4th Sept., 2013

Another beautful day in Paradise (well, in Culcairn, anyway).  We set off at 9am., in bright sunshine, in the direction of Wagga Wagga.  The sun was actually on Bob's side of the car but, for how long, I wondered?

Many of the fields glowed bright yellow with canola ('rape' in England, I believe) & this provided a familiar feel, so we could hardly believe it when a red double-decker bus, advertising "The Blue Mountains Experience". came towards us out of Henty!  Had we arrived in Australia, or were we still in England?  Place names tended to confirm the former, as sign posts directed us toward Cootamundra & Narranderra.

Large silos indicated that we were in grain country &, when the occasional windmill appeared, we realised that the area could probably become very dry.

The road became very bumpy & I dreaded to think what might be happening behind us, in the caravan! 

Sadly, we noticed a crow picking at a dead wombat alongside the road but, on the whole, we'd seen very little road kill - two kangaroos yesterday, at the most.  However, Bob did spot a live kookaburra on a telephone wire - always a welcome sight.

A very long, sharp bend took us across the railway line to a point where the road divided either to Karapooka or to Wagga Wagga.  We followed the latter direction into a very green & fertile area, where we saw pelicans swimming on a pond.

The next town was Coolamon, which we entered through a lovely avenue of blossom trees.  It was an attractive, sleepy little town that Time seemed to have left behind.  However, it was on a main railway line & seemed to have all the facilities & amenities that anyone could require.  A lady's haircut was $25, a far cry from the $56 that I'd just paid in Clifton Springs.  Not that I'm complaining, as Tyler did an excellent job - I'm merely comparing a small country town with an up & coming coastal resort.

We had coffee & a short walk in Coolamon, admiring several of the older buildings as we went along.  The flowers were lovely - orange gazanias that opened to greet the sun, bright red geraniums & beautiful blue irises in a garden along our route & plenty of blossom trees.  The town certainly earned a "thumbs up" from us!

Our road out of Coolamon, towards Ardlethan where we would join the Newell Highway, was very quiet - curremtly, we had only met one car; what bliss!  But, I am probably speaking too soon.

We stopped at West Wyalong, along the Newell Highway, for lunch, where we picked up a guide pamphlet that we could have done with much earlier.  It showed a straight-forward route all the way from Melbourne to Rockhampton & illustrated how far we had already gone out of our way by diverting to Albury & Wagga Wagga.  Oh dear!  The remainder of our journey might not turn out to be so interesting, perhaps, but it would be smoother & more direct.

"Canola ruled!"  There were acres of it on either side of the Highway & it certainly is a yellow that you can't ignore - thank God for sunglasses!

We crossed the Lachlan River into Forbes, which appeared to be a very attractive town with some magnificent heritage buildings.  Unfortunately, we could only stop for long enough to buy diesel & so we were unable to explore further.  I often feel it's such a shame that we merely pass through places that merit a more detailed look.  The Bird Hide, in Forbes, for example, is home to over 70 bird species.

Parkes, the next town we arrived at, is "the Elvis Capital of Australia", which probably excited me more than it did Bob!  Consequently, we drove straight through, giving it hardly a second glance.  A great shame, I thought, as we passed a 'Target', & continued on our way towards Dubbo.  It was too early to relax & Bob decided that we didn't want to enjoy ourselves too much - it could become a habit!  "Ever onward," remains his motto.

On leaving Parkes, we passed a school bus, which reminded us that time was getting on & the sun was sitting lower in the sky.  We needed to look for a caravan park & came upon one at Peak Hill, where we decided to stay for the night.

HOPEY40 TRAVELS AGAIN!

3 SEPT., 2013

Having completed a somewhat stressful session of house clearing & selling, we decided to relax by taking to the road once again.  We left Portarlington Caravan Park at 8am on the 3rd of September in thick sea mist.  Visibility was very limited & Victoria was showing us a face that we didn't recognise.  This was Spring but the early part of the morning was more reminiscent of Autumn in the UK.  However, the sun was already struggling to break through & would soon burn off the mist.

We had never experienced Spring in this part of Australia before & were delighted to see the swathes of brilliant yellow created by the sour grass (or oxalis) that flourished along the verges & in the pastures.  Apparently, farmers & local people do not share our delight & regard the plant as a rampant weed.  They feel the same way about Patterson's Curse, which we've often admired for the beautiful areas of purple that it produces throughout the countryside.  It is said that such weeds can even affect the taste of milk if the cows have been eating them - not surprising then, that they are so unpopular.

Back to our new adventure!  Our first catastrophe occurred in Moolap when Bob's question, "What's that silly bloke doing?" was followed by the said bloke flagging us down & informing us that the left indicator light on the caravan wasn't working.  Silent apologies from my "Mr Fix-It", who promptly whipped out his test meter & discovered that, although the bulb was OK, one of the wires was not connecting.  That, plus the fact that the light fitting was full of water, had combined to cause the problem.

At the next set of lights, a lady informed us that we had left some pliers on the tail bar of the caravan, so Bob dashed out & retrieved them before the lights turned green!  This meant that two observant motorists had already helped us along our way before we'd even reached Geelong!  Are we really safe to be let out alone?  We hoped that the remainder of the journey would be less eventful & I could hardly believe that I succumbed to pancakes & syrup further along the road at Macdonald's - it's amazing how stress weakens the resolve!  Bob had an egg & bacon roll, so we both felt guilty but well fuelled to face any more rigours that might lay ahead.

By 10.30am., the sun was shining brightly & God was in His Heaven!  The hills were beautiful & greener than we'd ever seen them before.  Wattle bushes & even a few blossom trees flowered in the countryside, which was clothed in its Spring mantle.

A call came through on the mobile from Jennifer & John who have bought our house.  Having locked themselves out of No.11 last evening, & having been lucky that I was able to direct them to Jodie & Wes's house opposite for a spare key, they were now ringing to report their latest disasters.  They had flooded the laundry floor whilst doing some washing (the machine obviously wasn't connected up properly) & the light wouldn't work in the main bedroom (probably needed a new bulb).  Poor things, they sure do attract problems.  Jenny had already hit the bridge of her nose on an open cupboard door in the kitchen, before we left!  A lost document, that was holding up settlement on their purchase of our house, still hadn't turned up & John's sister was preparing to borrow money from the Commonwealth Bank, using her house as surety, in order that they would be able to pay us & so avoid any further penalties.

Back to our travels again!  "Far-away places, with strange sounding names" began to crop up - Puckapunyal; Wodonga; Wangaratta, Narrambie & Yarrawonga to name a few.  Pronunciation of these produces such satisfying sounds!

The new metal finish, on the front of the caravan, glared blindingly in our overtaking mirrors &, as usual, the sun shone fully on me, in the passenger seat of the car!  It was so hot that I had to fix a sun shade on to the window &, because I couldn't reach my T-shirts, I changed into my pyjama top, confident that no one would realise what it was.  However, I wasn't complaining - the weather was superb!  Sheep & cattle grazed contentedly &, for once, they all had lush, green grass to eat & plenty of water in the creeks & ponds.  A far cry from the dry, brown contryside through which we normally drive.

At 3.15pm., we drove over the Murray River at Albury, so crossing the border between Victoria & New South Wales.  Albury is a substantial town with numerous lovely old buildings.  However, it posed a real problem for us, as we couldn't see any signs to Wagga Wagga, which was the direction in which we wanted to travel.  Having re-fuelled, we finally found the correct road out of the town & drove as far as Culcairn, by which time it was already 4pm.  It had been a long day & Bob was tired, so we settled down in a caravan park & made a couple of new friends, with whom we enjoyed drinks & a chat before retiring for the night.

A second call from Jenny & John revealed that the offending document had been located & payment to us will now take place without further delay - hurray!