Mar 7 Yass, Cootamundra

Mar 7

Left Canberra heading north to Yass, took a while because we got petrol and groceries and went to a hardware store.
We've done grocery shopping at Coles and Woolworth's. Both are usually big stores and the layout is not what we're used to. prices are high compared to the States: bananas $3.50 per kilo or $1.59 a lb.; fish varies, but can be $35.00/kg or $16/lb.; soup 3.50 a can; bread 3.50 a loaf. Aldi's stores are also common and IGAs in small towns. The Aldi we went into had everything from garden hoses to a huge food selection and cheaper than the other stores.
We've seen Kmart, Target - even a Target Country in a small town. The Targets mostly carry clothing and home items, like bedding. Most towns have a Crazy 'somebody' store that have discounted items, a bit like the Dollar stores. And the small towns we've been through that are commerce centers for the area have lots of local shops and cafes.
Yass was a fairly small town in the sheep and wheat growing part of New South Wales. The information lady said her father raised sheep for fine wool, used in Italian suits, but has trouble competing with the Chinese. He had 23,000 acres for the wool sheep, some lambs for eating and wheat. Many farmers are having trouble surviving and are selling off parcels of land. Land in that area goes for $900 to $1300 an acre.
We walked around Yass then drove on to Cootamundra, home of Don Bradford the most famous cricketer in Australia. We talked to a lady, Yvonne, at the information centre and she gave us good directions to his museum and the Cricket Captains walk. She said her house was near the walk and we should stop by for tea and biscuits. We saw the museum and a film about Sir Bradford and were thoroughly confused about the game of cricket. Right now Australia is playing India and have lost 3 Test matches, which we know is bad, but that's it.
Then we drove to the walk and it had busts of every captain of the Australian cricket team.

As we were leaving, Yvonne drove up and motioned us to her house. She invited us in for tea, biscuits and conversation. She was a woman in her 70's, she was a clerk for the Presbyterian Church, the head of the Elders Council and she preached at a church in a small town nearby.
She had recently been given permission to perform marriages. She explained how she had had to go through a long process to be able to do that. The only person who voted against her was the local preacher who said she was so popular she would get all of the weddings! There are very,very few women ministers in the Presyterian Church here. She had also run her own sheep station when her husband died. She told a story of her mother in the hospital when Yvonne was born. Her mother was French and a lifelong smoker. When the sister (nurse) came upon her nursing the baby with a cigarette in her mouth, she was horrified and, but her mother calmly said, "I'm keeping the ashes off her head."
What an excellent storyteller and what fun that was.