Carnarvon Gorge Trip - Homeward Bound - Saturday 12-4-2014

Saturday 12-4-2014

We arose from a good nights sleep to establish that although the motel has a toaster and jug that no plates or bowls are supplied.  Later at checkout I asked about this and they said that such items are available upon request.  One of the kids used the supplied milk to make a cerial and drink it from a mug.

I had a look on the net for the Roma rubbish dump / tip.  Neither Google, yellow pages or several other map type web sites knew of its location.  Check it out yourself.  Even the Roma council web site does not have the address.  Luckily the motel manager was able to give us directions.

For future reference the directions to the Roma Rubbish Tip are:
      Head East on Bungil St and look for the blue signs to the Rubbish Tip.

Dropped Megan, Kate, Jemma & Dan in town and Chris and I began our pilgrimage.  Following the managers directions and nice blue signs we headed out of town.  A long way out of town.  When we arrived we knew why the council did not advertise its address and put it so far out of town.  It had an aroma of sorts.  Avoiding vomiting ad trying to position ones nose on the leeward side of our face was the best we could do.  Pausing just long enough for a photo, we untied the rubbish and decided we would ditch the partially shredded blue tarp as this facilitated a quick departure.

Miles Historic Village
After breakfast we drove to Miles to visit the historic village.  Arriving around 1pm

The amazing thing here was we wandered around for about 3 1/2 hours.  It's not one specific era.    Just old stuff arranged in a fascinating way.  It stimulates your imagination.  I recall wandering the War Memorial in Canberra as a kid and just dreaming.  When I have been back in recent years my senses have been overloaded with multimedia shows.  The Miles historical society are probably not blessed with a budget that extends to the creation of such multi media add-ons.

Check out this ancient pin-ball machine.  On the front it looks exciting.  Numbers and lights to tell you the score and on the playing surface pits and places for the ball to land in.

But the real surprise is in the back.  The whole thing runs on motors, solenoids and relays.  I assume a huge electro mechanical state machine.  It would be fascinating to restore it to working order but I suspect that would take a lot of time and I'll bet that even when working it would require constant attention to keep it working.

I hope it operates off something less than 240V.  My guess would be 60V telcom relays.

 On a train bound for nowhere.

How do you get a dam heavy steam loco into your museum.  Well given the rail line is just across the highway, you put in a set of points and build a branch line.  The branch line blocked the highway for two days and they shunted the loco across and into position.

Dinner was takeaway Chinese MSG & Salt.  We dropped into Easterfest.  Tony was on the gate and we bribed him with a corn chip.  Had dinner in Glynn Land.  That is the hub of the comms and power resource area.  Then we went to look at "The Palace"  A new tent this year.  Inside was pitch black.  By phone light we danced on the stage and wandered around. 

Then it was back in the car for the final drive home.  Ariiving 10pm ish.