The main road from Sydney to Canberra (which we also pick up coming from Wollongong) is officially called the Hume Highway. Although considering the amount of roadwork that I encountered on the way down there on this trip, it may as well have been called the Hume Car Park.

It has another name as well; the Remembrance Driveway. The traffic authorities here in Australia recommend that you drive for no more than 2 hours at a time without taking a break. One of the things that they have done well is to ensure that there are plenty of places to do that along the Hume Highway. Each one is dedicated to a specific winner of the Victoria Cross, Australia's highest military decoration.

This spot here is dedicated to then Sgt Thomas Derrick, who in November 1943 was a platoon commander in the 2/48th Infantry Battalion in New Guinea. Long story short, he led his platoon on what appeared to be an impossible attack on Japanese held positions, overcoming several of them by himself. Just over a year later he was commissioned as a Lieutenant, and was killed on Tarakan Island (in Indonesia, just off the east coast of Borneo) on 24 May 1945.

For all the talk of the dead of the world wars being remembered and honoured forever more, I doubt that very many people, particularly those who have not lived long enough to see war, pay a lot of attention to memorials such as this. Although clearly some do; obviously I did, for example. It's not some grand edifice; it's a very quiet place which I suppose is more appropriate if you're looking for a place to allow people to reflect on a life, or at least those who do. There are a couple of pergolas to provide shelter. There is a toilet which is in reality a toilet seat mounted over a deep hole. There was a cat without a tail wandering around from I know not where since whatever housing exists in this area is not close. I had nothing for the cat but fortunately a couple of other travellers had some tinned food that they could give it.

You can hear the traffic from the highway, but the rest stop is some way away and buffered by trees. The sound is therefore somewhat muffled. When the wind blows, the trees rustle but there is very little other noise. It's not a place that invites you to stay, but it is one which provides you with a little respite.

I have a virtual catch up with my work team each Friday, which is supposed to be social. (As in, we should not be talking about work.) Originally my intention was to drop in on that meeting while having an early lunch at a cafe near the town of Collector. The amount of roadwork ensured that that would not happen, and instead I found myself here around the time of the call. It seemed as good a place as any for a half-hour chat, so that's what I did.

It's amazing how much we take for granted these days. It wasn't that long ago in absolute terms that if you wanted to talk to someone who was elsewhere, you would need a telephone handset which is wired into copper cable networks. Now, you can join a video discussion group of half a dozen people spread from the Central Coast of New South Wales, to the Hawkesbury area, to central Sydney, and me on the road to Canberra with nothing more than a wireless modem plugged into my USB port.

So here I am, surrounded by peace and tranquillity... and yet still connected to the world.

(Needless to say, this is another example of my newish fisheye lens being put to good use.)