This is catch up,for last night.
I left the campsite at Lake Wallace to head for Lithgow. It is rather unusual that the three power stations in this area are described as being major suppliers of electricity to Sydney. Anyway it is a very nice campsite.
Lithgow was next stop and by the time that I got there it was raining. The main thing to see in Lithgow is the small arms factory. I am not into firearms but it would be foolish not to check out this big piece of Australian history. The factory was started by the government in 1912 but was sold to the French company Thales a few years ago. They are still operating and apparently making much the same things but on a much smaller scale in terms of space used so there is a huge amount of empty factory space on the site. The museum had a guard cum guide on the door and after paying him he unlocks the door to let you in, this is a secure facility and viewing the contents it is easy to see why. So one takes off looking at the exhibits which include some very interesting artworks and some very large photographs of the factory floor during the twenties etc. The overriding impression from the photographs is the absolutely dominant number belts driving the machinery. During the war years and the years in between it was common for factories the have an internal combustion engine (sometimes an electric motor) driving overhead shafts by leather belts which in turn drive the individual machines again by leathers belts. These belts run from the roof down to the machines and with the large numbers of machines it looked like an inpenatratable forrest of moving and very dangerous leather drive belts. I can just imagine that the noise was horrendous and there must have been lots of nasty accidents. The rest of the exhibition showed the various weapons made by the factory together with lots of other items made to keep the work force active when there was not a lot of demand for weapons. Included in the exhibition was a donated private collection of 900 weapons, that is a lot of weaponry to be in private hands.
Then onwards and eastwards with continual rain just to make journey down the mountains just a little bit exciting. Being unsure of my van’s reaction to tight corners and wet roads and not wanting to deal with a van trying to go sideways I was very cautious. However as we proceeded I gained confidence and really enjoyed the very scenic drive. My intention was to stop at Katoomba falls but visibility was so bad I changed to plan B and continued down the hill eventually arriving at Joanna and Michael’s house in Dover Heights. They now have a free loader for a few days.
The first of those days, being today, I had a very pleasurable morning with uncle Gordon. We had coffee and lunch and Gordon treated me to a tour of the beachs. I had forgotten how hilly and spectacular it is in Sydney.
I left the campsite at Lake Wallace to head for Lithgow. It is rather unusual that the three power stations in this area are described as being major suppliers of electricity to Sydney. Anyway it is a very nice campsite.
Lithgow was next stop and by the time that I got there it was raining. The main thing to see in Lithgow is the small arms factory. I am not into firearms but it would be foolish not to check out this big piece of Australian history. The factory was started by the government in 1912 but was sold to the French company Thales a few years ago. They are still operating and apparently making much the same things but on a much smaller scale in terms of space used so there is a huge amount of empty factory space on the site. The museum had a guard cum guide on the door and after paying him he unlocks the door to let you in, this is a secure facility and viewing the contents it is easy to see why. So one takes off looking at the exhibits which include some very interesting artworks and some very large photographs of the factory floor during the twenties etc. The overriding impression from the photographs is the absolutely dominant number belts driving the machinery. During the war years and the years in between it was common for factories the have an internal combustion engine (sometimes an electric motor) driving overhead shafts by leather belts which in turn drive the individual machines again by leathers belts. These belts run from the roof down to the machines and with the large numbers of machines it looked like an inpenatratable forrest of moving and very dangerous leather drive belts. I can just imagine that the noise was horrendous and there must have been lots of nasty accidents. The rest of the exhibition showed the various weapons made by the factory together with lots of other items made to keep the work force active when there was not a lot of demand for weapons. Included in the exhibition was a donated private collection of 900 weapons, that is a lot of weaponry to be in private hands.
Then onwards and eastwards with continual rain just to make journey down the mountains just a little bit exciting. Being unsure of my van’s reaction to tight corners and wet roads and not wanting to deal with a van trying to go sideways I was very cautious. However as we proceeded I gained confidence and really enjoyed the very scenic drive. My intention was to stop at Katoomba falls but visibility was so bad I changed to plan B and continued down the hill eventually arriving at Joanna and Michael’s house in Dover Heights. They now have a free loader for a few days.
The first of those days, being today, I had a very pleasurable morning with uncle Gordon. We had coffee and lunch and Gordon treated me to a tour of the beachs. I had forgotten how hilly and spectacular it is in Sydney.
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