Arboretum through Yass to Gundagai then on to Young for lunch, Cowra for a branch stretch, Blayney to see the windfarm and then Bathurst where they lodged at The Victoria pub for two nights; they made a stop at Mt Panaroma to get their photo taken on "the mountain"
A story from the Friends of the National Arboretum Canberra.
On 29 July this year, David and his wife were visiting the Arboretum when he received news of his father’s passing. David wanted to purchase a Wollemi pine, grown as part of the Friends of the National Arboretum Canberra (FNAC) Wollemi Pine Propagation Project, to plant in memory of his father who used to take school children on bus excursions to the Arboretum. However, as the couple were flying back to Brisbane in the following days, it was suggested David purchase one from the second release of Wollemi in the spring when things in his family were more settled.
As it happened, Nicola and Andy, a couple who were visiting from Brisbane purchased a Wollemi Pine at the Harvest Group’s Market Stall at the Arboretum on Saturday, 26 November and were going to continue touring for a period of nine days before arriving home. They were asked if they would be willing to take a Wollemi for David and they kindly agreed. Due to the recent floods, Nicola and Andy had to take inland roads. They reached Brisbane on 6 December and invited David to get together on the following Sunday to collect his much-travelled Wollemi pine from the Arboretum! Nicola and Andy took photos of the Wollemis at every location they stopped to visit!
Nicola provided a description of the trip as follows:
"The Wollemi were secured in plastic tubs, which sat behind the passenger seat, kept in the lovely air con of the car or carefully placed in our lodgings to ensure they had some light. They were watered when they needed it, and never left in full sun for long, nor did we leave them in the car for any length of time -- it was just like caring for twin babies :-)
They travelled safely and carefully with us for 9 days. In total, they would have travelled about 2500km with us!”
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After Bathurst they travelled through Orange, stopping in at Parkes to see The Dish, they also stopped at Tomingley to meet the alpacas and the highlight was going to Dubbo Western Plains Zoo. Lodgings were a little sketchy when we first arrived in Dubbo, so we found more suitable accommodation which was just fine... they had lovely views looking over the golf course during the day
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When leaving Dubbo we needed to make the decision of travelling north and hit potential road closures from the recent floods or heading inland to avoid that -- so inland we went! Travelling through Gilgandra up to Coonabarabran for morning tea and a glimpse of the silo art, then across to Tamworth where we stopped for a catch up with an old friend, then up to Armidale for a late lunch and then Glen Innes to see the Celtic Standing Stones
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Our Glen Innes accommodation was a simple place so the Wollemi stayed overnight in the car (parked right outside our motel room door). We were only there one night and didn't want to keep moving them around too much, you know = something similar to “don't wake the sleeping baby”!
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Our next move was a drive out to Inverell and up through Tenterfield for lunch and then on to Ballandean where we stayed for two nights ... the Wollemi had a very peaceful and relaxing time in their own room overlooking the Just Reds vineyard
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Then we arrived home to Brisbane - where we said goodbye to our adopted Wollemi and handed it over to David
Many thanks to Andy and Nicola for their generosity in taking such good care of their adoptive Wollemi until collected. What a great story!
Article: Ange McNeilly | Photos: Andy McLaren | Map & Trip Description: Nicola Craig
Purchase a Wollemi pine HERE to help secure the ongoing survival and conservation of this rare and threatened species!
The Wollemi Propagation Project is a project by the Friends of the National Arboretum Canberra. Funds raised support future Arboretum projects.
