From Mendooran, it was only a 70km drive into Dubbo. There were a few things to do in Dubbo (like the zoo), but we decided to keep moving. We had a look around town and found it too busy; too many people. We drove on to a place called Toongi and nearly set up camp there. Alas, no internet and no TV reception. On we went to another lovely little town 70kms south of Dubbo called Yeoval, which offered powered camping sites at the disused showgrounds for a bargain-basement price of $8. Both TV and internet reception to be had, making us happy campers.
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| Princess checked out the facilties at the Toongi camp site |
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| Interesting artwork in the park at Yeoval |
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| Impressive sculpture at Yeoval |
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| Walking down the main street of Yeoval |
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| Lovely spring blossums |
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| Our camp site at the Yeoval Showgrounds, next to the Men's Shed |
The following day we set off for a big day in Parkes. First stop was the Dish - an Aussie icon after the movie really put it on the map. Interesting place to visit. We were lucky to see the dish move from vertical to horizontal.
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| View of the Dish from outside the complex |
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| The dish, in all its glory |
The other famous attraction in Parkes that we wanted to see was the Elvis Museum. We had planned to go to Parkes earlier in the year for the Elvis Festival, but we didn't make it (maybe next year?). The museum was really well done, and entry includes access to a vintage car/motorbike museum. Learnt a few things about Elvis, like Priscilla was only 14 years old when the romance started, and he was still writing love letters back to his fiancee. Scandal!
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| Judith at the Elvis museum |
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| Elvis and his Cadillac |
After Parkes, we drove onto another small town called Gooloogong. They provided powered camping for a donation (we gave them a tenner). Yet another friendly and interesting little old town that we enjoyed walking around.
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| A stunning old church that was for sale - very tempting |
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| The camp site at Gooloogong |
The next day we travelled through a few more towns that were nicely presented - Grenfel, Young, Cootamundra. Each were good looking towns with a real sense of history. Our direction was towards Wagga Wagga, as neither of us had been to this town before and we felt that we should. We found a free camp on the banks of the Murumbidgee River near Wantabadgery (about 40kms east of Wagga Wagga). Plenty of room; lovely site; would come back again.
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| The beautiful country scenery near Wagge Wagga |
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| Great camp site on the banks of the Murumbidgee River |
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| The happy couple at dusk |
Our day in Wagga Wagga was a little tarnished by the cold, wet weather. We managed to enjoy our morning tea at a town park - with a power point for toast and coffee - just before the rain set in. Judith was keen to see the Glass Art Gallery, which was exceptional. The art gallery and museum was next door so we visited them as well. The museum had a PowerHouse photography exhibition called Train Spotting which was impressive.
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| The wonderful Glass Art Gallery at Wagga Wagga |
We stopped at Jerilderie and nearly stayed the night, but the free camp area was a little too suburban for our liking (we could see houses in several directions), even though it was right on the river. We found a caravan park in a small town called Berrigan for the night. Sleepy caravan park, with only one other caravan with us, in a sleepy little town. Sounds good, except for the boguns across the road playing their 80s music at full volume. At least they turned the music down at 10pm.
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| The camp site at Jerolderie that we didn't stay at |
The following day, we explored the area where my mother grew up. In between Berrigan and Cobram is an almost non-existant town called Lalalty. All that remains today is a public hall and a school that is now a residence, unfortunately very badly renovated.
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The old Lalalty school, badly converted into a dwelling.
This is where my Mum went to school |
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The Lalalty Public Hall
Not sure what my Mum did here |
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| Under the eaves of the Lalalty Public Hall the swallows have been very active |
Once we got over the border and into Victoria, we worked out how long it would take for us to get to our home base of Talbot. A couple of hours and we'd be home before dark. So we kept driving and arrived safely back at our little cottage, the end of our big trip - for now...
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| Our little cottage at Talbot |
