Outback NSW Tour - Days 4 & 5 - towards Broken Hill

Monday 24 August 2015

We had thunderstorms overnight and during breakfast, much to the delight of the locals I am sure.

Happy birthday to Nancie! Our stay at Lightning Ridge ended with breakfast after which we headed south west for Cobar.

Morning tea break was at Brewarrina where Barbara and I made a quick dash to see the Brewarrina fish traps. These are such impresssive aboriginal constructions over 40000 years old and still maintained by the aborigines. They looked fantastic in the swiftly flowing water. There has been rain in the whole area this winter so the rivers are flowing and the ground cover is thick.

Our mad dash meant we missed morning tea and almost missed a desparate toilet stop. The wildlife sighted today included emus and red-tailed black cockatoos.

We had a picnic lunch at the Bourke Information Centre before heading for the P.V. Jandra, a paddle vessel, and a one hour cruise of this top end of the Darling River. There were quite a few pelicans on the river, some whistling kites, a tern and some swallows. It was interesting to cruise under both the old lifting bridge and its more modern replacement.

Back into Bourke to the Port of Bourke and the modern day replica of its magnificent wharf. It has multiple levels to cope with the rise and fall of the river.

Back into the bus again to drive on to Cobar where we booked into the Town and Country MotorInn with only a little confusion. Dinner was another huge three course meal then off to diaries and to collapse into bed.

Tuesday 25 August

We left Cobar after breakfast and drove west towards Broken Hill. The countryside was lush and green (in a green-grey sort of way) compared to other times I've seen it. There were pools of standing water after the rain of the last few days. We saw lots of emus, a dingo and hundreds of feral goats. I don't remember seeing quite so many goats so close to the road on other visits to the area. The road was long and mostly straight with the occasional kink to skirt low dunes or cross occasional creeks.

We stopped for morning tea at one of the roadside pulloffs and were greeted by a bitterly cold wind. Luckily I had kept my parka out today, just in case.

At Wilcannia we stopped at a park off the main highway to have lunch. Barb and I had a wander and saw lots of beautiful old buildings, some of which are being renovated. I took a walk with Joan to try to work out how the (now unused) centre lift bridge actually worked as we noted that it looked slightly different to the one at Bourke.

Because we misheard the time to be back at the bus Barbara and I were late but only by a few minutes.

On then to Broken Hill where our first stop was the BCA House to meet Neville and Kathryn Naden . Neville gave us a talk about his work there and we examined the garden, a work-for-the-dole project.

It was then time to check in to the Ibis Styles motel, our home for the next two nights.

With a bit of time before dinner Barb and I walked downtown finding a camera card for her and having a chat to the owner of a camera shop about Surrey's many cameras and what to do with them.

On then to the station where we became more and more frozen waiting for Dianne's train to arrive. She had come up from Adelaide on the Indian Pacific to stay with us for two days.

We raced back to the motel to enjoy our three course dinner but this time the helpings were of a much more acceptable size. More chat followed in Dianne's room until I excused myself and again collapsed into bed.

Outback NSW Tour - Days 2 & 3 - Lightning Ridge

Saturday 22 August 2015

As we were to be at breakfast by 7am we had time for a sleep in but I still woke just after 5am. A full breakfast was followed by a short devotion time in the bus then we headed west to Gunnedah

and on to Narrabri for morning tea.

We saw emus on the way and have seen a smattering all day. I rang Janette whose daughter is living in Narrabri but was out at work. I'll have to return some time to meet her. The weather is warming and we are stripping off all the layers we can possibly lose.

After passing lots of canola crops (and others) and a callitris plantation our lunch stop was in the park at Walgett and by now we were all very hot and the shade of the casuarinas was most welcome.

On to Lightning Ridge for a quick look at some opals before the shops closed. Barb and I both bought some for ourselves and I even wore my new earrings to dinner.

We also bought an ice block which helped the cooling down process then booked into our room and sat for a while in the semi-cool of the evening.

Dinner was a pleasant retreat into food ordinary-ness. Our company tonight was Diana, Ros (from Narrabri), Derek and Barbara (from Kirrawee and know Aunty Joy well).

In all the trip today was long and hot but made more pleasant by our rotation to the second front seat and more interesting by John's commentary and choice of Greg North poetry readings. During the afternoon, after noting that I had achieved lots of steps but had actually been in the bus most of the day, I realised that all the bumps on the road were clocking up steps. My total today was over 17000. I think I'll stop caring about the number and just walk when I can.

In the evening we saw a group of three kookaburras in a tree near our cabin. They seemed to be mum and two offspring. We tried to get some photos, Barb with her long lens and me with my digital marvel. Unfortunately there was insufficient light but we plan a pre-breakfast take two.

Sunday 23 August 2015

My first activity was to get onto email and found that David had been looking out of his window at the Tamworth Conservatorium and saw me outside. Unfortunately, by the time he had got to the gate we had wandered off out of sight. What a pity we missed each other.

After breakfast (no luck with the kookaburras) Barb and I went over to the market in the tourist information area. Barbara found a stunning ring but didn't buy it (rather expensive). I found a string of Japanese style beads (not opals) that I did buy. I think I'll have plenty of opportunity to wear them.

On our way back we met our leader John who informed us that we had the wrong time for the church service in the itinerary and that it had started already. We, together with lots of others, hot footed it along the street to get there just a little late.

After morning tea we all drove to the Public Bore Baths and some of us sampled the 40C water. It was too hot to stay in very long but was pleasant enough. Picnic lunch and whip cracking followed in the shade of a sparse tree outside the baths. Lunch was freshly cooked chicken and tinned apricots from the IGA and billed as “Apricot Chicken” by our hosts. It was actually quite delicious. I've never had tinned apricots on a sandwich before.

Off again, this time to the 3-mile Black Hand Opal mine and gallery. The mine was interesting but very like other small-scale mines I've been in. However, the gallery was an old mine given over to a stone carver who has created some fantastic carvings. As I wandered around I was humming (as I do) and found that some of the chambers have fabulous acoustics. I could have stayed for a bit more singing time.

A short drive then to an open cut opal mine before returning back to town.

Back to the cabin where we were able to have some R&R and catch up on downloads and diaries. r

I had a lovely walk aound town- up Morilla street then into surburbia Lightning Ridge style. Some of the houses had dirt floors and timber plank windows that could be propped open with a stick. One fairly basic house which did have a concrete slab floor had a bmw convertible in the front yard. Over all was a huge sky with amazingly weighty clouds. The light was so bright that I needed sunnies at five thirty. Now pre dinner business- drinks etc. Don't tell Mum.

On the way to the dining room we had some success with photographing the kookaburras and the fabulous light of sunset in the large bank of clouds to the SE.

After dinner we all headed out in the bus towards 3-mile to a fairly dark spot for some star gazing. Apart from a half moon the view was also impaired by the number of cars coming both ways. However, the experience was magnificent as we watched lightning in the same huge cumulus clouds that gave us joy at sunset.

Outback NSW Tour - Day 1

Friday 21 August 2015

After an early start Arianne dropped Barbara and I to the station and we started our holiday to outback NSW. We met the coach and fellow travellers at Central station and headed north through city peak hour traffic, picking up another passenger at our morning tea stop at Wyong.

During the morning we were given the lowdown on procedures and bodily functions with the need to drink lots of water and seat rotation and the system for disembarking.

At Muswellbrook we enjoyed a picnic lunch in the park near the station where I have enjoyed many picnic lunches with Surrey and the kids on our travels.

Luscombe's Chambers - main street Muswellbrook

We had a short time of devotion in the coach which included singing. I wish I had brought my hymn book so I could practice the alto lines – I'm just making them up. As we travelled we saw a few kangaroos today. More quiet singing as we listened to a Seekers CD.

We arrived at our motel in Tamworth in pleanty of time to take a brisk photography walk before pre-dinner drinks and time to meet a few of the travellers. On our walk we passed the Tamworth Conservatorium of Music where St Stephens conductor David works during the week. I thought what a pity I had not let him know we were coming but I assumed he'd be well on his way to Sydney when we got there.

Dinner was a three course affair and quite experimental, elaborate without being great. Our company (Neil, Anne and Kerrie) was excellent.

Off to bed by 9ish having achieved over 10000 steps even though we were in the coach for about 6 hours.

August at Underhill

Between us we've had a few visits to Underhill in August but last Friday night was Ivy's first overnight stay (middle of winter). She just loved it and always loves being outside whether it is at Underhill or at home.

Ivy loves pumpkin

 Elaine came down and stayed over with me and friends came down for the day on Saturday. We enjoyed lunch together and all kept busy with various chores.

We rearranged the position of the washing up section to clear some space for Geoff to build the new rocket stove. It is in a handy position easily accessed from the table.

We stockpiled the leftover chips of concrete left lying around by the shed builders. This will be used to fill gaps under the new tankstand for the toilet tank.

I spent some time clearing cupboards in the caravan and found all sorts of plastic utensils we'd stockpiled over the years. It is good to be clearing some of the rubbish out and I now have a full red bin and full recycling bin at home. We'll need to do a metal trip to the tip sometime soon as that pile will now fill the trailer.

Thanks to those who come and help so often.

Music, music, music

Family, garden, patchwork and music are my main activities at the moment.

Last Sunday afternoon we had a special 'service' at church - Hymnsing - when we sang lots of the old Wesleyan hymns. The church was well filled with people who love singing. What a magnificent sound!

On September 13th we'll be having another such musical treat - HymnFest - so if you like singing hymns do come along. For this concert we'll have brass and timpani added to the mix.

Lots of invisible money

Over the last month or two I've had lots up updates and maintenance to the house that you can hardly notice.

First there was the electrician who installed the lights mentioned in a previous post. They are absolutely fantastic! There were also switches to be fixed, the upstairs fan to be removed and speaker cables to be put under the house and more.

Next came the pruning of the huge tree next door which was overhanging my electricity supply wires and the roof of my bedroom. We were not allowed to remove it all so the trick was to remove the offending branches without making an absolute mess of the tree. We did have permission to remove more branches than we actually took and Bob & Ben the Tree Men did a fantasic job. Lots of ropes, abseiling and absolute tree ballet.

Then there was a bonus. See if you can spot the difference between the two photos below...

Yes, I had aircon installed upstairs for summer cooling. It also heats but I don't think I'll need that so often. Now I should be able to work upstairs on hot summer days and not drip perspiration onto my fabrics. This replaces the portable aircon unit I had and the overhead fan that was a bit of a hazard for even slightly tall people. It also gives me more space at the top of the stairs.

I would thoroughly recommend Wilcock Electrical & Air Conditioning Services. Harry Wilcock spent a long time discussing my issues and meeting the needs of the positioning of the units (outside and inside). He even carried my old unit downstairs for me. 

I am really please with all the workers I've had and am now looking for a similarly honest and dedicated landscaper who can do some paving for me out the back and along the drive. If you can recommend anyone please let me know.