the Canowindra fossils were some of the best fossils of these ever found.

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Then... Dr Alex Ritchie, the Museum's new palaeontologist, identified some broken fossils of another species of fish called Groenlandaspis on the slab. Dr Ritchie was interested in studying more fossils of Groenlandaspis so he visited the road near Canowindra (where the slab was found) six times between 1973 and 1990 to search for more fossils of Groenlandaspis.

But without earth-moving equipment Dr Ritchie did not find any more fossils. In 1993, after hearing a talk about the fossil fishes by Dr Ritchie, the Canowindra Rotary Club arranged for Cabonne Shire Council to provide earth-moving equipment for a few days to search for more fossils under the road.

Within three hours, dozens of slabs of rock had been uncovered with hundreds of fossil fishes on them, including an example of a very large ancient fish later named Mandageria. A larger excavation was carried out in July 1993with the help of many local volunteers. More than 3,500 fossils were found.

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The Future... before the excavation was due to finish in 1993 and the road put back in place, Dr Ritchie uncovered one huge slab of rock with six perfectly preserved fossils of large fishes lying side by side. Dr. Ritchie was able to make a latex peel of one of the fossils before the road had to be put back in place on top of them. The six fossils and many others are still waiting underground for the time when there are enough funds to reposition the road and reopen the excavation site.

...before we visited the fossils we had a look at some of the cool fishes they had on show, although the first two aren't alive they're still pretty cool.... the first is called a silver perch and the second is a small shark called a Port Jackson shark. :-)

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...and there was two alive fish there too... one was hiding so we couldn't see it but the other was a fish that lives now that very much resembles one of the ancient fishes called the Saratoga...

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Saratoga look similar to the fossil fish Gooloogongia. Saratoga live in tropical rivers in Australia and have thin, needle-like teeth and a strongly upturned jaw. They feed on insects that fall onto water's surface and hunt for small fishes and invertebrates underwater. The fossil fish Gooloogongia also have thin, needle-like teeth and a strongly upturned jaw, so perhaps they caught food in similar ways to saratoga.

Not all sarcopterygians had needle-like teeth. Others, like Cabonnichthys and Mandageria, had strong, cone-shaped sharp teeth like modern salt-water crocodiles. They could have used their strong teeth and jaws to attack other large fishes and perhaps to crush the armored plates of placoderms.

Now that we know all about why Canowindra was put on the map so to speak, it's time to visit the fossils we've read so much about...

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...as you can see there are quite a few in a very small area, and this is only a section of the fossils that have been found. You can't really tell but there were some HUGE fish among those fossils...

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You can read a little bit about those tiny little fish found in the fossils, they were kind of cute weren't they? They were pretty dang small as compared to some of the other fish seen in these fossils. It's amazing to think about what lived in that time so long ago... this visit was so much fun, I learned a lot about Australia's history and the history of what lived here way before the dinosaurs, who knew today would be that fascinating... I hope you found it as fascinating as me... now it's about time to move on... time to get ready and go home...

On the way home, we passed by a huge field of purple flowers... they seem quite pretty don't they?

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Sadly this flower is called Pattersons Curse it's one of the big reasons that Australia has such strict laws about what is brought in and out of the country... Australia is the world's largest island (continent) and therefore when things come in, they stay in... a long time ago this lady brought in what's known today as Patterson's Curse because she wanted it in her garden. Now, every Spring it pops up, it's a weed that kills a lot of stuff and causes massive hay fever for a lot of people this time of year. It's found in a lot of paddocks and you can find it anywhere and every where. Thankfully Sara doesn't have the hay fever that most people suffer from when they're around the plant but she knows how bad it can get... pretty nasty...

...almost out of the area now, and we drove by some bright yellow flowers... instead these aren't so bad...

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...these are the Australian canola fields, as you can see there's quite a bit there... it's a very pretty site actually with the mountains the background and everything... :-)

Well, that was a big BIG day... time for a rest, rain is forecast this weekend... yay! It was getting quite hot already I'm ready for a bit of a cool down... I'll write again soon!

foreigncandle Posted Jul 23, 2008, 9:43 pm	Well, my journey shall begin soon! Right now I'm sitting in my hut waiting to be shipped off to Australia! Isn't that exciting!? I'm anxious to go on a plane again! I don't really remember my plane ride from Florida to Massachusetts a few years ago, so this is going to be thrilling (and I love thrills!). I should be on my way by the end of next week (hopefully) so check back to see how I'm doing!
foreigncandle Posted Jul 24, 2008, 1:46 am	Well, I've finally been tagged! Mom had to piece my ear today. That's okay though, because I'm a big boy! It didn't hurt at all and now I don't have to worry about losing my identity in the wild! Mom had originally written on my tag but that wasn't good enough because the tag already had text on it! She loves me dearly and doesn't want me to get lost. I think it's fashionable - what do you think? Tomorrow Mom said that we might go shopping. Doesn't that sound fun? A trip to the library might be in order as well. I'm looking forward to it!
foreigncandle Posted Jul 26, 2008, 11:14 pm	The plan to go to the library didn't work, but today Mom and I went to RiteAid to get a money order for grandma. We took my great aunt's car and had a crazy time! Here I am in front of my house, waiting to pull away. Driving. It was a long road. Not one, not two, but THREE motorcycles passed me! I was a little scared, but Mom reassured me. We ended up hitting a red light, which made me a little impatient. Entering Boston! The sign is a little blurry - blame Mom. Another red light? You're KIDDING me! Time to get some gas! Mom cut me out of this by accident, but you can see part of my little ear. Stuck at a red light on the way to RiteAid. Uh oh, hit a little bit of traffic at the stop sign! Finally made it to the stop sign. Yay, we're here!!! Well, that was fun. Bye RiteAid Going back to Milton Gee, Mom, could you zoom in on my face just a LITTLE more? Hehe. Home sweet home I had a lot of fun and I still can't wait to be sent to Australia! It might be a little longer than I thought, but we'll see!
foreigncandle Posted Aug 20, 2008, 8:17 am	So it's been quite some time since I've been seen here, but that's because I haven't been doing anything! Mom's been really busy working. On top of that, her camera died and she can't find the charger!! Therefore, no more pictures will be posted until Sara receives me... which reminds me: I'M GOING TO AUSTRALIA TOMORROW! I'm finally on my way! I can't wait to meet other ToyVoyagers and see the world! Mom will update tomorrow after I've been sent off!
foreigncandle Posted Aug 21, 2008, 9:50 pm	It's official - my little Jonas is on his way to Australia as we speak! Yesterday around 1:30 P.M., I brought him to the post office and was forced to stuff his little self into an envelope (a padded one, though). However, he should have left the post office either last night or this morning and is officially in the wild. It's a scary thought, but I know that within the next week or so, he will be in Sara's loving hands. I can't wait for her to update the travelog when she gets him! -Kaella
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Aug 27, 2008, 3:25 am	I have arrived! That was quite a quick journey for literally going half way around the world wasn't it? Glad I'm here the travel pack started to get a bit stuffy... Sara took me and the other two toyvoyagers out today already and we got to see a little bit of Orange... I'll update again later with photos (or tomorrow) but I'm tired now... I must rest... the time change here is weird, did you know I'm already a day ahead? Where did it go? Write again soon! Miss you!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Aug 28, 2008, 7:26 am	Today we had two new packages sitting in the mailbox... Sara's been talking about the new arrivals coming to spend the month with us... I wonder who it is? ...and then finally a head popped out... Paula's here from Austria... ...the next package Sara set in front of everyone... I wonder who this would be? Sara says it's another brand new toyvoyager on their first journey... who could it be? ...Jonas is here from Massachusetts... ...and here's a group photo of all of us together... Jonas, Paula, Guico, Bellatrix and Emil... Sadly it was short lived, as it was time to say goodbye first to Gucuio he's on his way to Finland. :-) ...and then another goodbye to Emil he's on his way to Victoria... the travel will be much shorter for him... It was sad saying goodbye to my new friends, especially so soon... but maybe we'll all meet again one day? Off to the post office we go... :-)
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Aug 28, 2008, 8:20 am	It was time to go and take Gucio and Emil to the post office, so we all lugged ourselves into the car and got ready to go... we also had a few more errands to run as well, so Sara decided to bring us along since it was a nice and sunny day... Sara lives in an area with a lot of houses that were built in the 1940's, but right down the street from her house is a huge company, as you can see facing the bottom of her street this is a huge parking lot and the company is a well known company called Electrolux. They make fridges and freezers in this one Sara told me... she also told me that this company used to be an ammunition factory during the war... On the way to the shops we drove down main street, which is called Summer Street... as you can see on one side the buildings all look very old, it's mainly because they are... in the last photo on the right hand side you can see a big white building... that's the main post office... it looks quite big, but in reality it isn't... ...and finally we were at the shops... we had to stay in the car where it was safe but Sara parked and we had a bit of a sleep... finally it was time to get some lunch... so for lunch Sara got a kebab and we all headed to the park... Welcome to Cook Park... this is the main park in Orange and it's got some interesting sites to see... Sara told us that this is actually where Daniel proposed to her back in December 2004, so it's one of her favourite parks to visit... Here's a bit of history about the park... When we first walked into the park Sara showed us something new, it's called Pot Plant Penny, she seemed quite nice so we all posed for a photo with him... and here's a bit of information about her... apparently she's quite new to the park... :-) ...finally, it was time to sit down and eat the food, it's quite big isn't it? Well, it's yummy anyways! ...shortly after eating we had a visitor come and check out our food, apparently she wanted some... Sara fed her some of the bread off of the kebab and the magpie flew away... Sara says this is the time of year where it's very common to be swooped by magpies, there not much bigger than a crow but they're very territorial, especially when they have eggs, or hatchlings... no swooping happened to us today thankfully... After we were finished eating we all headed onto explore the rest of the park, the park has a lot of different types of trees and flowers, these flowers were particularly pretty so Sara had to get a photo of them... aren't they pretty mum? I guess it means Spring is coming, how strange is that? It should be going into Autumn!... As I said before this park has a lot of things to see and do, and it's quite a big land area for how small the town is (40,000 or so people)... first we stopped at the fountain, it's actually quite a pretty fountain, but sadly the sun was behind some trees so you can't see it so well, but were sitting on the side of it... it was quite cold in the shade... Next we went to the band stand, this apparently has been here quite a while, since 1908... they have bands play in this area from time to time, especially during the Summertime... Then the next thing was the most exciting for me... we got to visit a HUGE aviary... it's split up into three different parts, medium sized birds, large birds and small birds... The medium sized portion is the part closest to me, it's got cockatiels, diamond doves, princess parrots, budgies, and a whole bunch of other medium sized parrots and birds... all the birds in these aviaries are all Australia native birds... Sara could get a photo of only one bird in the medium sized part, a diamond dove... the other birds must have been sleeping!... Here's a bit of information about the birds seen in the medium sized section of the aviary... The second part of the aviary, had a few more birds visible... some of them even talk... one of them kept asking for a biscuit (cookie)... how funny is that? Sara got a few more photos in this part... which includes (in order) a normal and quite common cockatoo, a pink cockatoo, and a crimson rosella... they're all quite pretty and colorful aren't they? Here's some information about the birds in this part of the aviary... ...and last but not least the area with the smaller birds like the finches and quails (Sara's favourite part)... these guys are MUCH harder to find as they're so much smaller... but Sara found two star finches, one's a yellow faced star finch and ones a red faced, Sara owns both types in her aviary at home... Sara also has some zebra finches, diamond doves (seen from earlier), spice finches, button quails (king quails), and some gouldian finches... ...and here's a bit of information about the smaller variety of birds in this part of the aviary... ...and last but not least we all got to visit one of the two big duck ponds that they have in the park... there's lots of ducks there and we sat down and they all came up to us... sadly we didn't have any bread to feed them but aren't they still so cute? ...here I am with the ducks... ...well it was time to move on, we had a few more errands to run and then it was time to go home and get some rest... we were all quite tired, it had been a big day... still more to see of Orange though, just not something to do in one day... last stop before home, Aldi... we had to get a few more groceries... We waited in the car again, but it wasn't so bad, there was so much to see... so many people... and finally it was time to head home... This is the street right near where Sara lives, lots of trucks, and trains go past this area, Orange is a big area of transport as we are located right between Sydney and Dubbo so we get a lot of stuff going between them... :-) Well I'll write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Sep 5, 2008, 8:34 am	We all woke up to a nice and sunny day today, and even better it was the first day of Spring! We all packed up into the car and headed.. somewhere.. Sara wouldn't tell us where... she did say she hasn't been able to properly take toyvoyagers up here for months because of how cold it's been and the road has been closed 2kms from the top because of snow fall... crazy! In August? Well here we are on the road... ...as you can see the road changes quite drastically from open fields to a whole bunch of trees, eucalyptus trees to be exact... you can't tell much from the view in the photos but a lot of what looks like farmland is actually vineyards... there are LOTS of vineyards surrounding Orange... ...and then all of a sudden the road turned into a dirt road... we all had to hang onto each other as we were bumping around so much... ...then we stopped... quite abruptly in the middle of the road... Sara spotted something and then we took a photo... you can't see it in the photo as the distance is quite far... but there was two white spots flying out of the middle of the road... what was it? We saw a cockatoo... a wild one, how crazy is that? Welcome to Mount Canobolas! This is the highest point West of Sydney until the far side of the country in South Australia (on the Western Australia side)... on a clear day like this you can see pretty far... the height of the extinct volcano now is around 4,650 feet or 1,395 metres)... ...Then right in the centre of the peak there's a view point and there's a little map that shows the direction of each of the towns, so it shows where Orange is located, Parkes, Forbes, Blayney, Millthorpe, Bathurst and all the surrounding towns (Parks and Forbes is a bit farther so you can't see them really but it shows you what your looking at...) here I am checking out the map... Here's some information about Mount Canobolas from the view point signs: Mount Canobolas volcanic complex is listed in the Commonwealth Heritage Register for it's unique geological composition and location. These factors have resulted in a distinctive vegetation pattern, containing rare and unique species, which in turn contain habitats for a number of equally unique animals. Within a 30 kilometre radius of Mount Canobolas, approximately 30 vents are known to have erupted. These eruptions commenced about 50 million years ago and halted approximately 10-15 million years ago. The Mount Canobolas vents erupted over that entire period, while others within the 30 kilometre radius were active for shorter periods. The basalt capping has largely weathered away, producing fertile soils as far away as West Wyalong (which is 223kms away). On the way back down the other side of the view point we looked out into the direction of the city of Orange... it shows you how far up we really are... there are a lot of bush walks in this area... it's pretty amazing the wildlife in this area as well. Sara said she's seen kangaroos jumping through the bush on one of the bush walks they took last Autumn... After spending quite a while at the peak we decided to drive back down... but there was one more stop to do before we were off to lunch... we stopped half way down and had a look back up towards the peak, and the opposite direction towards the city... as you can see were still quite high up... The smaller peak next to the "flat top" of Mount Canobolas Sara said she believes is called "Little Canobolas" and is one of the main vents next to the main vent that was where we were standing... as you can see because its' the highest point they used that to their advantage and put radio and TV towers up there... sadly it's a bit of an eye sore... Well... onto our next stop... it won't be long until were there now...
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Sep 5, 2008, 8:50 am	It wasn't too long and we were almost there... when again, Sara stopped the car, but this time she jumped out and walked a bit back where we were and got a photo... we saw it but Sara said we couldn't be in the photo since it might scare him away... a kookaburra... one of the things that make Australia Australia... they're quite noisy and you know them when you hear them but this is the first photo Sara's ever been able to get of one... ...and then before we knew it we were there... Lake Canobolas! We all sat on the beach for a little while and then all the ducks and coots came over to greet us, they must have thought we were bread... Sara picked us up and got one last photo with us and the lake before moving on and getting some lunch! Now here I am in front of the lake, isn't it such a pretty day? It doesn't seem like much but it was quite a busy day, I'm happy to be getting some food and resting at home! I'll write again soon mom, promise!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Sep 13, 2008, 1:28 am	Another time for another drive, dang it seems like we're driving all over - it's amazing what living in a town does, anywhere you want to go we always have to drive everywhere, oh well... at least we get to see the country, what most tourists don't usually see... :-) Well, remember when I told you about the vineyards that are surrounding Orange? Well, here's a very good example, right in front of where we are here it just looks like a whole bunch of farmland, in which, you wouldn't be wrong... but it's two large vineyards on either side of the road, one of which is called the Turners Vineyard. The other Sara's not sure of the name, but it's another large one, people can pay a few hundred dollars a night to stay (in either of them)... and they do, it's pretty upscale for being... so far away from everything... Now that were outside of Orange, you'd think there'd be really nothingness beyond a whole bunch of sheep and cows, and sometimes horses... but instead... we're now coming into another town? What's this? Now this is literally what you would call a 'one road town' because that is literally all it is, there is a few unique things about this little town, and it's actually got it's own name, but not it's own post office... that's how small it is... it's called Lucknow. Here's a bit of history that Sara told us about the town... in the second photo you can see it a bit better but there are two huge gold mine shafts on either side of the road... when they initially came to this area, they started digging for gold and after many years. Found all but nothing. So they named the town 'Luckno' which literally translates to 'no luck'. They then left the town... ...they then came back many years later to try again and see if it really is as empty as they thought it was... when they came back, they indeed did find gold so they renamed the town 'lucknow' because they now had that luck they were looking for. There is a LOT of gold in this area... where Sara used to live when she moved here, a town called Blayney her and her husband would go to a smaller town near Blayney was called Carcoar and there was a small river and right near the river you'd actually find some gold flakes on the banks of the river. Quite interesting actually... well, this isn't our stop today as I'm sure you can tell... moving on...
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Sep 14, 2008, 8:12 pm	Well... as I said, we definitely weren't done today... we drove for another good 40 minutes and finally we were in another town about the size of Orange (40,000 or so people) which is called Bathurst. It's famous for it's V8 race track... but first stop, we went kangaroo hunting... Sadly when we got to Bathurst they've started building lots of houses in the area where Sara usually see's kangaroos, so they went behind Mount Panorama to search for them there, and didn't see any there either! :-( How sad! We did see a few... but sadly they weren't alive... hopefully I'll see some while I'm in Australia... Sara was a bit sad too because she loves taking photos of them and showing off the famous icon to all the toyvoyagers that visit! Fingers crossed we see them on another journey! Next stop was the V8 race track that's called Mount Panorama when they have the famous races each year, Australia pretty much just stops... especially in this area, everything is like a ghost town because everyone is watching the races... they're holding them this year on the 9-12th of October. So not too far away, they're preparing the track for the big weekend... ...here's a bit of information about the track, and a map showing you what the shape of the track looks like... ...and here I am in front of the entrance of the track... Now it's time to take a ride on the V8 track... how often are you really able to do this? It's actually a road (part of it) to get to houses, and on the inside of the track they have vineyards, and houses and everything that are rented out during the races... they even have a play ground on one side of the track (short distance away but within view while your driving on the track) for the kids. :-) Not sure if you could really see it, but there were people on the track, jogging around it, it's common to see people doing that... Sara finds it kind of amusing, but there are A LOT of people that come from all over Australia and sometimes the world just to drive on the track... pretty cool huh? Well here's what the starting gate looks like as well... I wasn't able to get a good shot from the other side of the track... Well sadly there wasn't much else for us to see in Bathurst, we had a deadline and had to be back out of there pretty quickly after we got the mystery shops done... but here are some photos of what Bathurst looks like... there are a lot of older buildings... the first picture is at the top of the main street and that's a big church on the right side and the second photo is showing what the buildings commonly look like throughout Orange and Bathurst and all the surrounding little towns... :-) Well, were back on the road and going back home.. I'll write again soon, promise! :-)
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Sep 14, 2008, 9:10 pm	Well another time to take another car ride... what a surprise lol... I wonder where were going now? We're leaving Orange now, here's the exit sign that says "drive safely and return soon"... awwww! :-) Well this time we were off to a smaller town with only a little over 700 people in it, yet quite a few pubs for the population... and lots and lots of farmland... we stopped off and met some friends... they were not that interested in us... oh well... Australia is quite famous for their sheep and sell the wool all over the world... these guys were pretty cute aren't they? ...and here's what it looks like as the view from where I'm standing, you can actually see Mount Canobolas in the back ground... that pretty much sums up what this entire area looks like outside of the small towns and larger cities (larger meaning 40,000 people)... Well, not far from there we were now entering the small town of Millthorpe... first stop was one of the main streets in Millthorpe. This tiny town is historically recognized by Australia because of some of it's buildings and historical streets. The Australian TV movie Jessica which Sara's husband's sister was an extra in... pretty cool huh? Well, here I am on Pym Street... Now, here's a bit of the information on Pym Street... ...then right next to it is another historical sight... the railway station and the railway hotel... here I am in front of it. :-) ...and here's a little bit more information about the railway and the hotel... as you can see from the hotel it's almost eerie how similar they look, even a century later! Well it was time to keep moving, there wasn't much left to do, so we went up to Sara's mother-in-laws house and planted outselves in the kitchen preparing ourselves for the birthday party that was to come... After the birthday party we headed home and went straight to sleep, it was definitely quite a long day! I'll write again soon, promise! :-)
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Sep 19, 2008, 1:32 am	Wow, after that long weekend, we had another visitor come today... I wonder who it is... Well, what do you know? It's a little carebear called Lollipop how nice to meet some more little guys just like us!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Sep 19, 2008, 2:54 am	Today, we had another little one arrive today... well, not little one... the size of the packaging is quite... large... I just hope whatever it is isn't dangerous... Then out pops Luv Leon she's pretty big compared, but I think she'll be okay, she's pretty cuddly and seems to love us already... this is going to be great! :-)
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Sep 19, 2008, 11:54 am	Sara never really introduced me fully to all the animals I've been living with the last few weeks... pretty naughty of her, but she made up for it... I was happy to meet my roommates. Some of them I've heard for quite a while but not really have seen, one of the biggest things in the house is the aviary that lives in Sara's kitchen... :-) These are Sara's birds, she's got quite a few... most of them are finches, but she also has two button quails and two diamond doves (which are the smallest doves in the world - which are not much bigger than a finch). Sara's birds are all Australian native, they include star finches, gouldian finches, spice finches, and zebra finches. :-) They're all quite pretty aren't they? Next stop was their fish tank, obviously these guys don't make too much noise but they had a few babies so their few platties turned into a few more... so most of them are identical but there are swordtails and a guppy for live bearing fish. Otherwise there are a few barbs, loaches, and suckerfish (one of which is quite large). Then not quite the last yet, but other side of the house Sara has a puppy currently in a kennel. Don't worry she's not in there most of the time, except night time or the times that Sara's not home. But because she's still a puppy I can hardly get a photo together with her, let alone with her not trying to eat me... :-) She's friendly though, her name is Anni, and she's a 5 month old beagle. :-) Last but of course not least, the mice... Sara has 6 mice (2 of which are brand new from today)... she's got them in a large mouse mansion and they were all roaming around the cage and being crazy until we came around! Oh well! It's daytime so they're sleeping away... they live on top of the dogs kennel most of the time where they're safe... they're also very friendly animals! So I hope you enjoyed the tour around Sara's home with her pets... she's got quite a few but as you can tell I'm sure she's an animal lover! :-) Write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Sep 23, 2008, 2:25 pm	Well, last but not least today we went to Lucknow again. This is honestly Sara's first trip to Lucknow where she's actually stopping and having a look around. She's always just drove on through, this time she decided to learn a bit more about the tiny little town and have us learn some more history about the town... there's a little walk around through the farmland so you can learn a bit more about the mining industry... Then of course, first things first we walked over to the giant mine shafts one on each side of the road... here I am in front of them... ...then we got to learn a bit about the history of Lucknow and the mining that was happening when it was up and running way back in the 1940's... Since the writing on the sign is very small, I'll write out what it says... The photo shows the village and mining activity in Lucknow about 1900. The Bathurst to Orange road, bounded by palin fences, cuts through the village. The Tangye Dam, in the foreground, stored water for the stam boilers and batteries. Immediately behind the dam you can see the cyanide processing site. On the let is the Reform Mine poppet head, with the Phoenix Mine poppet head located on the hillside behind. The Lucknow school buildings can be identified on the ridge line at right. Mamhead, with it's striped awning, is located in the centre. ...and here I am in front of the Tangye Dam that was mentioned in the information that we just read... this actually really surprised Sara since she never thought there was a dam that ran through this town... especially this much since were in such a drought right now, it was quite surprising actually... ...it was pretty warm today, I was tempted to take a dip in the water, but then decided against it as it probably wasn't as clean as I thought it would be (mainly because of the drought of course). ...almost done with the walk through now (it wasn't too long anyways) here was another information sign... to show you the backdrop of what it looked like where we were here's what it looks like... and now here's the information from the sign... ...again since the writing is quite small I'll type out what the sign reads so you can have a read yourself: In May 1951, only a few months after Australia's first gold rush started at Ophir, gold was found at present day Lucknow. The Wentworth Goldfield (named after the early land owner WC Wentworth) was initially an alluvial field, but the wealth of the lode lay underground. A comprehensive network of mines was established during the late 1800's, the remnants of the mining operations still dominating the Lucknow village landscape. During the late 1880's, a series of dams was constructed along Fredericks Valley Creek to provide water storage for the mines. The bluestone walls of these structures are still evident. To the east of Emu Swamp Road, the 'Boat Dam' was constructed and used by the Lucknow village community for recreation. Swimming, rowing and boat regattas were held on the dam. By the early 1900's the mines had flooded due to the rising water table, and much of the goldfield was abandoned. A resurgence in mining occurred during the 1930's but by the 1940's the boom years of Lucknow and its mines were over. Today Lucknow services the surrounding rural community, its poppet heads and mullock heaps remaining as testimony to the village's historic mining history. ...as you can see there's not much to Lucknow since the mining left in the 40's so a lot of it is just farm land, there are a LOT of sheep... as you see everywhere in Australia - especially since Australia seems to be known for it's sheep and it's wool... we saw a lot of sheep... they all seemed pretty happy! :-) oh, and we even got to see some Australian wood ducks... Sara loves these ducks, she calls them "fancy ducks" because of their brown head... ...well... there's not much more to see in this area, and it was getting quite late and quite warm so we decided to head back to the car... on the way back to the car we stopped and got to see some real aboriginal paintings... ...well I hope you enjoyed my little trek outside of town... I'll post more again soon there's more interesting and historical stuff to learn about rural Australia. :-) Write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Sep 27, 2008, 2:44 pm	We got another visitor today... his name is Bally he's a monkey like me, how cool is that? ...We also said goodbye to two of our friends that are going on their travels on the Australian trail, goodbye to both Paula and Steve. :-) ...one last thing... since it's Spring, we seem to get a lot of little creepy crawlies in the houses, there's nothing really you can do about it as much as you try to stop it... Sara found a little spider on her shampoo bottle... it wasn't a surprise then she released the thing outside... ...she wasn't sure at first but she looked closely at him and realised he was actually a poisonous spider, a male (the females are a lot bigger). It was actually a red back spider... they're common in this area, and kind of nasty... glad it's not inside anymore! Write again soon mom, hopefully it won't be too long and we'll be doing something more exciting!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Oct 5, 2008, 3:26 pm	So today was the day for another little road trip. Although not as long as other road trips that they've been on previously it was time to get packed into the car and ready to go... it's quite a crowd we have with us today isn't it? ...only a short way through the drive we found a very small town called Cargo, it has a population of 200 and is between Orange and Canowindra... it was so small Sara didn't even realise we were passing through the main street until we were through it... most of it was farmland and there was a pub and a small grocery store but not much else... although we did see some native birds... Not sure if you can see it but there are two little ibises in the background... they're pretty common, especially around trash cans, dumps and they're kind of like "rats" or like Australian pigeons... Sara still finds them pretty cool though... here's a closer picture if you can't see them very well... ...well back on the road again we're only half way there... :-)
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Oct 5, 2008, 5:12 pm	Well, we're finally here... this is Canowindra (Ka-noun-dra), a small town with only 1,200 people. Very small, but yet, quite a well known little town and you'll find out why a little later... ...as you can see the main street looks very old, again with the very old buildings. These are quite common for all over Australia, even in the cities like Sydney you'll find areas that look very similar to this... although usually not as small as some of the towns you find in this area... First things first, Sara had to get one of the mystery shops done, they went to Westpac (one of the banks) and rated the service and deposited some money into an account which she will get back... now that that's done it's time to do a bit of roaming around this little town... First thing we came to this information sign... because the writing is so small Sara will just type it out in case you want to read a bit about what Canowindra is all about.... Canowindra is in Wiradjuri country and Canowindra and Belubula are Wiradjuri words. The fertile lands of the Belubula River increasingly attracted European pastoralists after the foundation of Bathurst in 1815. To stem the tide of settlement, Nineteen Counties were proclaimed in 1829 and the Belubula River, after survey in 1834, became the boundary of the County of Bathurst with no settlement permitted north of the river. In 1829, the first land grant, Canowindra was a 640 acre block promised to James Collits. This block later passed to Thomas Icely and a site for a village was reserved adjoining the 640 acres where traffic forded the river at the site of the present Swinging Bridge. In the expansion of settlement westward, Canowindra became the next frontier town after Bathurst and Carcoar, serving traffic to the Lower Lachlan. In 1844, a public pound was proclaimed on the village reserve and in 1846 Thomas Icely had a mud hotel, the Travellers Rest, and a store built on his land, well sited to serve traffic routes converging at the ford. In November 1846, Governor FitzRoy crossed the flooded Belubula on his tour of the 'unsettled districts' where disputes had arisen over land occupancy. After FitzRoy's tour, land regulations were altered to allow more permanent settlement beyond the boundaries of the Nineteen Counties. In 1847, the first Canowindra Post Office opened in the store next to the inn. In 1852, William Robinson bought from Icely the 640 acres and became licensee of the inn. Events of the 1860's changed the fortunes of Canowindra, bypassed by traffic routes to the new gold rush town of Forbes. In 1860, the village reserve was surveyed into building blocks but few sold as the township was growing on private land north of the river. In 1860, William Robinson died suddenly and his son, William II, leased the south-side inn and by 1862 had moved over the river to be licensee of the north-side Canowindra Inn, where he was mine host in the eventful year of 1863 when the hotel was held up three times by bushrangers, Benn Hall and gang. As hotels were often referred to by the name of the licensee, it is easy to understand the confusion that arose over the site of Robinson's Inn of 1863 bushranger fame, which was not the old mud Travellers Rest south of the Belubula but the Canowindra Inn on the north-side near the site of the present Royal Hotel. The development of the Canowindra township was further interrupted by a minor gold rush, beginning in 1868, at nearby Belmore (Moorbel), when businesses moved or opened there, threatening to overshadow Canowindra as the commercial centre. The government reserved a strip of north-side land with access to the river, bounded by present Tilga and Rodd Streets, known as the 'government town'. The first bridge over the Belubula was built in 1874 on its western boundary and the Church of England and government services, school, police and court house, were granted land there. Canowindra Goldfield, proclaimed in 1879, included a square mile reserve centered on Belmore's Blue Jacket Hill which excluded the 'private town' of Canowindra but included South Canowindra. Modest homes, built there for miners, later became the homes of Lucerne workers as lucerne became the district's 'green gold'. The elevated building sites in the old Canowindra Village Reserve are now highly sought. Now moving on, we came upon a small museum that looked to be closed... it had a lot of older farming equipment outside but the gate was padlocked so we couldn't have a look at all... oh well maybe next time... :-) ...although right outside the museum was a lot of these plaques.... ...Sara wasn't quite sure what they were, but figured they were put there to commemorate the original settlers to this area, the main families that lived here as it went over who the people were, their names, where they lived, how many kids they had... quite interesting to read some of them. One of them said this guy had 14 kids with one wife, and 7 kids with another! Wow, that's a lot of children!... Right near the museum was another information sign, again it's going to be small so if your interested feel free to read below... Sara will type it out... it's about Canowindra's Railway History... Need for railway: Agitation for a railway to Canowindra began in the 1880's. The district proved ideal for primary production as land was cleared for agriculture and closer settlement. Access to markets was crucial. Rail had reached Cowra via the Great Southern Line in 1885. Completion of the railway bridge over the Lachlan River and the Blayney to Cowra line in 1887 made the Great Western Line a reality. Cross country link lines were always the vision of the Railway Engineer-in-Chief of New South Wales, John Whitton, but routes proposed were controversial. The line from Orange to Forbes, completed in 1893, offered hope for a link from Cowra through Canowindra. Canowindra Line Approved: The Cowra to Canowindra Railway Act was passed on 15 December 1908 and land resumptions began for construction which quickly followed the turning of the first sod at Cowra West on 11 January 1909. A parcel of land in Canowindra from Blatchford to Clyburn Streets was resumed for railway use and site layout plans were prepared by Assistant Engineer, John J C Bradfield, who went on to design the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Extention to Eugowra: The long-promised 26 mile line extention to Eugowra opened on 11 December 1922. Although the Canowindra to Gregra Railway Act was passed in May 1924 to link with the Parkes-Forbes line, it was never built (Grega was a siding near Manildra). Grand Opening and Growth of Town: On 4 July 1910, the 23 mile branch line was opened with a great ceremony. The official party arrived with 800 people on a thirteen carriage train from Cowra. Two WELCOME arches were erected with pylons of lucerne bales and bags of wheat. The railway terminus was a tremendous boost to the town. Prior to 1900, Canowindra's population hovered around 400. By 1911, it had risen to 1,500 and continued to rise until slowed by World War 1. The railway brought businesses to the western side of town and new commercial buildings were erected in the dog-leg main street. Mill Street was surveyed for two flour mills. In 1927 a rail motor service replaced steam-hauled passenger trains. The 'Tin Hare', as the rail motor was affectionately known, proved a return service on wee days from Cowra to Eugowra for over thirty years. Pupils from Billimari could travel daily to school in Canowindra and the driver would stop to pick them up at unscheduled stops near their homes. Families with small dairies loaded their cream cans on the motor train for delivery to the Butter Factory in Canowindra. By 1970 diesel-electric locomotives had replaced steam on goods trains. Decline of Rail Services and Site use: Land between Blatchford Street and the stationmaster's house was early given over for a town park and the Historical Society opened a museum in the park in 1970. Rail services to Canowindra gradually dwindled as better roads and motor transport reduced demand. The passenger station was closed on 10 August 1974 but goods trains continued until 10 October 1991 when the last government train hauled wheat from the silo. The Lachlan Valley Railway Society leased the line for limited passenger and grain services until 1995. Meanwhile, the station house was brought, restored and opened in 1988 as part of the Historical Society Museum complex. From 1993 Canowindra Lions Club leased land near the passenger builing as a park. Part of this lease was acquired in 1996 to build the Age of Fishes Museum. Floods in 2001 damaged the Cucumber Creek Bridge rendering the line impassable and future use uncertain. Now they mentioned something at the end there which caught Sara's eye as they were driving more down the main street... the Age of Fishes Museum... ...now Sara's a bit of a sucker for fossils and ancient stuff so of course we made a stop at this museum in question and had a bit of a look around... ...first thing we did after paying the admissions to enter is we watched a short little video it talked about the major fish fossils that have been found in this area, some that are extremely old dating back before the dinosaurs even, and some fish getting as big as 5 metres long in length. Canowindra is huge for this fossils of these ancient fish, the video mainly talked about a time when there must have been a huge rainfall so the river broke and made huge billabong's. Then over a few days the billabong dried up and all the fish died as they were stuck... this is where all these fish fossils are mainly found... here's a bit of information more on these ancient fish before we move onto the fossils... What Would Canowindra Have Looked Like? 360 million years ago, the area around Canowindra would have looked very different from today. The map above shows some of the main features of the Canowindra area back then - -a coastline that is near where the town of Muswellbrook is now. -a large river basin, with highlands on either side -lots of green vegetation along the river system, with the rest of the land like a desert. Over time, the Canowindra highlands were eroded away by wind and rain, creating sediments that washed down into the river basin. When compacted together, these sediments made the fine, hard sandstone and shales which are now found in the Canowindra area. What Was The Earth Like Back Then? For most of the Earth's early history, it's land has been like a desert with hardly any vegetation. During the Devonian Period (410-354 million years ago), the rocks and sand were stained red by oxidised iron (rust). Early plants grew on the land, such as mosses and fersns, and some even grew up to 30m tall. But, because they needed water for their spores to germinate, plants only grew close to water. This made the rivers, lakes and billabongs rich, green places in stark contrast to the dry, desert-like land. The main animals living on the dry land were invertebrate, such as insects, centipedes, millipedes, spiders and scorpions while they rivers, lakes and billabongs and seas were filled with fishes. The Devonian Period is often called the "Age of the Fishes" because it was a time when the fishes spread all over the Earth and lived in every kind of aquatic environment. All the major groups of fishes were living during the Devonian Period, but the most common were the placoderms and sarcopterygians. Was Canowindra Always On Dry Land? 500 million years ago, the area that was to become Canowindra was deep below the ocean. By 400 million years ago, it was under shallow water and by 360 million years ago, the time that the Canowindra fishes lived and died it had become dry land. Throughout time, the coastline of eastern Australia has always been changing. Tectonic activity (movement of the rocky plates of the Earth's surface) created volcanic activity on the edge of the continent. This in turn created more rock, adding to the existing land area and making the seas off the coast of Eastern Australia shallower. The tectonic activity also lifted parts of the sea floor so high that they became dry land. Over time, rivers flowing towards the east carried large amounts of sediment which settled in the shallow seas, filling them up and creating even more land. And so, over millions of years, the land area grew and the coastline moved further and further to the East. How Big Was The Billabong? The billabong in which the Canowindra fishes lived was quite big. A billabong is a semi-permanent waterhole that is linked to a river. This billabong was part of a huge river system that flowed through the Canowindra area during the Devonian Period. The site containing the fossils is about 10m across, but the original billabong would have been much bigger to support more than 3,500 fishes (the approximate number of fossil fishes found) plus other animals and plants. Also, there are no fossils of plants or invertebrates with the fossil fishes, so this suggests that the fishes died in the central and deepest part of the billabong away from the edges where plants grew. So the original billabong may have been 100m or more in width. ...so were almost ready to move onto see the fossils, first we got to learn how the fossils were discovered and a bit of history about that... How Were the Fossils Discovered? First... In 1955, a slab of rock with hundreds of strange shapes on it was dug up by a bulldozer driver working on a road about 10kms away from Canowindra. Because it was unusual, the driver placed the slab at the side of the road where it was seen by a local beekeeper, Mr. Bill Simpson, in 1956 and reported to the Australian Museum in Sydney. The slab was covered with fossils of ancient fishes from the Devonian Period (410-354 million years ago). Harold Fletcher, a palaeontologist (a scientist who discovers fossils) at the Australian Museum, was so impressed with these fossils that he arranged for the slab to be taken to the Australian Museum in 1956 to be studied and put on display. The large scaly fish at the centre of the slab was found to be a completely new species never seen before. It was named Canowindra Grossi. Many of the other fossils were of small armored fishes which had already been found in other parts of the world, but the Canowindra fossils were some of the best fossils of these ever found. Then... Dr Alex Ritchie, the Museum's new palaeontologist, identified some broken fossils of another species of fish called Groenlandaspis on the slab. Dr Ritchie was interested in studying more fossils of Groenlandaspis so he visited the road near Canowindra (where the slab was found) six times between 1973 and 1990 to search for more fossils of Groenlandaspis. But without earth-moving equipment Dr Ritchie did not find any more fossils. In 1993, after hearing a talk about the fossil fishes by Dr Ritchie, the Canowindra Rotary Club arranged for Cabonne Shire Council to provide earth-moving equipment for a few days to search for more fossils under the road. Within three hours, dozens of slabs of rock had been uncovered with hundreds of fossil fishes on them, including an example of a very large ancient fish later named Mandageria. A larger excavation was carried out in July 1993with the help of many local volunteers. More than 3,500 fossils were found. The Future... before the excavation was due to finish in 1993 and the road put back in place, Dr Ritchie uncovered one huge slab of rock with six perfectly preserved fossils of large fishes lying side by side. Dr. Ritchie was able to make a latex peel of one of the fossils before the road had to be put back in place on top of them. The six fossils and many others are still waiting underground for the time when there are enough funds to reposition the road and reopen the excavation site. ...before we visited the fossils we had a look at some of the cool fishes they had on show, although the first two aren't alive they're still pretty cool.... the first is called a silver perch and the second is a small shark called a Port Jackson shark. :-) ...and there was two alive fish there too... one was hiding so we couldn't see it but the other was a fish that lives now that very much resembles one of the ancient fishes called the Saratoga... Saratoga look similar to the fossil fish Gooloogongia. Saratoga live in tropical rivers in Australia and have thin, needle-like teeth and a strongly upturned jaw. They feed on insects that fall onto water's surface and hunt for small fishes and invertebrates underwater. The fossil fish Gooloogongia also have thin, needle-like teeth and a strongly upturned jaw, so perhaps they caught food in similar ways to saratoga. Not all sarcopterygians had needle-like teeth. Others, like Cabonnichthys and Mandageria, had strong, cone-shaped sharp teeth like modern salt-water crocodiles. They could have used their strong teeth and jaws to attack other large fishes and perhaps to crush the armored plates of placoderms. Now that we know all about why Canowindra was put on the map so to speak, it's time to visit the fossils we've read so much about... ...as you can see there are quite a few in a very small area, and this is only a section of the fossils that have been found. You can't really tell but there were some HUGE fish among those fossils... You can read a little bit about those tiny little fish found in the fossils, they were kind of cute weren't they? They were pretty dang small as compared to some of the other fish seen in these fossils. It's amazing to think about what lived in that time so long ago... this visit was so much fun, I learned a lot about Australia's history and the history of what lived here way before the dinosaurs, who knew today would be that fascinating... I hope you found it as fascinating as me... now it's about time to move on... time to get ready and go home... On the way home, we passed by a huge field of purple flowers... they seem quite pretty don't they? Sadly this flower is called Pattersons Curse it's one of the big reasons that Australia has such strict laws about what is brought in and out of the country... Australia is the world's largest island (continent) and therefore when things come in, they stay in... a long time ago this lady brought in what's known today as Patterson's Curse because she wanted it in her garden. Now, every Spring it pops up, it's a weed that kills a lot of stuff and causes massive hay fever for a lot of people this time of year. It's found in a lot of paddocks and you can find it anywhere and every where. Thankfully Sara doesn't have the hay fever that most people suffer from when they're around the plant but she knows how bad it can get... pretty nasty... ...almost out of the area now, and we drove by some bright yellow flowers... instead these aren't so bad... ...these are the Australian canola fields, as you can see there's quite a bit there... it's a very pretty site actually with the mountains the background and everything... :-) Well, that was a big BIG day... time for a rest, rain is forecast this weekend... yay! It was getting quite hot already I'm ready for a bit of a cool down... I'll write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Oct 7, 2008, 11:15 am	Well just when I think our group was big, we got a few more visitors today. Sara's been going around rescusing some toys that had gone missing from hosts that were no longer available to host... so her toyvoyager Fred Lion, and his friend Tiah Tigris arrived from Hunter Valley, which Sara says is just South of Sydney on the coast... it was nice to meet them, then later in the afternoon another little visitor (literally) came to visit, his name is Chiro and he came from Japan... oh what stories he has told us already... ...it's quite a large group... but some of us will be back on the road again pretty soon and traveling a bit more of Australia before continuing on our world travels... how fun! ...oh and we also got another little visitor today... something that's not quite as common as other birds seem around here like the galah's and cockatoo's... this little colorful guy is called an eastern rosella... isn't he pretty? We didn't want to get in the photo because well, we'd look like a blur because of how far it's zoomed in, but also because it would scare him away... oh well, he was sure pretty to look at... isn't he mom? Well I'll write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Oct 12, 2008, 3:54 pm	Today we went to Blayney (population 3,000), it's around a 30 minute drive between Bathurst and Orange, if you think of a triangle it's the bottom right hand corner, Orange is the bottom left, and Bathurst is the top point... nothing really in the middle of it but small little towns like Millthorpe (population 600). It's a very small town, although it has 3,000 people it still is quite small... it seems a lot smaller than that... Anyways, Sara and Daniel dropped their car off at the mechanic to get the pink slip done (checking the car over so it can be registered for 2009) and took a long walk around town. All the toyvoyagers got to stay in Sara's backpack but sadly we couldn't come out too much besides peeking out of the bag every now and then. First stop we got to go to Sara's father in law's house for a while since it would be a while... I got to learn a little bit about these houses... they seem kind of old by the look of them, and you can only see three in the photo, but there is four of them and they're all identical... or used to be... they're part of the Historical Heritage Trust of New South Wales. They're called the Marsden Cottages they were built at the same time in the late 1860's for the servants that worked for some rich family that lived around half a kilometre away, they were the Marsden family. The pink colored house is the one Sara used to live in and it's the most original of all of the houses... even though it had a bit built onto it, the doors are the same, so they're a bit run down but it's all original. The pink one is also the one that is the least run down, as they all have cracks in them because of being worn down but they're kind of interesting, and a lot larger than they look from the outside... with a really strange floor plan... Well after spending a bit of time at the house we decided it was time to move on, we walked down the street a little ways and got to the Blayney High School, Sara's always found Australia strange for the fact that they have an agriculture class that they can take. So on the school grounds they have sheep, cows, and chickens... pretty crazy isn't it? Kind of cool though too I think... :-) Moving on down the street we got to see these two churches, they're quite old as well, the first was built in 1861, and is all original, the second.... Sara's not really sure about it but it looks kind of cool... Oh, and here's the main street of Blayney. Blayney was pretty busy for how small the town is, there were a LOT of tourists in town for the Bathurst races being held this weekend so we couldn't really come out of the bag for the fear of getting lost since there are so many of us... but I promise there will be more photos of me to come... :-) That's literally all of Blayney, there's not much to it - it's pretty boring when you're around it at all times. Very small, and caused Sara a lot of problems from such a dramatic change from Seattle (huge city) to Blayney (tiny tiny town)... it drove her nuts lol... but everything is good now, it's nice to see some of the smaller towns within Australia isn't it? Write again soon mom!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Oct 12, 2008, 4:18 pm	This weekend was a big weekend for Australia... it was the Bathurst 1000 races on Mount Panorama remember when we got to visit here a month or so ago?... it's quite exciting now thinking that I've been there... and so many people in Australia come to visit this track every year just for this weekend... it's a huge thing for the Central West as people come from all over Australia and sometimes the world for this indurance race held every October... here's all of us sitting down and watching the races... ...since you can't see the tv properly here's some better shots that Sara got from the TV... Sara said that during this weekend every year you never leave the house as it's always SO busy and hectic where ever you go. When the races aren't on, all the hotels and motels are booked up... for this four day weekend that the races were on there were over 20,000 people that came out of town just to see the races... pretty crazy!... One last thing that happened today, we couldn't be in the photo with this one because well... they're not the nicest of bugs but here's something called a spitfire. Apparently they're wasp larvae, they're quite large, and when they feel threatened they can shoot a 'string' of poisonous stuff at you. For humans it only burns, but it's quite nasty... interesting though at the same time... I've never seen anything like that before...
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Oct 20, 2008, 9:15 am	It was a very sunny and warm day. Sara made an impulse decision to take us down the street to Banjo Patterson's birthplace... which isn't too far of a drive from where she lives. Banjo Patterson is famous for his poem/song Waltzing Matilda which is famous all around Australia... here I am with the statue in memory of him... Waltzing Matilda Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong, Under the shade of a coolibah tree, And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled "Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?" Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me" And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled, "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me". Down came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong, Up got the swagman and grabbed him with glee, And he sang as he stowed that jumbuck in his tucker bag, "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me". Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me" And he sang as he stowed that jumbuck in his tucker bag, "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me". Down came the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred, Up came the troopers, one, two, three, "Who's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?" "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me". Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me" "Who's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?", "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me". Up got the swagman and jumped into the billabong, "You'll never catch me alive", said he, And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong, "Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?" Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong, "Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?" ...there was lots and lots of birds around and making a bit of noise so we took notice... oh, it was just a little magpie... one of Australia's most common birds, and quite known for swooping you during the Spring months (now) to protect their babies... Onto the way to the Templers Mill ruins, we stopped to have a photo with the landscapes of the area... this is what it looks like around here... but... usually more brown because of the drought, recently we got a lot of rain so it's a bit more green around here. Quite a lot more beautiful than normal. :-) After we all got our photos taken at the statue we moved onto the Templer's Mill, which was right near where Banjo Patterson was born. His house is no longer there, so this is what stands (or not so much anymore) to mark his birthplace. Here we are on the wreckage of the old mill... ...can you see us now that were farther away? It shows you how big the ruins are of the old mill... crazy how big it is isn't it? ...then we got to learn a little bit about the old Templers Mill... You can now see a photo of what the Templers Mill used to look like... now if you can't read what the sign says this is what it reads: In 1828, the land between Orange and Suma Park was granted to emancipist Simeon Lord as part compensation for land he had surrendered to Governor Macquarie in 1911 in Sydney. It was probably Lord's son, Thomas, who built and supervised the district's first flour mill on the property, which retained the Aboriginal name Narrambla. It is possible that the grinding stone was first operated by convicts but, in 1840, when the mill was acquired by John Arthur Templer these were replaced by horseworks. In 1948, Templer installed a 12 horsepower steam engine and boiler, and the mill's chimney probably dated from this time. Farmers brought grain for grinding at one shilling a bushel. It was in Templer's homestead among the trees by the creek that his great nefew, Andrew Barton Paterson, was born on 17 February 1864. Banjo Paterson as he became known, is one of Australia's best known and most popular poets. Templer's Mill operated until about 1870. The boiler was later used for many years at Heap's Brewery in Moulder Street, Orange. The remains of the mill, considered dangerous and beyond repair, were demolished in 1971. Walking a bit farther up the hill (more walking, just keep walking) we got to the memorial on the side of the road for Banjo... here we are in front of it: Since it's not easy to read here's what it says: The Australian Poet, Andrew Barton Paterson (Banjo) Was born 17th of February 1864 at the Narrambla Homestead which stood 8 chains north east of this memorial. -Erected 1947 "And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended, and at night the wonderous glory of the everlasting stars." (Clancy Of The Overflow) Banjo is even on the Australian $10. note, it was quite fun to get to know a bit more about the history of Australia. :-) Write again soon! There's a heap more interesting stuff to come!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Oct 23, 2008, 6:55 am	Today we went to Bathurst... since I've already been on the track there are no photos of me there... but instead we got to see something new they've put near the "Motor Racing Museum"... they unveiled it during the races around a week or so ago... it was the famous Peter Brock statue.. it was quite popular... there were quite a few people there taking pictures but Sara was able to get a picture of me in front of the statue. :-) ...and then walking back to the car I see that they had a little playground for the kids, I thought it was kind of cute with the Ford and Holden rocking cars with a little safety car in the middle... :-) ...and now it was time for the most exciting part of the day ...we got to go searching for kangaroos... Sara was pretty hopeful we'd see them since the last time they came in there were none to be found... and if it wasn't for Sara's husband's watchful eye she wouldn't have seen them... they were lying down in the grass until we came around... then they all stood up and had a look... a few of them were pretty close too but Sara didn't notice until they were bouncing away into the distance... here I am in front of them... ...can you see them?... well here are some closer photos since they were a bit of a distance away... Well I'm off to my next host (gingermuggins)... I'll update again when I get there!... Miss you mom!
gingermuggins Posted Oct 28, 2008, 5:23 am	I have arrived in Casterton, Victoria, Australia!!!! Will start exploring soon and update you with photos Hugs Jonas
gingermuggins Posted Oct 30, 2008, 12:36 am	Hello Yippee!!!!! It's Paula!!! How lucky am i to see her again? I also met Chester who is the cute little puppy. I already know Bally and Bellatrix. They travelled with me from NSW.
gingermuggins Posted Oct 30, 2008, 12:43 am	Hi! Today we had a party! A small Halloween party. We had to have it today as Paula is leaving but didn't want to miss out on the fun. Sam found some costumes for us and decorated the table for us. Here we are in costume. Bellatrix the mermaid. Me the jester. Bally the wizard. Paula the princess. Chester the superhero. Don't we look great?!?! And here we are eating donuts. We danced to spooky music and had alot of fun. I'm sleepy now, i will write more soon. Hugs, Jonas.
foreigncandle Posted Dec 11, 2008, 5:31 am	It's been almost two months since I've heard from Jonas - I hope he's okay!