The two weeks of thirty-degree or higher weather broke overnight with the arrival of a cooler change and a tiny amount of rain. We woke up to a cool house — at last — and a pair of absolutely crazy dogs. Both Boris and Scarlet were suddenly full of boundless energy, racing back and forth and sniffing at all the wonderful wet garden smells.
After breakfast, Mum and Dad and Jo and I headed out to Braidwood for the morning, an ex-gold-mining town two-thirds of the way from Canberra to the NSW South Coast. The town always seemed to have two claims to fame; it was where Ned Kelly was filmed, and it slowed people down on their way to and from the coast. Now it seems that every second shop is a gallery or a coffee shop, and on the weekend at least, the place is thriving.
The best find of all was a small sign that I spotted half-way up an alley, pointing off to the Braidwood brewery — a micro-brewery hidden away in a shed at the back of a shop. Dragging everyone inside, a strange conversation ensued. The owner/brewer/head bottle-washer remarked that it was always the visitors from Victoria that came inside for a look around, Victoria seems to have a thriving micro-brewery culture, while NSW residents pass on by or refuse to drink anything that isn’t mass produced and mass-marketed. I pointed out that we lived five minutes walk from the Goat brewery, and he asked where in Richmond we lived, when I said “Westbank Terrace” he knew the street! Prior to his life as a brewer, he had worked for Channel 9, five minutes walk from our house in the opposite direction to Goat beer.
Canberra airport security decided to randomly pick me and scan me for traces of explosives. Bit my lip and refrained from any jokes, security staff being renown for their total lack of any sense of humour. Small things were wiped over my clothes and inside my luggage, then inserted in an interesting looking machine. I assume that it gave the all clear, nobody seemed to want to take me away and ask me nasty question!
Leaving Canberra airport we had a magnificent view down over the city, the plane took off to the north and then turned 180° banking over the suburbs of Hackett and Downer, then flew straight over the centre of town, as it was banked over we could see all the streets and suburbs where I used to live, the dirt roads through the nature reserve where I rode to work, and even make out the roof of my flat.
