CASSILIS : Sunday, 18th April.
We didn't leave Cessnock until 11am, after the fog had lifted and the sun had woken up.
Driving through gorgeous countryside, our first stop was for fuel at Jerrys Plains and half an hour later we rolled in to the rather attractive town of Denman. The two hotels we saw were both very busy with lunchtime crowd but on a stroll along the main street we found :
which was also very busy and we had to wait a while for our hamburgers and coffee, but they were well and truly worth the wait. We ate them while sitting on a bench in the sunshine, then set off again,
stopping at a rail crossing for a long, long coal train to pass
and again at Merriwa
to admire the silo art
and then it was on to Cassilis
where we are camped for the night next to the Bowling Club which sadly, is no longer used for that purpose but is open every evening for meals and the bar.
CASSILIS : Monday, 19th April.
There was a mouse in the house last night. I didn't see him but he made a lot of noise, enough to wake me through the night. Country NSW has a problem with mice so this morning, Mike went through and under the caravan, plugging up any little gap he could find. We did see him, a tiny thing running from side to side along the shelf behind the beds and wondered how he could make so much noise.
It was extremely cold this morning so we rugged up, beanies, scarves, etc. and went for a walk
across the bridge
and into the town which seemed almost like a ghost town.
We decided to stay a second night and drive into Mudgee today, about 80 kms and after breakfast and lovely hot showers, buckled up in the car.....and nothing! A dead battery - but we have a battery for the engel so Mike was able to jump start the car and we set off. First stop an auto electrician in Mudgee who fitted a new battery for us in next to no time. Next stop the Information centre and a wander around the town which boasts many well maintained old buildings, wide tree lined streets and lovely old houses. All in all, a very attractive town.
The Town Clock and Church Spire
After spending a pleasant few hours in Mudgee, we headed back 'home' a slightly different way, calling in at Gulgong,
driving up to Flirtation Hill
for wonderful views of the town and surrounding districts. After leaving Mudgee we passed several coal mine operations
before reaching The Drip Picnic Area: Goulburn River National Park where we went on a short but stunning walk
taking a squillion photos, some of which are shown here.
GILGANDRA : Tuesday, 20th April.
We were the last of the campers to leave Cassilis this morning,
stopping to take a photo of St Columba Church and graveyard before leaving
passing an interesting rock formation along the road
to Dunedoo and more silo art.....this one is of Winx, her jockey Hugh Bowman who was born in Dunedoo, and her trainer.
The town also has interesting sculptures
an Eagle
a Black Swan
the Kakkadoo Kafe, which was closed but we managed to find another cafe where we treated ourselves to coffee and cake then continued on to Gilgandra via Mendooran though we did not stop there. We arrived at our destination at 1.00pm, checked in to a caravan park, headed straight to the laundry with a large load of washing which I'm happy to say is now all dry with the aid of sunshine and a good breeze.
Apart from a trip to the local IGA, the rest of the day was spent chilling out.
WALGETT : Wednesday, 21st April.
Before leaving Gilgandra this morning, we went for a wander through the town, taking a few photos, as you do.....
In the War Memorial Park
the Castlereagh River and Bridge. The river path
Welcome sign
CWA Crochet work displayed on a walkway wall
It was 11.30am by the time we left and 40 minutes later we arrived in Gulargambone, stopping for a short period to admire and photograph some fabulous sculptures and murals.
The terrain has flattened out considerably now
no more rolling hills and valleys
we stopped in a rest area roughly half way between Coonamble and Walgett to make and eat lunch
and on our arrival in Walgett, the first thing we noticed was the silo art.....
featuring Jimmy Little of 'Royal Telephone' fame, who is apparently buried here.
LIGHTNING RIDGE : Thursday, 22nd April.
It was cold in Walgett early this morning, 3degrees, but we bravely donned parkas, beanies, gloves etc. to walk across the road to the cemetery on a quest to find Jimmy Little's grave - and we did! After walking up and down and around for a little while, we found it!
Adjacent to the rest area where we stayed last night
is a lovely little park boasting a lake, a fountain and a couple of resident geese.
After breakfast, we packed up and left Walgett for the 78km drive to Lightning Ridge, crossing a couple of rivers of mud
saw several emus and a few cattle, stopped at the spot where Lightning Ridge got its name
'This plaque marks the spot where Lightning Ridge got its name.'
Sometime around 1870, a shepherd, his dog and 600 sheep were struck dead by lightning here. From then on the area was unofficially known as Lightning Ridge, a name also used by government departments. The village was proclaimed in 1908. The name was gazetted on the 5th July 1963.
Stanley, the 18 metre tall 'emu' made from scrap metal stands opposite the 'spot'.
We arrived in Lightning Ridge at 11am, checked into the caravan park, had hot showerts, lunch then snoozed/read for an hour or two after which we visited the information centre and the bowling club where we partook of liquid refreshment. A lazy, most enjoyable afternoon.
LIGHTNING RIDGE : Friday, 23rd April.
We woke early this morning and after the morning cuppa, I went for a walk. I hadn't gone far when I was hit from behind by a blue heeler who attached himself to me and wouldn't go away. He was a nice looking dog and just wanted to play but a bit too boisterous for me, nearly tripping me up on a couple of occasions. It was quiet in town, not many people about at that time and I was able to take photos of murals around the town which would have been difficult had there been people and vehicles about.
The dog followed me back to the caravan park and hung aroung for a while then eventually left, much to my relief.
Later in the morning, we visited a couple of opal shops, didn't buy any but like to look, then did a couple of 'Car Door Tours" - self drive tours guided by old car doors painted in 4 different colours. The first was the Blue Car Door Tour which took us through opal fields to the Walk-in-Mine
where Mike visited the underground mine while I stayed above ground and drank a cup of complimentary coffee. Bevan's Cactus Nursery
is also on the blue door route and boasts the largest collection of cacti in the Southern Hemisphere.
On the Red Car Door route is a house built from stone and bottles
The Ridge Castle, an unusual home made from stone & flagons
and Opal Bell Tower
Early this evening, we did the Green Car Door Tour, taking in the sunset from Nettleton's First Shaft Lookout. The sunset was a little disappointing but the scenery, the Stone Labyrinth (made by 4 people in 6 hours) and the Beer Can House were well worth the drive.
COLLARENEBRI : Saturday, 24th April.
We left Lightning Ridge at 10am, temp 18 degrees and 2 hours later, after a pleasant but uneventful drive, arrived in Collarenebri, parked in the free (or primitive as they seem to be called in NSW) camp, made and ate lunch and chilled out for a few hours in the sunshine. At 4.30pm we wandered back into the town to the pub where we sat in the beer garden with our beer and wine. Before returning to camp, I wandered up and down the main street and to the river to take photos, finding that most of the shops in the town appeared to be permanently closed - a shame as the town has some excellent facilities such as a high school housed in a very attractive old building, an aquatic centre, a services club, a police station a racecourse and sporting facilities.
MOREE : Sunday, 25th April : ANZAC DAY
We were revisited by mice last night, I don't know how many as we didn't see them but they made a lot of noise, so much so that we didn't sleep at all well. Mike had set his phone alarm for 5.15am as we planned to attend the Dawn Service to begin at 6am but we were both awake earlier and counting the minutes till it was time to leave.
The service was held at the cemetery and though we didn't expect to see many people there, seeing the town is virtually closed, there must have been about 70 or more in attendance. The service was simple and moving, paying tribute to local people who had fought and died in all wars, was well organised and we were invited, along with all attendees, to a sausage sizzle with tea or coffee afterwards though we opted to go back to the camp for our breakfast.
We were very impressed with the service, the free camp where hot showers were available but most of all, the people of 'Colly' as the town is affectionately known by the locals, who were warm and welcoming towards us.
After leaving 'Colly', we stopped for morning tea at the Bullarah Bush Cafe,
roughly halfway to Moree, and had coffee and a Chiko Roll each (health food!) in the sunshine. The cafe owner told us that Collarenebri is a dying town, which seemed fairly obvious to us but a great shame.
Moree is a large, attractive town but being Anzac Day, nothing much was open,
(the service station was one of the few places open and showed off this mural)
so we just did a drive through town
and after checking in to the caravan park, then went through the caravan plugging up any little gaps that we'd missed, finding that the mice had been in a food cupboard but done little damage as almost everything is in mouse proof containers. That done, confident that the little rodents definitely can't get inside this time, we're looking forward to a decent sleep tonight.
DEEPWATER : Monday, 26th April.
It worked! Although we did hear the mice scratching away a couple of times through the night, they soon gave up and left us in peace so a good night's sleep was had.
In no hurry to leave, we eventually did so at 10.20am and 30kms down the road, saw a sign which read Pally Pub so thought we'd investigate and found a small town called Pallamallawa, 2kms off the main road, which boasts a newly renovated pub with an adjacent caravan park.
The pub has a cafe so we went in, ordered a coffee each and were given a slice of carrot cake by the cook, Lily, and chatted to one of the staff who turned out to be an ardent St George Rugby League supporter which made Mike's day. She grew up in the same area he did and was an authority on the club and its players, past and present so they had a good old chin wag. Lily told us that they were preparing for a wake later today, three bus loads of Moree locals had come out for lunch yesterday so it's a thriving business. The caravan park charges $15 p.n. with free use of washing machines and is a small but pleasantly grassed and shady park. We also learnt that the chief crops grown in the area are cotton, pecan nuts and wheat. All from a small town we never knew existed! 'You never never know if you never never go!'
Pecan harvesting machine
We've encountered different terrain today with rolling hills,
Sunset at Deepwater
WARDELL : Tuesday, 27th April.
After farewelling our neighbours this morning, (he East Gippsland couple who've been on the road for 7 years, the recent widower travelling in a converted bus, still dealing with his grief and the Queensland lady of our vintage who knits and sews and sells her wares in market stalls around the country - we meet some interesting people, everyone of whom has a story to tell), we left Deepwater at 9.30am and shortly after were stopped by some serious roadworks being undertaken on Bolivia Hill.
We stopped again, voluntarily this time, at a rest stop to take photos of Bluff Rock
and from there, enjoyed a 'gentle roller coaster' drive to Tenterfield, managing to find a place to park the car and caravan so that we could have a wander through the town. Our first stop was the Tenterfield Saddler museum/gift shop,
made famous of course by Peter Allen, whose grandfather was the saddler there for many years, followed by a visit to the bakery where we bought a couple of vanilla slices for later, then a wander up and down the main street which is home to several attractive old buildings
and some not so old
leaving Tenterfield
for a more open road
which very soon became extremely wriggly, requiring a great deal of driver alertness - we were crossing the Great Dividing Range and the views we could occasionally glimpse through the trees were stunning but sadly, there were no lookouts where we could pull over to have a proper look.
We stopped at a park opposite the Lunatic Hotel in a town called Drake
made and ate sandwiches followed by our Tenterfield vanilla slices and continued our journey through the mountains. By this time the road was not so wriggly and there were lookouts from time to time so we were able to pull over to admire the gorgeous scenery
soon after stopping for more road works
it takes two!!
Once out of the mountains, it was a much easier drive to Wardell, about 16kms south of Ballina and where we are booked in for 3 nights. We had a relaxing afternoon, though finding more evidence of mice in the caravan freaked us out a bit, we left the inland to come to the coast, thinking that we'd be rid of them but it seems that they've come with us!
WARDELL : Wednesday, 28th April.
It rained and rained and rained last night but the sun made an all to brief appearance this morning. A load of washing was done and hung out under the awning, in the hope that the breeze would dry everything but a stint in the dryer was necessary later on.
We went to the village bakery and bought take away coffee and a delicious apple and custard pie each which we consumed at a covered picnic table by the Richmond River
before the rain drove us away and we went into Ballina to have a look around and to do some shopping. It's quite a few years since we were here last and the town has grown, a lot! The traffic was horrendous, made worse by the constant rain and we didn't stay any longer than necessary, but long enough to photograph the 'Big Prawn'
Our chief purchase today was a trio of mouse traps which Mike set on our return to camp, shortly after catching an offender - whether he was working solo or had accomplices we've yet to ascertain.
WARDELL : Thursday, 29th April.
More rain through the night and light showers early this morning then sunshine. Another load of washing/drying before another trip to the bakery and a day out. We'd decided yesterday to do the Tourist Drive 28 through picturesque country roads, first stopping in the Victoria Park Nature Reserve and following the boardwalk through the forest along the 300m long boardwalk
then driving through the small villages of Alstonville and Tintenbar to view
the Killen Waterfall
and Emigrant Creek Dam
then through busy Newrybar to Bangalow, parking in the Main Street to walk down the street, calling in to the gelato shop for icecreams, and then back up the street which boasts lovely old buildings
From Bangalow we made our way across to the coast, Tourist Drive 30, and visited LennoxHead
stopping in at the pub for refreshments
at Shelly Beach
from Ballina Head Lookout
Lennox Head Beach from Pat Morton Lookout
Sharpes Beach
There was a great deal less traffic in Ballina today so it didn't take long to get through the town and on to the highway back to Wardell, a quiet, peaceful village which suits us most admirably.
The sun shone for most of the day, a little cloudy at times but a most satisfactory and enjoyable day.
CHINDERAH : Friday, 30th April.
We left Wardell this morning in sunshine but an enormous black cloud soon appeared on the horizon.
We couldn't outrun it, it dropped its load on us and about 20 minutes later, the sky cleared and the sun shone, albeit quite weakly.
The highway was busy, there were a couple of heavy showers along the way
and arrived at Chinderah at 11am, checked into the caravan park for 3 nights, settled in, had lunch - and the rain came! It has rained on and off all afternoon, not weather conducive to sightseeing but we drove across the Tweed River
into Tweed Heads anyway though did not stay long, the traffic is a bit too much for these old timers!
We ended the day with drinks at the Chinderah Tavern
followed by fish 'n' chips from the local seafood shop. It is still raining!
