For the last N years (N being any number from one to five) the people I respect - family and friends - have told me that, when I retire and set off on my little adventures, I should relax, slow down, and smell the roses. The main thing being to relax.
SO, after I finished working earlier this week I frantically prepped the ute and van. Some last minute shopping for gadgets and stuff I bought “just in case” but will probably never use, and four days’ worth of food.
Then on Thursday morning (3rd May) I set off at 10am, having observed the “severe weather warning” for southern and central Victoria, due in the afternoon. All was good until I reached the New South Wales border, Strathmerton to be exact, just on the Victorian side. Then the gusty weather arrived, and stayed that way for the next 50km to my first stop at Finley Lakeside Caravan Park. Arrived there around 1:30pm.
The weather didn’t improve - cool and gusty - but the caravan park was welcoming. $20 powered site (single), and a couple of eggs thrown in. Luxury.
The lake in question seems to be some sort of water storage, and is home to some bird life.
Pukeko
Finley Lake
So I pulled into my site and went for a wander because rain was threatening, took the photos then plugged the caravan into the 15A supply. Nup, no power. The bloke in the next caravan (Bob, on his way from Warnnambool to Cairns via Bendigo where he had had his toilet and hot water service replaced - I heard all that within 90 seconds) kindly helped me attempt to diagnose and tried other power supply points, but to no avail. I was pretty tired, little sleep Wed night because I was eager to be off, then a 3.5 hour drive. So I switched the fridge to gas and popped off for a snooze.
Apparently Bob got the caravan park lady to come and test the outlets, which she did with a hair dryer (must have been supercharged when she plugged it into a 15A supply!). I was asleep at the time with the windows open, and she was testing just outside the window. But I didn't wake so I must have been out for the count. Anyway I survived on gas fridge, gas cooktop, battery lighting, and a couple of movies on the laptop.
Rained constantly most of the night. Mainly light rain, apparently the first rain for a while.
Up at sparrows’, a peppermint tea, filled the ute, and headed off towards Griffith.
The landscape changed - it became flatter than flat. No hills in sight. Which prompted me to take a photo of the first hills that came along to break the horizon.
Hills
The road was similarly straight and narrow (just my style, eh Stuart?) and I entertained myself by chasing the cloud shadows. The shadows won.
Cloud shadows ... faster than me
Stopped in Griffith for some forbidden food. Not THAT kind of forbidden, just a Quarter Pounder. By this time the wind had dropped and the skies had pretty much cleared, and the rest of the drive to Rankins Springs was fairly uneventful. Arrived there around 2pm and set up the van. Again the power didn’t work so I started the fridge on gas.
By this time I was sort of thinking that there must be something wrong with the van. Busted cable, or socket, or wiring, or fuse. “Ha!” I thought. Fuse. Out with the RTFM (owner’s guide) and look up “Fuse”. Hmmm. Trip switch located at the front above bed. Check that out. OFF.
So switched it ON and magically the microwave came to life. So I turned off the gas and switched the fridge to 240V (which was the whole objective of the powered site in the first place) and recharged my depleted gadgets.
Went for a wander …
Rankins Springs CP
Rankins Springs CP again
… and NEARLY stumbled across some v large moths resting on the concrete …
Moth with no name
… and NO the key was not about to do something unsavoury - I volunteered it to be a size comparator.
A very pleasant night at Rankins Springs. A cool night, lots of dew. And a bit of condensation inside, on the scupper hatch above the bed. It would have been funny if the drip had dropped on my nose, or something equally slapstick, but it dropped on the bedding instead. From what I could see it was only a drip or two, and was condensation, not a leak. Interesting. More ventilation in the future.
Up with the dinosaurs again. More tea. And off before 8am. Headed north to Lake Cargelligo and stopped for a life-giving coffee from the bakery on the main drag …
Main drag
I took the coffee down to the lake …
Lake Carpee Cargoll Cargelligo
So I set off again.
Setting off again
I was in no particular hurry to my next overnighter - a relatively short drive - and I recalled all the sage advice from friends and family over the past N years (N being any number from one to five) and looked for some roses to smell. I stopped here …
No roses here
… and here …
Nor here
And several other places, but couldn’t find any. By this time I was getting mildly stressed by lack of success in the hunt for relaxation-inducing smelly roses. But I persisted and finally reached Condobolin (directly west of Parkes) around midday.
No roses, but a very pleasant shopping strip. Apparently an early tin mining hub. Now a coffee mining hub, with some coffee mining product loitering in front of the tin mining historical board.
Coffee mining hub
Across the road is a little oasis on the site of a demolished hotel. It has some water features and must be great on the very hot days.
The Little Green Oasis in Condobolin
Wandered down behind the shopping centre to the stream (Lachlan River) and a nice grassy park.
Water
Memorial Park
I had a working miniature of one of these howitzers.
The real thing
Steve's miniature
It had a spring loaded action and came with little plastic projectiles. Of course they lasted about five minutes, but the barrel was EXACTLY the right size to fire a matchsticks and IMPORTANTLY at the right time of year it would fire a single Tom Thumb cracker. Hours of fun from a single string. Look, Mum! No hands!
The plaque on this one says it is a “War Trophy” and is dated 1921. Presumably WW1. John? Pete?
Old gun
I turned around and saw this parked opposite the river. Around 36 metres long.
Big truck
It’s a cotton road train. They drop little cotton things like this.
They look like snow flakes on the side of the road. For hundreds of miles km.
So I booked into the Condobolin Riverview Caravan Park.
HSH
Wandered down to the Lachlan River.
Do not ...!
Not allowed to do much. Couldn't see Will Robinson so I took a picture and moved away before breathing was put on the forbidden list.
A quiet night followed, then up with the sparrows again, and headed off towards Tooraweenah, between Gilgandra and Coonabarabran. I took The Bogan Way up towards the Oxley Highway, east to Gilgandra, and the rest of the way on the Newell.
The Bogan Way … is there any other?
Most of the roads were very rough. The area is prone to flooding. Presumably that affects the surface which was very uneven and the roads dip frequently and suddenly to causeways that allow water through during floods. Teeth-rattling.
Came across several mobs of cattle feeding on the roadside. It’s very dry and paddock feed has run out. Anyway, I was idling through these mobs contemplating, as one does, and contemplated the bull bar on the ute compared with the sizes of the beasts around me. Hmmm. But there was quite a lot of road kill. Mainly grey kangaroos, but also some darker animals around the same size (black wallaroos?), plus an assortment of foxes and even one large red kangaroo. Very bulky. There were the usual wildlife warning signs …
The wildlife didn't heed the warnings
And flocks of smaller black and white birds sitting on the sides of the road. Ambulance chasers, perhaps?
Just past Gilgandra the Warrumbungles appeared on the horizon.
Boo!
Turned off the Newell towards Tooraweenah. Someone had built a viewing platform to look at the Warrumbungles.
If you look close you can see the horizon mimics someone's drawing!
Finally arrived at Tooraweenah Caravan Park. Welcomed with a scone, jam and cream. I put the jam on first for one half of the scone, then put the cream on first for the other half. Cornish? Devonish? … I covered both options.
Not a picture of the scone, this is the Tooraweenah CP with Chez Moi on the left
The owner lit a fire around 5pm in a covered area and some of the travellers gathered for a “happy hour”. Quite pleasant. “Where have you come from today? Where are you heading tomorrow? Destination? Oooh I’ve been there! What’s the road like where I’m going? Stop the Kiwis coming in! And the others!” Not much talk about the past, nor the future. Just the present.
A very pleasant interlude before heading back to the van and cooking up some food. Cubed steak steamed in a covered sauté pan with Steve’s Special Vege Mashup™ which, depending on what’s available, usually contains a choppery of:
- Cauliflower
- Broccoli
- Onion
- Capsicum
- Celery
- Leek
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Chilli
- Artichoke
- Asparagus
- Olive oil
- Lemon juice
- Lime juice
- Salt
- Pepper
I eat a heaped bowl of this every day, varying the protein between beef, chicken, tuna and eggs.
So now it’s 7am on 7th May and I need to get this uploaded. Fast! So people can read!
Am I relaxing yet?
Be seeing you!
2 comments:
Love the photos it looks amazing!
It is! It is!
Post a Comment