Lap of the Mountain

Ever since I was a small boy I have enjoyed watching Australia’s premier motor racing event, ‘The Bathurst 1000’, held each October at the Mt. Panorama circuit near the town of Bathurst.  When the route we were travelling had us driving right by the entrance to the public road / racetrack, I couldn’t NOT do a lap while I was this close!  With a flick of the indicator I turned off of the highway and took the ute/caravan combination onto the Start/Finish straight for the start of my strictly enforced 60 kph lap of the track.

As the name of the circuit suggests, Mt. Panorama is indeed a mountain.  Starting at the base you climb steeply up one side of the mountain before twisting and turning your way across the top where, if you are a passenger, there are apparently some quite ‘panoramic’ views to be had.  As the driver you can’t look or relax as just as soon as you are at the top, it is more twists and turns as you descend steeply down the other side.  Only when on a long straightaway can you loosen your grip on the wheel!

View of the track through the drivers' eyes

Even at just 60 kph with its blind corners and steep dipping bends, the track is challenging, especially when dragging a 3t caravan behind you.  It took us about 7 minutes to get around.  I now fully recognise the skills (and lunacy) of the race car drivers who hurtle themselves and their machines around here on race day in just over 2 minutes per lap at speeds approaching 300 kph!

With that boyhood dream now behind me it was time to get to our campsite before the weather we had been running from caught up with us.  Upon arrival at the location we had picked, situated halfway between Bathurst and Orange, we were a bit disappointed to find it much less sheltered than we had been hoping for but with the weather and darkness approaching we did not have time to find anything else.  We quickly set-up and hunkered down for what turned out to be three days and nights of very strong cold winds and driving rain with the odd snow flurry thrown in to boot!

Not unusual in Canada but in Australia... WTF is going on?

Too miserable to be out and about on foot and feeling too cooped up to stay in the caravan all day we made the most of a poor situation and did a couple of self-guided extended driving tours of the region.

On day one, we drove about 100 km to the east to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains to see ‘The Three Sisters’.  While the sky was clear in Katoomba and the view well worthwhile, we nearly got blown off the side of the walking trails.

The Three Sisters from Echo Point Lookout in Katoomba, Blue Mountains NSW

On day two, we travelled about 100 km to the west to visit the town of Parkes (home of the annual ‘Elvis Festival’), and the nearby Parkes Radio Telescope.  While we didn’t see Elvis (the festival is held in January not May when we were there), we did get to visit ‘The Dish’.

The Parkes Radio Telescope received and relayed the live TV images of man stepping onto the moon.

The Parkes Radio Telescope was responsible for capturing the live Apollo 11 moon walk TV signals that were beamed to Earth from the moon and then relaying them around the world for public broadcast to the millions of people sitting in front of their TVs to watch the event.

With Heather at the controls of 'The Dish', what could possibly go wrong?

We left the Snowy River Country in order to avoid the worst of a big weather system that was forecast.  That region might have gotten 60cm of snow dropped on them but I am almost certain it was just as cold where we were - it sure felt like it and I think I may have said something like WTF? (and I was not asking Where are The Farrows?).

Keep your antenna searching the ether for the next WTF? - Where are The Farrows?, where the interplanetary cosmic theme that started in Parkes, continues…