Snow Saturday - Henrys place

Megan wished to visit an old friend 'Andrew' and his family.  Morning tea was planned for 10am.  For reasons only known to themselves, at about 9:30 almost all the kids decided to have showers.  The visit to Andrew's was very enlightening as we discussed all sorts of topics ranging from business, the development of the Internet, diet and the impact of soil depletion on the quality of food that we eat and the consequential impact on our health.  He has some great kids and the youngest girl and Jemma did some great drawing.

Back to Henry's for his birthday lunch.  He had cooked a beautiful rib roast and veggies.  He had made passion fruit cordial - very handy given we had a lot of driving and we did not wish to start with a hangover.  Dessert was a fantastic pavlova constructed by Henry's friend 'Peita' who was visiting from Sydney.

After lunch Henry took us on a back stage tour of Parliament house.  Complete with entry using his swipe card to the staff car park.  We were vetted by security and our possessions x-rayed.  We walked down corridors and admired the bigness of it all.  Henry's office is just behind a door that opens into the House of reps. We understand that Henry sits down with the leader of the government to organise what will happen when in Parliament and then he basically drafts the order of service when is then forwarded to another department for publishing.

Jemma and some Parlimentary art.


We then wandered past Mr Abbott's office and Julia's office.  I had hoped to be able to nip in and use her toilet but the door was locked so I had to hold on for a public convenience.  It was kind of interesting that many lib / nat polies had posters on their windows consisting of a picture of Julia and some of her labour chronies and a pile of lemons and the words "just another labour lemon".  I thought this was pretty petty. 

Then down under to the service tunnels.  This was the fascinating bit.  I am really glad that we have a functioning democracy and I know that the public tours emphasise the role of government and the respect of democratic traditions but getting down in the service tunnels is just a lot more fun.  What I really want to do now is go down to the secret bunkers in the lower levels..... And also go out through the secret tunnels that allow secret comings and goings from nondescript places. 

Back to Henry's and fired up his computer to find accommodation. 

6:50 dep Henry's
     Put air in tyres
7:00 dep garage at Dickson.
Had a less that half hour stop at the Yass junk food service centre.  That is one place to avoid.  It would have to be the worst (smelly) KFC.
11:00pm Arrived Molong
Stayed at Molong Motor inn.  $130
Best value $130 we had all week.  Jim was very welcoming.  The room was clean and no smell of smoke or deodorant.



Things that were useful
Franks slip on shoes
Megan's ankle boots.  Quick and easy to put on after wearing ski boots.

Day packs / over night bags.

Having the car in the car park was a great base for sick kids or exhausted parents.

The mobile broadband worked well in the car.  (No service at Sponners)

Creamed honey is hard to spread when cold.  But still very nice to eat.
Megan making lunches from bread + creamed honey | Nutella | Strawberry Jam saved lots on money and was very nice.

Things to look out for
For kids, Pocket on shoulder or at least high on the left for putting the 'my ride' RFID lift pass in.

Bring
Small gas stove, Saucepan, water, milk, Milo or drinking chocolate.