DIARY OF AN AUSSIE WOMBAT: WELCOME ALL TO FORT COURAGE! (Wentworth NSW)

HI! After saying Well, after packing up and putting some serious kilometres on the clock, we arrived in Wentworth NSW as we had to cross the Murray River again. We wondered where the Fort was but according to the GPS we had another 18 kilometres to go! So dad drove on the land was very flat with lots of mallee and salt bush. There had been a lot of rain over the last 24 hours and the brown lanscape had turned green very quickly and it looked and smelt wonderful. Dad drove on and wondered if we had missed it? Mum said to keep going and in the distance we saw a sign as we got nearer we saw the sign FORT COURAGE <- So we turned left and followed a very straight graded road to the river's edge and there it was, wayyyyyyyyyy in the distance ... Fort Courage. I asked mum where it got the name from, she told me we would find out after we set up and had lunch. Mum and I waited in the car while dad went to check in and find where we our site was. No free camping as dad sais 'just in case there is a medical emergency" Mum told him she was fine and had no intention of breaking the other arm" but dad insisted on a powered site. (Mum would be very pleased later when she saw the swimmimg area later in the afternoon and took it all back!)

We met Rayma and Steve the caretakers and many other people in the (as mum put it) "more mature age bracket". Everyone there was so nice and even one or two members of the angling club thought it might be fun to "pinch me" and hang me up in the games room! Mum explained why I couldn't be "pinched and hung" as I had a world wide following now and needed to do my blog! The man smiled and scratched my head and said "Shame...he's cute"... (well duh!). Then there was Terry Vietnam Veteran and his wife lynne, they were funny but they had a dog named Ollie! I was scared at first as he was a terrier and liked to goballistic with his toys and his soccer ball but when Lynne saw me "Oh my God! Who is this? Aren't you gorgeous!?" Again... Duh!, she picked me up and hugged me and showed me to Ollie, he licked me nose and wagged his tail and we were friends all the time we were here.

Fort Courage got its name mainly from a beer brewery but the courage was also for the Veterans who come so often to holiday, to enjoy the company and to fish... everyone is eual here and if you come on with your "hoi polloi" as mum calls it, you're soon knocked down to size. Not one person there was snobby they were all lovely!

SWIMMING HEAVEN! The angling club had boat moorings and two really big floating pontoons where the public could launch their fishing boats ($2 donation to the club in an honesty box if you weren't a paying guest), and seeing as dad left his boat up at the fishing cabin mum found a better use for the pontoons, with a massive yahoo mum ran down the floating launch and jumped straight in. Dad said she didn't come up for a while and got a bit worried, but further out mum's head popped up out of the Murray smiling and happy for this awesome 'launchpad'.

Every evening a lot of the regulars gathered in the games area for "happy hour" dad mentioned that happy hour started at 5pm and didn't finish until 11pm. Mum told dad to shut up and that we should go over to introduce ourselves, but dad said "no" :( we had two neighbours Bev and Peter who loved doing word puzzles and asked mum and dad for a bit of help at one stage. Then there was Ron and Kay they loved fishing and Ron told me that if Kay could go yabbying all day every day she would. Dad told Ron she was as sure footed as a mountain goat. Ron gave him a strange look and mum said "dad has the grammatical grace of a gnat at times" I have no idea what she meant so I just nodded.

Ok.. Spooky! There is an original station house there. The land was part of the Moorna Station and there's a ghost in there... no, really! His name is Albert and sometimes at night the lights will go on in his room when no one is there! The house is rented out and sleeps five people and then there's Albert's room. Rayma said she has left the door to the bedroom open many times but when she returned with clean sheets the door is closed. She puts a chair there to hold the door open and when she turns around she heared a chair being moved and the door gets shut again! Rayma told mum as the house wasn't being rented she talked to him and said "Albert! I know you like your privacy but as there's no one here, there's no need to keep on shutting the door!" after that.. the door wasn't shut. Mum said the paranormal people come and take photos at night and say they have proof.. the blue circular auras in his room... mum has had the same things happen on her photos in the hall at JIMBILL! I asked mum "is JIMBILL haunted"? she said it was but the lady loves having company and when the house is full it actually feels happier. I went over and sat outside Albert's window but I didn't see anything, but I felt someone was watching me. Oooh! Scaring myself now so no more talk about you know who in the you know what!

Mum told dad she was going over to say hello so dad went too... They met Jude and Max she was really kind and he was superb awesome!! I told mum he should be wearing a red pointy hat and live in some one's front garden 'coz he looked like a cute gnome and was about as tall as one too.... (I got a time out) Mum got cranky with me as Max was a veteran too and deserved respect. We took our BBQ meat and my salad over to the huge camp kitchen where we introduced ourselves where mum, Jude and Lynne talked and dad and Max played pool .

We all went on a day trip to Wentworth Gaol and the Folk Museum and it was in Beverley Street! (Mum's best mate) so she had to get a photo underneath the sign... the gaol cells were spooky and there was a tree there stating it was the first gaol. I reminded myself to behave myself because all it consisted off was a big dead tree with arm and leg shackles on it. The female cells were worse as there were only two! Mum read out the history and reasons why there were only two cells, the history stated there was a big mistake with the planning as they were fairlu big cells but the worst thing about them? They were usually crammed with women "Ladies of the Night" dad said, I don't know what that means... and lots and lots of Salvation Army Ladies! Mum said that it was because they weren't mainstream "Christians"... ok, why? "Good question" dad said. He said "people are still looked down on because of a different belief system and different values".. I looked st dad and said "that's just stupid!"... "Good answer!" mum said as she hugged me. We went through all the areas of the gaol and I laughed when dad went into the "dock" where the prisoner stood while the police handed the sentence from the judge to the superintendent about the length of the time to be served and if they were to be put to hard labour or whatever. Dad made a face like he was in big trouble, mum took the photo. I really laughed when dad put his hands and head into the stocks but only looked through the head hole. Mum called out "stick your head all the way in". Dad said "no.. I might get stuck", mum replied "and your problem is?.....".

At the folk museum we all watched a video about the 1956 floods that basically wiped out the town! The town was saved by tractors of all things, a special tractor called the Furgeson or "Fergie" for short. They even have a monument to the tractor in the town. Wentworth is a very special place as it is where the two rivers, The Murray and the Darling meet. I learnt a new word today "conjunction" I am getting to be a very edumakated Wombat!

We swam two to three times every day and dad is still practicing his dives... We understand how this place is popular! We came for five days and stayed for ten! We were sorry to leave but couldn't stay any longer. We packed up and Max, Jude, Terry, Lynne and everyone came to seee us off. Mum got a kiss off Max and I got a tummy rub. We said good byes telling the people there we would be back.

Until next time enjoy the pics!

love Tahune xxx