Peterborough

It was a few hours to Peterborough and a whole lot of nothing in between. We did get stopped at a quarantine spot and had our mixed lettuce leaves taken. I had some schoolwork to do so I'd downloaded a bunch of documents the night prior so I could be productive, and I actually was! Made the trip fly, for me at least. We got into Peterborough and headed for the information centre at Steamtown. We had a look at some flyers and booked in for the Sound and Light show tonight, dogs welcome! We also have access to do the day tour tomorrow, we're planning on doing that after pack up in the morning. Off to the caravan park to set up. A small park, but it has a nice feel to it, the breeze blowing through is making it feel much nicer than the 30 degrees it apparently was. We decided to head out and have a bit of a wander around, it's not a huge town at all, but it's quirky. We went to each of the 4 individually designed Peterborough signs, walked along the main street, into the heritage railway carriage and stopped for a photo with the statue of Bob the railway dog. He would've had a much harder life than pup, someone remind him of that next time he's carrying on please. We checked out the local pubs for dinner options and weren't really feeling it, so we headed back to the trailer for a lie down. Our tummies have been a bit off today too, so the quiet time was much needed. Ben cooked up steak and we got ourselves ready for the tour. There was another dog absolutely going off when we got there, so we thought this was going to be interesting. We kept pup away from her and noticed the owners put a muzzle on. We had a chat with another couple who had travelled from Tassie, via Geelong, Mount Gambier, Hahndorf, pretty much the same as us, but in reverse. Just before we went through for the tour, I went and asked the old fella with the dog if he'd rather be at the front or back of the group. He was very apologetic, saying he's hoping she'll calm soon as she's not yet 2. He was so kind and I tried to reassure him, said Titan was much the same, similar breeds etc, he was really good about it. That lead to a bunch of the other oldies asking about Pup and saying how nice we were about it. We weren't really sure what to expect with this tour, definitely right up Cameron's alley. There was a steam train lit up with its Whistle going with a bit of a story before we moved on. We went out into the yard and climbed onto the carriage on the turntable, and made ourselves comfortable. It was essentially set up like the movies where they played clips about Peterborough and its history, while lighting up the locos and carriages surrounding it. It was pretty cool, definitely different! After the tour we headed back to camp for a snack, a shower for ben and bed time.Read more

It got quite cold overnight and the wind was absolutely blowing this morning. A big change from 32 degrees yesterday to a top of 18 today. We battled it while packing up then headed back to Steamtown for our morning tour. We were taken out to John who keeps the tours looping around the Roundhouse and rail yard, you just join wherever he is and loop until you've seen it all. Quite a few train buffs in our group, with lots of questions and facts to share. I said Ben was doing some professional learning while on holidays, he laughed but would've preferred to 'be anywhere else' 😅 Pup was a very good boy, rugged up in his flanno. Once we'd finished our loop tour, we popped into the diesel shed to look at more exhibits and information. I felt like the tours were really good value and were the right amount of time, it didn't drag out (apart from when the buffs wouldn't stop talking ha!), and it didn't feel rushed either. Back on the road to Hawker then on to Rawnsley Park Station tonight.Read more