Bathurst proved to be a very interesting town and, as we drove out after spending a couple of days there, we were reminded just how civilised it was. On the left hand side of the road a group of women were playing bowls while on the right a game of croquet was underway, all very pleasant.
We headed on down to Victoria through Gundegai, home of The Dog on the Tuckerbox. There is a statue of the dog who I thought was Australia's version of Greyfriars Bobby but he turns out to just be the subject of a rather lewd poem. However, everyone takes pictures of their own dog by the statue and last time we were there, one family were even trying to balance their puppy on a plastic tuckerbox for a photo. 
We carried on through Cowra which is famous for a mass breakout by over 1100 Japanese prisoners of war who were being held there. The ensuing chase was very bloody and over 200 POWs and 4 Australian soldiers were killed before the remainder were recaptured.
Although most towns cannot boast about anything as dramatic as a prison breakout, they all have little slogans or bits of information on the town name signs. So, on through Young (City of Cherries), Wombat (Population 120) then on to Cootamundra, the birthplace of Don Bradman. There is a Don Bradman Museum and a road called Captain's Walk but you will not see a Don Bradman Tea Rooms or souvenir figurines as the family successfully managed to win a court action to prevent his name being used for commercial purposes.
We drove through a little twister, which was quite exciting, then the landscape started to change as we headed for the Snowy Mountains. After endless grey-green eucalypts and brown grass we began to see patches of lush green pine trees on the mountains.
They grow apples up here because the winters are cold enough but they have to shade all the apple trees fron sun and bugs in the summer. One town, Batlow, is home to the Big Apple. As with all big things I have seen so far, this was not very big and a bit of a disappointment, I am still hopeful I may see an impressive big thing soon.
Finally we reached our next destination, Corryong which is at the base of Mount Sugarloaf and across Kosciusku National Park from the Snowy Mountains in the Murray Valley.Our campsite was in Colac colac (pronounced Clack clack) and was possibly the nicest we have ever stayed in. It was completely shaded by huge trees and had a creek running through it. When we used to caravan in England and France I was always after a sunny pitch but I have become Australian very quickly in that regard and now really appreciate any shade.
The campsite was connected to Corryong by a cycle path so we pedalled into town where there was a statue of the Man from Snowy River who is a character in a very long poem by Banjo Paterson, in the less exciting country shows around these parts they have competitions for reciting the poem! We visited the excellent Man From Snowy River Museum which, thankfully, was not just about him. It housed a blanket map of Australia knitted by a local man while he was a prisoner of war in Germany, his captors demanded his pullover to send to their troops and he unravelled it so the could not have it and then set about knitting all kinds of things from scavenged wool, culminating in the map. The museum had also rescued old wooden buildings from the town as they were replaced and out the back were the schoolhouse, the bank, an old cottage and plenty of others from when the town had a population of only a couple of hundred. It was fantastic and well worth a visit.
The afternoon was spent exploring tiny towns on the banks of the Murray, our favourite discovery was Jingellic where it is okay to camp for free on the riverbank below the pub as long as you give the pub your custom, I can't see that being too much of a problem.