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I took last week off for a sentimental journey to the Blue Mountains, NSW approximately 700km (435 miles) from Wangaratta, VIC to visit the Jenolan Caves where
as a precocious three year old I had screamed my head off when the guide switched off the lights to demonstrate what total darkness looks like.
Being not that long out of the womb it was as far as I was concerned an entirely silly thing to do!
1.
My next visit to the Blue Mountains came 20 years later when I worked as a display artist for a large retail department store in Orange, NSW
and as almost sixty years have gone by since, I decided that I must go back to see how much of what I remembered remained - I have to say, not much.
2.
I found Cook Park had three new features, a conservatory, a fernery and an aviary in which there were a number of Australian bird species including the Crimson Rosella
which has always eluded me. Ross has them almost eating out of his hand! But I refuse to shoot caged birds for the same reasons that I would not shoot fish in a barrel.
3.
It was rather hot as I wandered the magnificently modernised town looking for things I might recognise from yesteryear of which there was little.
I could not even find the old two story weatherboard house I lived in with its top floor veranda and wrought iron balustrade.
It had been demolished to make space for a smart new medical centre (#4) - all in all a bit like looking for grandma's house in Dresden.
4.
The fernery offered cool respite from the heat which is where I ate lunch and shot some more images
just to illustrate that I had been there, done that, sort of attitude. Needless to say, not very good.
5.
The only building in the main street with character enough to be worth photographing was the post office
with an ugly unpainted galvanised pole stuck in front of it, so I've attempted to paint it.
6.
And finally, almost every Aussie outback town has a ROYAL HOTEL ... Just goes to prove what loyal little vegemites we are, don't it!
7.
The old Strand Theatre (one of the few old buildings in town left standing) rekindled memories of
Bogie and Bacall, Jimmy Stewart, Lana Turner, Cagney, Robert Mitchum, Dorothy Malone and so on!
8.
All images shot with the XZ-2
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