Well we made it safely, notwithstanding that the road is not that great. We stopped at the town of Parkes on the way through, which is a good size town. It has the CSIRO radio telescope there, but we decided to see it on our next trip. One of the things we want to do is go to the Elvis Festival, which is held there in January every year.
I spoke to one of the locals and she told me that we should have our accommodation booked already or we might miss out. She said that the town is just full on 'Elvis' for the week. Sounds great to us.
From there we continued on and stopped in the little town of Eugowra ( population 533) for a coffee. Keeping in line with so many others, they had some really good murals. Its claim to fame is that it was Bushranger central way back when. It has the dubious honour of having the biggest ever gold robbery committed in its area back in 1862. Bushranger Frank Gardiner robbed the heavily defended gold cart and stole 2700 oz of gold. Eventually most of it was recovered, with the remainder allegedly buried in the hills around Eugowra. Must get that gold detector straight away.
Into Cowra and settled in at the Showgrounds. Much cheaper than the caravan park and has all that we need. The town is a pretty good size (population 9000) with plenty of shops and a good size hospital.
Got up bright and early to the sound of trotting horses running around the track. Pretty cool really. Then it was off to a full day exploring.
The first stop was to the Info centre, to watch a hologram of the famous Cowra Prison Break. I hope you have your pen and paper because the history lesson starts here. During the 2nd World War, there were several prison camps in Australia, with a big one at Cowra. On August 5th 1944, at 1.50am, the Japanese prisoners broke out of the Cowra Prisoner of War Camp. Over 1000 escaped and during the escape 231 Japanese prisoners and 4 Australian Guards were killed. 2 Australian Privates were awarded the George Cross (post humus) for their heroism during the breakout. They manned a Vickers machine gun at the point of escape and were responsible for most of the deceased prisoners. It took about 9 days to round up all of the escapees after the break out.
Also held at the camp were Italian and Indonesian prisoners, but no other groups took part in the escape. Conditions were so good that on one occasion, an Italian prisoner that had been left in town by mistake, walked back to the camp himself in the middle of the night, and demanded to be let in. The Japanese were so different to all other prisoners, as to them, being captured alive brought shame to their families, and they were prepared/hoping to die during the break out.
The Info centre has a really good hologram show that explains the breakout and aftermath. Well worth a look. They also have a Vickers machine gun and other camp memorabilia.
We headed out first to check out the Japanese and Australian War Cemetaries. They are so well kept and a real credit to the area. Only this week, being an anniversary of the breakout, the Ambassador of Japan was in Cowra for a dedication at the Cemetary. Just walking through the graves, it is incredible the ages of the Japanese deceased. Most of the Australian war graves are of young men 18 - 40 whereas most of the Japanese graves were aged from 50 - 76. A lot of these may have been from internees kept there during the war, but a lot were also obviously soldiers, dying during the breakout. One interesting fact is that this is the only known Japanese War Cemetary in the world, except in Japan of course.
We then headed up to where the Prisoner of War Camp had been. It is a pity that there are just very basic remains left. After the war the entire camp was broken up and sold, right down to the electrical equipment. Maybe the government just needed the money. Since then they have put up a replica Guard tower, which is pretty good. When you stand near the tower, a tape starts, and the story of the break comes out over the loud speakers. It is really well done.
We continued our stroll and checked out the local kangaroo population and some of the birdlife. I was lucky enough to get a photo of 2 kangaroos, both with joeys in their pouches.
It was then time to go and check out the Peace Bell in town. It is really pretty cool. Deb tested it out while we were there. It is another place that has the story played through speakers when you stand near it. The bell weighs 477Kg and it was made up from coins donated from a vast amount of other countries that also have a Peace Bell. This is the only Peace Bell that is not in a capital city and it was awarded to Cowra for their efforts at reconciliation with Japan.
After lunch it was time to head out to the Japanese Gardens. These were built in Cowra, with a lot of financial assistance from Japan. The gardens are really beautiful, with the usual water features and finely manicured gardens. There is a really cool tea house in the centre, as well as a Japanese house. There were lots of birds there as well, and I did attempt to get some photos of them, if only those pesky tourists would get out of the way when I want to get a photo. Even managed to get a photo of a bee inside a flower.
After the gardens it was up to the lookout, to check out the area and then back to the van. It is such a beautiful area, no wonder the Italian prisoners wanted to stay here. Pity it is so cold. The forecast when we got here was for -2 overnight and 0 the next night. Yeh, I know, toughen up princess.
Off to Wagga Wagga bright and early tomorrow.
By4now.
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