A Grand Day Out

Quite recently I had reason to travel to Cabramurra and Khancoban, via Cooma.
The weather was superb - a beautiful late-spring day with hardly a cloud in the sky.
I left home at a bit after 7:00 AM and headed out along the Monaro Highway and, after Cooma, the Snowy Mountains Highway and the The Link Road to Cabramurra and then Tooma Road & the Alpine Way to Khancoban.
The recent excellent rains have turned the landscape from brown to green. A beautiful sight.

Not far from Bredbo and just about where the Queanbeyan - Cooma railway line first crossed the Monaro Highway.........

After Bredbo, heading towards Chakola

Near the Numeralla River, at Chakola

The long straight (Billilingra) that runs for about 4.5km over the crests and dips

On the other side of Cooma and I turned onto the Snowy Mountains Highway.....one of THE best driving roads I've ever had the pleasure to travel.

This last shot was taken as I approached the turnoff from Tooma Road onto the Alpine Way, about 5 kms out of Khancoban.

The return trip took me through Tumbarumba, Tumut and Gundagai, where I joined the Hume Highway.
By the time I arrived back home - around 7:00 PM that night - I was very tired but it was a wonderful drive, with hardly any traffic until I hit the Hume at Gundagai. But at least by that point I could invoke cruise control and relax somewhat.

What's happened to Michelago?!

About 50 kms south of Canberra is the village of Michelago. There's not much there and I would imagine that most residents would commute into Canberra for work.
The railway line to Cooma used to pass through Michelago....well, it still does but no trains run on it.
About 15 years back the old railway station was restored.

An annual fair was held at Michelago to which a steam train would operate from Canberra.

On the way back to Canberra from Cooma the other day I decided to stop and see how the place was going and was saddened to discover that the station and its surrounds had fallen into disrepair and was unkempt.

(Click on images for full-size view)

A very sad sight, with the station buildings not maintained, the track overgrown and the surrounding gardens and park gone to hell, with picnic tables and bench seats barely visible in the undergrowth.

  

What's happened to Michelago? The whole place looks dowdy, uncared for and forgotten.
There used to be an air of civic pride there a decade ago, so what has brought about this decay?

A sorry state of affairs.

The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) - some photos.

As a promotion for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, several very large sculptures were crafted out of stainless-steel and mounted on Centrepoint Tower in the retail heart of Sydney.

There were three figures: an athlete in the starting blocks, a gymnast and a basketball player in a wheelchair (representing the disabled Olympians).

At least two of these creations are viewable at the AIS.

The basketballer sits outside the entrance to the Visitor's Centre and the gymnast is a little further down the road, outside the entrance to the two indoor swimming pools.

I had reason to visit the AIS this morning as part of my job and took the following photos, which I thought I'd share here.

Please note that if you click on the small image then a full-size version will open up.

This is the main entrance to the campus and is the first thing that the visitor sees when alighting from a coach or walking up the path from the carpark............

Just to the left, and slightly behind me, is the basket-baller....... 

But that shot doesn't really do her justice.....and gives no idea of the scale of the structure.

The next shot does, however...............

You can gauge the size of the figure by the two people walking towards the camera just at the base of the mound on which the sculpture is located.

In addition, the traditional bronze sculpture of the two figures on the plinth - one doing a handstand on the other's up-stretched arm - whilst larger than life, are dwarfed by the stainless-steel figure.

The next shot is of the bronze.......

This sculpture has been in place for many years and is a favourite of all those who view it.

As mentioned above, further along is the gymnast, outside the pool complex........

Here she is in a close-up.

A beautiful creation, very nicely detailed, even down to her hair being tied into a bun........

I'll close this blog entry with my favourite shot taken today.

A storm was building in the west and I captured it as the background to the basket-baller.

(The giant anchoring/tensioning arms in the background  support the roof of the Arena, an indoor-event building which hosts basketball and also other forms of entertainment.)