Sunday 24 March 2013


Dawdling to Dubbo

Monday 18th March

We left Armidale this morning and had only ventured as far as Uralla – about 24 kms when Pikelets with Passionfruit Butter began calling to us. Needless to say, we promptly answered the call and stopped at (162) Alma Park for morning tea.
 
 
 
 
 
It was the prettiest park and the yummiest morning tea!
 
 
 
From there we continued on through the magnificent country side and stopped at (169) Moonbi Park and Lookout.
 
 



We walked to the top and I did my most authentic looking Marilyn Munroe impression.
 

The view from the lookout was incredible. There are not enough wows to describe our fabulous landscapes.


The lookout and park were built in 1938 and I’m sure would have been a wonderful and very popular stopping place back in the days of the old highway
 
 

From there, it was on through Tamworth. Not a big fan, to me it is just a really big town with all the hustle and bustle and none of the charm of country living.

We finally stopped at (330) Red Bank Rest Area a freebie for the night, about 12 km east of Gunnedah. There was one other caravan and 40 thousand flies! Ron ended up fleeing inside Indie just to escape them!
 
 

Tuesday 19th March

We stopped at Gunnedah just long enough to do the groceries. Wow has it grown since we were here twenty five or so years ago. We have fond memories of shooting at Gunnedah in the Dual Range Championships - always held on Mother’s Day weekend in May – always freezing cold! I particularly remember one year when we opted to stay in the hotel in town when the kids were little and ended up sleeping 5 adults and six kids in the one room! Those were the days!

We stopped at (335) Oxleys Crossing Rest Area for lunch and ended up sharing our picnic table with a couple on their way home to Townsville after touring Tasmania and another couple from Victoria on their way to visit relatives in Brisbane.

We drove on through Coonabarabran and thought to ourselves – wow- we have come a long way!
 
Turns out it was not a sign for the nearest rest stop but part of ‘The Worlds Largest Virtual Solar System Drive’ -  a scaled model 38 million times smaller than space, it stretches from Siding Springs Observatory to Dubbo.
The rest stops were pretty ordinary (right next to the road and no toilets) so we drove on to Gilgandra and stayed at a pretty ordinary caravan park (Akropolis Motel and Barney’s Caravan Park) for $25.00 – at least it did have toilets (and showers).
Wednesday 20th March
We stopped at the Tourist Information Centre at Gilgandra because they have a beaut exhibition dedicated to the ‘Coo-ee March’ in 1915. The aim of the march was to recruit one volunteer per mile along the 320 mile route from Gilgandra to Sydney.
A total of 351 men did volunteer but only 263 were finally accepted for service.
 

The Coo-ees on Parade at the Domain, Sydney Tuesday, 7th March 1916.
The troops were reviewed by the Governor-General, Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson.
They embarked for Egypt at Woolloomooloo wharf on the ship A-15, T.S.S. Star of England on 8th March, 1916.


Then, with the galahs looking on, we swung out past Neptune and on to (933) Terramungamine Reserve.
 
 
What a lovely spot - right on the edge of the river, lovely and green and with fewer flies.


 
 
 

  After a rousing (and very noisy) welcome from our nearest neighbours, the corellas,  we walked down the nearby track, past the stately river gums with their extraordinary coloured bark and came to the Aboriginal grinding grooves site. The grooves are formed as a result of sharpening axe and hatchet edges, rejuvenation of edges and occasionally seed grinding.
 
 
 

Afterwards, I put our Rapid Boil to good use by making myself some 2 minute noodles for lunch.

 
Shortly after lunch, the place started to really fill up, and what a lovely group they all turned out to be. There was Rodney and Val Witt from Yeppoon who invited us to call by if we get up their way. We spent almost the whole afternoon chatting with them and then we adjourned to Indie for sundowners
 

There we were joined by random campers most of whose names we never did find out.

 

And Bill and Janelle. They were from near Coffs Harbour and also had a Toaster (Toyota Coaster). It was a short wheel base one, a replacement for their previous one which had burnt down.  

 

Thursday 21st March

We were sitting outside Indie this morning, breakfasting and enjoying the sunshine and the view when one of last night’s randoms appeared and very kindly offered us free tickets to Dubbo Zoo for today if we wanted them as they were of no use to them. We declined because we had been a couple of years ago.

Ronnie did a bit of a clean out and got rid of lots of bits of old papers and put our copy of Camps 5 (our previous bible) on the rubbish bin lid in case someone might want it. We have Camps 6, and Camps 7 is out now as well.
 
 
Around mid-morning it got a bit windy and I decided that it was a perfect drying day so Ronnie was dispatched to the amenities block to fetch a pail of water and I took up the position of washer woman with unbounded enthusiasm.
 
 

By 3.30 pm it was all dry.

By this time, the camp site was filling up again and we gained a new neighbour, Karl and his dog Suzy.
 
As I was chatting with Karl it came to pass that he did not have a copy of any directory for free camping so I directed him to the nearest bin lid where he was able to obtain a near new copy of Camps 5.  He appeared quite chuffed with his new acquisition and when last spotted was planning his route to Moree.
 
 

Later that evening as Ronnie and I were preparing to eat our rather splendid spaghetti bolognaise, the storm that had been brewing started in earnest. We adjourned to Indie with the intention of bringing the awning in as soon as we had finished eating.

Dissatisfied with this arrangement, the awning decided to come in by itself, arched itself heavenwards and broke away from the bus on one side. So after a good few minutes wrestling with said awning and becoming thoroughly drenched we had managed to roll the awning in, rescue two of the struts which had become dislodged and left the broken bracket with the other support strut hanging at a 45 degree angle to the bus.

We hung our wet clothes out on the washing line, wrung our hands at the likely costs of repairs, finished our dinner and went to bed.

During the night, the rain continued to pelt down, there was much rumbling of thunder, flashing of lightning and the clothes line attempted to escape down the paddock.

Friday 22nd March

Everything remained in this state until the cold light of day when Ron emerged from Indie to survey the damage proper. Much to our surprise the damage did not look as bad as first suspected and Ron managed to reassemble most of the struts and secure the awning and we drove into Dubbo in search of a repairer.

We ended up at Ryans Caravans who quoted us about $200.00 and said they should be able to slot it in between jobs. We went and sat in their lounge and watched TV and the job was done within a couple of hours. Wait for it though, the final cost was $139.40 – less than the original quote!!!!!!!

This being the Year of the Snake and Ron’s Chinese Zodiac sign, it seems that the universe is aligning in a pattern most favourable!!!!!!

We are now staying in Dubbo at The Poplars Caravan Park ($25.00) per night. Not the most salubrious of parks but it is across the road from a large Coles and it is walking distance to the town centre.
Shortly after we arrived, we put the awning out just to make sure it all worked but paranoia over the grey skies, wind and what looked like another approaching storm caused us to have it back in within half an hour. 
 
 
Saturday 23rd March
I can’t say that I’m overly impressed with Dubbo. It is pretty grubby looking and of course quite a large city and pretty impersonal.
I just prefer the open spaces and I see towns and cities as necessary evils that must be endured only because they provide goods and services.
Anyway, we went for a walk through town today and I packed my camera in case we saw anything of interest. There were several old buildings that caught my eye and as I went to take my mandatory happy snaps, I found that I had left the camera’s memory card in the computer back in Indie!!! But due to the wonders of modern technology, I was able to use my phone!!!!
 
 
 
 
Real estate is quite reasonable and in fact, the clock tower in the picture is attached to a building (we believe to be the old Post Office) and the whole lot (not just the tower) is for sale with ‘offers over $500,000 considered’.
After that we walked past the Old Dubbo Gaol and then back home.
 
 
Sunday 24th March
Today we have just been getting ready to leave Dubbo and head off to Orange.
Across the road from our Caravan Park are several playing fields and a walking track beside the Macquarie River. We decided to try out the walking track this morning and sallied forth armed only with a water bottle and Ronnie’s impeccable sense of direction.
 We were not the only ones enjoying the fabulous Autumn weather.
 
 
Under the bridge, Aboriginal motifs have been used to paint the supports. I think they look fabulous.
 

We continued on and walked past Sandy Beach, which is just a bend in the river where some gravelly sand has been deposited. It proved to be very popular with the fisher folk and people taking dogs for dips and there were even some remote controlled boats sailing about.
 After that, there was still more river and finally we turned our heads toward home and a well earned lunch.
 
 
 
 
Later, I wandered over to the shops and bought myself a new pair of shoes, a couple of shirts and a replacement bucket for our broken one. When I returned Ronnie was taking full advantage of the glorious weather, stretched out under the awning watching the soccer game across the road.
Ben has sent a couple more photos of the gorgeous Xander. I told Ben he will have to Bonsai that baby because he is getting tooooooooooo big!!!!!    We do miss the little fella!!!!!! He is growing soooooooooo much!
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunday 17 March 2013


Adjourning to Armidale

Sunday 10th March cont.


After our caving adventure, we drove through to Armidale and arrived at the Tourist Information Centre about 11 o’clock. The young lad was very helpful and gave us directions to the two caravan parks in the city. He also booked us on the free Heritage Tour the next day. Yes – it’s true; Ron, who is reluctant to even enter museums agreed to a Heritage Tour!!!
We drove around to the caravan parks and they were both a long way out of town. I suggested we try a different route to one and as we drove past the showground we spotted a sign for camping. We pulled in and spoke to the caretaker, John and promptly booked in for three days at $20 per day for a powered site.


 

I asked about laundry and he and said they would throw in the washing machine for free. It was a little twin tub and after some running repairs involving hex screws and green whipper snipper line, we were ready for action. It took several hours and reminded me why I had traded my old twin tub for a fully automatic over thirty years ago!


 

Monday 11th March

 
We walked to town (about 20 minutes) and arrived for our Heritage Tour.

Werner was our driver and Jennifer our guide. What a crack up!! She was so dry. We laughed our way around Armidale.


 

Our first stop was St Peter’s Cathedral.

Apparently Armidale received city status not because of anything sensible like population size, but because they have a cathedral.

The architecture was pretty amazing and the brickwork quite exquisite.

 

Not to mention the beautiful rose gardens out front and the elegant stained glass windows.


 
As we wandered through, I could not help but notice three Stars of David. A bit Jewish I thought for the Anglicans! I was informed however that they were more probably representative of the star that shone over Bethlehem and the Holy Trinity.
 

 

 

From there it was off to the Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Keeping Place.
When informed that it was closed, Jennifer asked “Has Daisy gone to jail then?”
Turns out they had no power.


 

From there we sallied forth to the Rail Museum for an interesting talk from Peter and a scrummy morning tea. We even got to play with the toys!


 

All this visiting was done via lots of other historic parts of town and various buildings of social and political import including of course the house Jennifer was born in and the house she now owns!

 Our final stop was the beautiful old colonial home which belonged to the White family before being bequeathed to New England University and used as their Administration building.

 

It was a really good tour, (lasting two and a half hours) and we gleaned lots of interesting and fun facts about Armidale and its environs. For instance, it has the highest (above sea level) domestic airport of anywhere in Australia and (as Jennifer tells it) a most unaccommodating car park in Woolworths shopping centre. She told the tale in her laconic manner of how shortly after the opening of the monstrosity (she does not care for shopping malls at all) a woman, overcome by the excitement of it all, passed out or fell in Woolworths and when the ambulance was called, it was discovered that it could not fit into the underground car park.

After the tour, Ron and I then went for a bit of a walk around town and then came back home. Ron decided to move to another spot in the show ground, closer (than our three minute return trip) to the amenities. I went off to talk to our new neighbours. I spoke to Tres, a lovely lady from Brisbane. Turns out they are here for a Gem Show on Saturday here at the show ground.

The weather has turned quite cool and I am in my tracky dacks and hoodie.

Tuesday 12th March

It was cold and a bit showery today so I spent the whole time working on my diary and blog. It is the photos that take up the most time but they are the best bit.

Wednesday 13th March

Today, the sun is out again and it is really warm when there is no wind. I’m back in my sleeveless frock (for the moment). We walked to town again this morning and saw Hanna’s arcade with its beautiful stained glass window.



 
Further along we realised that we were definitely in a country town when I spied a hitching post outside a pub.
 
We then sauntered up the mall past the Court House and the Post Office until we found a nice little café and had lunch.
 
 
 

We went to a small art gallery and The Folk Museum. I commented to the lady that I am finding it a little disconcerting that more and more items that we had at home when I was young are appearing in museums. She replied that she was glad that she was still around to see them…..fair point I thought!


Thursday 14th March

The Armidale Spinners and Weavers were having their weekly meeting in the building next door to where we are parked at the show ground so I popped in for a visit. They were really friendly and invited me back next Saturday for a weaving workshop that Ian was running.

Friday 15th March

 We walked into town again and bumped into the President of the Spinners and Weavers (small world) who recommended a lovely little café in The Mall for lunch. We spent the rest of the day resting up for our big day out tomorrow.

Saturday 16th March

And what a big day it turned out to be! We were up early (Thanks to the roosters across the way. Chook fanciers had set up in the Poultry Pavilion on Thursday and Friday) and we were off to town for breakfast in the park – all part of The Autumn Festival.
It was yet another perfect Autumn day and the local Lions Club were doing a roaring trade in pancakes and bacon. 
 
 
 

We shared our table with a lovely couple, Ray and Carol. We spent 2 hours chatting over breakfast would you believe….and it was Ray and Ron who did most of the talking!!!!

 

There were lots of market stalls and free entertainment like the Pig Races. We were just in time for the Sparerib Sprint (to be followed in due course by the Bacon Bone Bash and the Pigs Trotter Triathlon).

The three runners appeared quite relaxed before the run.

 

 After a tight field in the beginning, it wasn’t long before a clear leader emerged.

 
\
 

But in the end, they all shared the spoils!

(In this case, a bowl of milk with caramel sauce!!!!)

 
 

 

There were the mandatory carnival rides. And of course you can’t have a carnival without a Dagwood Dog!

 
 
Ronnie found himself a nice cool resting spot before we set off to watch the parade.
 
 

The parade started at 12.30 with lots of people marching, floats and bands.

 
 
 
 
 
 

We were unable to stay for the entire parade as I had my two o’clock appointment with the Spinners and weavers.

We ran the gauntlet through the Gem Show and said ‘Hi’ to the folk we knew and headed home to gather supplies for the workshop.

 
When I arrived, Ian the tutor was already set up.
 
 
 
 
 

He was surrounded by eager students. There was Clare, a lady whose name I did not get, her grandson (aged about 12) Kyle, Bec who was quite mad and lots of fun and finally me.



Jan, another weaver turned up just to do some more spinning. She wore the fabulous free form beanie she had made. It looked so great.
 
 

We had such a fun time and the weaving was fabbo too.

 

In fact, I had such a good time making my square, I came home, sat out in the sun and made another one!

 

Sunday 17th March

We went to the Farmer’s Market this morning and bumped into Bec from Spinners and Weavers. She was there selling her duck eggs.  She has ducks and goats. She keeps the goats for milk and cheese and the ducks for eggs and assured us that all of her animals have pension plans.

 

We bought an Orange and Blueberry Tea Cake (which we were reliably informed was delicious served warm with custard) and some Passionfruit Butter.

We went back home to drop off our packages and there was a Horsemanship Clinic in progress.

 

Sadly, there is all ways one who wants to play but isn’t allowed!

 

Later we caught a cab to NERAM (New England Regional Art Museum) to see The (touring) Archibald Prize exhibition. Imagine our disappointment to learn that it was last year’s prize winners (fairly obvious when you consider this year’s prize winner will not be announced till next week). I was also sorely disappointed to learn that it cost $10 to get in the door. I was told that this was necessary to cover insurance costs.

 

After our visit to the gallery, which was well worth the price of admission we decided to walk the three kilometres home (mainly because it was downhill).

Upon arrival, we were bombarded by the glorious aroma of a Bar-b-que at the Poultry Pavilion…no it was not bar-b-qued chicken (that would be too close to cannibalism) and I suspect these show birds also have pension plans!

I went over to enquire whether it was members only but they were happy to take any one’s money so Ronnie and I enjoyed a steak sandwich and a sausage sandwich respectively.
I then mustered all my courage (a brave act indeed as I have a morbid fear of all our feathered friends with chooks taking first place) and went into the pavilion.
 

They certainly come in all shapes, sizes and colours; but they have beady little eyes and I’m sure that they are plotting ways to sidle up to the cage bars, bend them back with their nasty little beaks and ATTACK!!!!!
 
 
 
 

They (the poultry fanciers and their poultry) all left this afternoon so we are looking forward to a quiet night before our departure tomorrow.