Sometimes on a trip it is the unexpected things you come across rather than attractions on the itinerary which are most interesting. Today was one of those occasions when we saw a sign to "Bradman's Birthplace" while passing through Cootamundra.

On a previous trip we'd visited the Bradman Museum & International Cricket Hall of Fame at Bowral and think we must have assumed that Don Bradman was born there. 

However on entering The Bradman Birthplace Museum at 89 Adams Street, Cootamundra, we discovered that Granny Scholz operated a small private hospital in the front room of this building and she was the mid-wife who delivered "The greatest batsman the world has ever known" on 27 August 1908 in this very building. Bradman lived at Yeo Yeo, nearby Cootamundra, before the family moved to Bowral when he was around 3 years old.

Restored by the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council, the building contains cricket memorabilia on Sir Don and local Cootamundra teams which we found very interesting. 

Here we also found out about Cootamundra's Captains Walk. Located in Jubilee Park, this features 42 bronze sculptures of Australian Test Cricket Captains, along with Unaarrimim the leading Aboriginal player in the first Australian cricket team to tour England in 1868. Reflective of the times no doubt, it was interesting to note that the early captains had moustaches and some beards. In addition to his bust in the Captains Walk, there is a life sized statue of Bradman in a typical cover drive stance which was unveiled as part of Sir Donald's 92^nd birthday celebrations in August 2000.

 

Next stop for the day was at the Junee Licorice & Chocolate Factory, located at the restored Junee Flour Mill. Unfortunately this was a bit of a disappointment as we thought there'd be a better display and explanation of how their chocolates and licorice is made, but it was basically just looking at the process through some windows.

At least they were doing some chocolate coating, whether that was nuts, ginger or something else we don't know and there was licorice being produced, which isn't always the case.

 

 

We stopped at a rest area just past Wagga Wagga for lunch. Of course we had the sandwiches left over from yesterday's lunch at Rosa's! Along with some fresh fruit that should have sufficed until dinner, but we just couldn't resist stopping at Quinty, Bakehouse for a cake and a cuppa as we passed through Uranquinty.

Our original itinerary had us staying at Albury tonight, but we decided to travel a bit further today so tomorrow's run home would be a little shorter and so selected Chiltern for our stopover, however with the various stops it was after 4pm when we arrived.

Dinner was mushroom ravioli with a creamy mushroom sauce and garlic bread. Banana and ice cream followed by a cuppa completed our last dinner on the road for this trip.