Travelling Australia

We  arrived at Wyalong about lunchtime today. Wyalong is about 4 km before the town of West Wyalong.  We are parked up at a lovely free camp spot called Cooinda Park. It’s a great spot as it’s within walking distance (about 4km)into the town centre along the pathway of the Newell Highway.  You get to see all the old homes as it’s a very old mining town.  However, this time, we found what’s called the Green walkway. It’s a memorial to all the service men and women of the town.  You follow a small river with beautiful flowering Aussie gum trees.  Bird carving from a tree…. See that beautiful sky, well all of a sudden it changed, and we quickly turned around and power walked the 4 km back to the caravan….as we could hear the thunder getting closer.  We just got back in time before the heavens opened up. We even got hail, luckily it wasn’t too big.  Between Parkes and here, you could see how much rain NSW has actually had.  In some spots, we were travelling along the highway and all we cou

Last day here at Parkes, so we are just having a last look around to see if we’ve missed anything.  We found this very impressive War Memorial.  This reinforced concrete tower sits proudly on top of Memorial Hill Lookout, and stands 33 metres high. It is absolutely huge, and at night, you can see it from where we are as it’s all lit up.  Construction of the Memorial began in the 1920’s and since then it has come to recognise multiple conflicts including WW11, Korean and Vietnam wars. It has a long and chequered history, taking 27 years to complete.  The Memorial is the site of the Dawn Service on Anzac Day every year.  There is a concrete flagpole at each corner of the surrounding lawn  May 27th 2015 it was restored by the community of Parkes, and opened by the then Governor of Australia, Sir Peter Cosgrove.    Surrounding the War Memorial are remembrance  gardens and walks, honouring the fallen that lie buried in foreign lands.  And here sits Gunner Ed….contemplating …….who’s  number

Yesterday, as well as visiting that amazing Dish, on the way home, we stopped in at the Parkes Information Centre.  We always make it a “must do” when we get to a new town, to visit these centres,  as the people who work in these places are just so knowledgeable, and recommend what to see around the district.  And I’m so pleased  we did. It was one of the best info centres we have been to on our travels.  Apart from the “Elvis” influence…..(which is a bit of over-kill…for us)… Even the poor Rhino copped it…..😂😂 But….then there was this, which is what it’s all about. History! 😊😊 Unfortunately, it wasn’t decorated inside, and I was dying to climb those stairs, but can fully understand why they were roped off as the place wasn’t manned.  But….you did get to sit in the warmth, and watch a 15minute story on the life of this amazing man, Sir Henry Parkes, and take all the place in.  It was so interesting, even Ed sat there glued (which is no mean feat for someone that can’t sit still 😊)

We had a lovely day out today. We drove back 25 km, to the way we came yesterday, off the highway and down a lovely country road full of canola flowers, to a place called “The Dish”……..CSRIO Parkes Observatory.  You can see this from the highway, and yesterday when we passed it, it was horizontal, and I wondered why? Today I found the answer.  “Winds are a hazard. The dish acts like a huge sail, so in winds above 35 km per hour, the “telescope part”has to be stowed in an upright position and secured in place with a locking pin”. Now I know 😊😊 I was 14 and remember that happening while at school.  Amazing facts.  This dish in the distance has the ability to send sound waves to another dish behind me from where I’m taking this photo.  You whisper into one dish, and the person way over at the other dish can hear it.  We came here many years ago with Mark and Melinda when Jake, Byron & Noah were very young. They had such a good time whispering stories into one dish and sending them b

We left the little quirky town of Eumungerie and headed south along the Newell Highway.  We stopped for a coffee in the small town of Peak Hill and needed fuel as well. We found a Shell petrol station and thought we had won the lottery…🤣🤣🤣 $1.99 🤣🤣🤣….. sounds bloody ridiculous…..who would’ve even thought it would be a bargain at that price 🙄 So after our coffee, we headed south again and arrived at Parkes.  Parkes has a population of 11,500. In August 1873 Sir Henry Parkes visited the area and in December 1873, the town was officially named Parkes in his honour  (Sir Henry Parkes is recognised as having played an instrumental role in Australia becoming a unified and federated country) Parkes attracted significant attention during the gold rush of 1870’s onwards, and to this day, modern mining companies have sites in the region.  In 1939, Parkes became a sister city with Coventry in the UK, Sir Henry Parkes birthplace. Once again, we have been passing through this town for many m

Eumungerie is a small town, 37 km away from Dubbo with a population of 384, and I think that’s including the dogs in the “town” 😄  We are staying here at the recreation reserve for $10@night, which includes power and water.  The couple that run the place, Greg and Debbie, are so nice, and let you pick where you want to park. They live on site, and do a great job of keeping everything looking good, and keeping the loos spotless.  This is their quirky looking place with all bits and pieces scattered around.  They have this shed with their caravan attached to it out the back. Greg keeps all that firewood topped up for people to use.  There are Sheep Dog Trials on this Thursday, so a few doggies are arriving (with their owners 😉) We will be leaving on Wednesday  but apparently it’s a busy time so we wouldn’t have  got a spot.  This is the oval they will be competing on with signs everywhere… 👍👍 so they should. Kids play on that oval.  There is lots of water laying around as they’ve had