Day 15 Prisoners of War and rest.

After a sleep in, we awoke to a very pleasant day on the banks of the Murumbidgee River.  A slow breaky, and pack up saw us heading north again.

There were severe thunderstorm warnings, strong winds and hail for Dubbo (to our north) and Wagga Wagga to our east, as well as smaller storms to our west and south. All seemed to be taking an easterly bearing.  Our travelling companions were heading for Dubbo today, to visit the Zoo.

We chose to use the IPhone to access the Bureau of Meterology's weather radars again.  Using the weather radars offered an interesting way to navigate, it saw us on some back by-ways, including the by-way named after the lady on the back of our $10 note which has Banjo Patterson - author of the "Man from Snowy River" on the front. Taking the "Mary Gilmore Way" (Mary Gilmore was a radical socialist writer of the late 1800's before becoming a well noted Poet) to take a lengthy break at a small one horse town of Barmedman where we enjoyed a bowl of hot chips and bugers at the only petrol station/ road house in town for lunch.

We joined the Widwestern Highway at Grenfell and needing to now come in the back of yet another storm, charted a course for Cowra, the rural town that was the scene of a major Prisoner of War (POW) Camp breakout in the 1940's. With the ongoing storms, very wet ground and a long day's drive, we decided to use a cabin in a caravan park. Before choosing a camp, we visited the Japense Gardens and the historic site of the POW Camp. Several hundred were killed as a result of this breakout, including one Australian citizen, a farmer, by a group of Japanese excapee's.  All were eventually caught.

We then chose to stop at the Cowra Holiday Park, about 4k's to the east of Cowra. I highly recommend this park, the recently new owners are lovely, the rates are very reasonable, the camp ground is clean and tidy. This gave us a chance to do some laundry before we hit further bush camps and then Glen Innes, our next multi-night stop. See: http://www.cowraholidaypark.com.au/

No photo's today.

Camp:  Cowra Holiday Park  $80 for a family cabin (sleeps 8) for the night.

GPS:  33 49' 09.05S

          148 44'05.90E

Weather:  Stormy and Rainy, though temperatures were pleasant.