Re: SER1 Ah, Cooma !

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Allan,

Australia's full of these "one horse towns"

Several years ago, went on holiday to Roma via Armidale, Moree, somewhere 
inbetween full of nothing then Roma, back to Brisbane via Toowomba.

As you travel in the outback, you play games to keep yourself and passengers 
occupied.

Some of the games you play are; how many km's before you pass the next car; 
how long does it take you; can I drive a manual using my left foot; which 
hand do I use to steer the car; what arm or leg is getting burnt the most 
etc etc.......

I do remember one town we drove through, it was on the NSW/QLD border, 5km 
out of town, been doing 130km for the last 100 odd km's, slowed downed so 
that I was doing 100km's at the town limit. By the time I had slowed down to 
60km's, I was already on the other side of town back in the 100km zone - 
never touched the brakes once going through town.

The problem now is that a lot more towns are becoming like this, evryone 
wants to move to the city, we actually want to move the other way, back to 
the country and explore. Once the rovers back on the road, the kids will be 
older and it will be more fun in an open topper than a moden 4WD vehicle.

The more you think about it, the more you just want to pack the car and just 
go and explore.

Regards

Shane
Gosford NSW
Australia

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Allan Harding" <Allan.Harding@xxx.xxx.xx>
To: <series1@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2004 9:25 AM
Subject: Re: SER1 Ah, Cooma !


>    G'Day Anthony,
>    It is often a bit of a problem for visitors here finding names on a map 
> and expecting there to be something acually there. I am sure that the map 
> publishers like to fill in a few of the blank spaces so that their maps 
> look a bit busier.
>    There is a village up in the mountains near here called Wee Jasper, its 
> sort of half way between Yass and Tumut (you may have been to the latter 
> if you travelled further west of Kiandra). Wee Jasper has a store which is 
> the post office, pub, garage (by which I mean it sells petrol) and take 
> away. There is also a church and a one teacher school.
>    A couple of years back, I met a German or Austrian tourist there with a 
> rental car with one of those skinny 50 Km/h rated spare wheels fitted. He 
> was looking for Wee Jasper and I told him he was in it. He then asked the 
> whereabouts of the shops and garage so that he could get his tyre fixed. I 
> pointed out the shop/post office/pub/garage and he would not have it that 
> that was all that there, as the town was shown on his map. The "garage" 
> definitely does not do any repairs.
>    When the realisation finally dawned that he was faced with an 80+ Km. 
> drive in either direction on very ordinary, hilly and windy  gravel roads 
> to get his tyre fixed, the look he gave me was as if he had just been 
> dropped off in the middle of the Simpson Desert and that his very survival 
> was at stake.
>    Kiandra was a gold rush town in the latter part of the 19th century. It 
> is also notable as having recored the lowest minimum temperatures in 
> Australia when records were kept there. Large numbers of miners died there 
> due to the cold in winter. It is also where down hill skiing as a 
> sport/recreation was invented.
>    Cheers
>    Allan
>    Canberra (not very far from Kiandra as the crow flies), Australia
>
>
>
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> 


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