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.
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