Day 401 Scottsdale Saturday 3rd March 2012

Legerwood carving

Plaque for the carving above

Another carving

Carving detail

View down the row of carvings

One of the better looking buildings in Derby

Hi Folks
from a fairly damp Scottsdale. We are at the Northeast free camp on the edge of town. Quite a respectable site well populated with tourists, decent toilets, pay showers and bbq’s etc. We are currently huddled under the awning as steady light rain falls both at our laptops blogging furiously.
We had an efficient pack up this morning at Stumpy’s and headed back along the road to Derby an old tin mining town, The town looks to have seen better days. However there is a new interpretive centre for the Briseies dam disaster of 1929 when the dam wall above the town collapsed during heavy rain (475mm in 48 hours. The water raced through the tin mine below the dam and through Derby with 14 people drowned.
From Derby we headed to Legerwood to view a unique grove of honor to locals who fell in WWI. The trees were planted in 1918. In 1999 the council declared they were a safety risk and needed to be cut down. The local community fundraised, researched the men’s stories and photographs. A chainsaw carver Eddie Freeman was engaged and the pictured sculptures are a result. Quite unique.
Next stop was Scottsdale the largest town in the district. A few food items 8 litres of chateau cardboard (it’s thirsty work on the road) and half a dozen beers. After checking out the free camp we headed to Bridport since Susan had a description of it being a picturesque seaside community with harbour and fish markets. It was a bit of a disappointment to say the least. We returned to Scottsdale and under leadening skies setup our camp. Tea is cooked and eaten another delicious Susan preparation. After our blogging the table and chairs go away and the swag goes down. As long as the wind doesn’t blow the rain horizontal we should be dry.

Night Folks

Cheers Simon