Tuesday 10 September —Thursday 3 October

We are on our own again (mostly), still at Kidmans Camp, Bourke, NSW for another 6 days, 6 nights. We are set up beside John & Hazel.

Places we visited and things we did and saw while at Bourke, NSW —

• Ledknapper Nature Reserve—travelled on a very bumpy dirt road to see a bush display of native wild flowers. The grevilleas were yellow gold, beautiful and abundant along with lots of white and yellow bushes and some pink and purple bushes. We had a picnic lunch in the truck, on the road. There were lots of emus, lizards and a few kangaroos
• Port of Bourke Hotel—we enjoyed a steak dinner with John & Hazel at the historic hotel
• Nancy Bird Walton Air Terminal—at the local airport we found lots of information on Nancy
• The Northy—John & Hazel invited us to celebrate with them with dinner at the pub
• 2WEB Outback Radio—we visited John at work where he is assisting with managing the scheduling software and is also on air at times
• Gundabooka National Park—we travelled with Hazel’s Uni students (11) to explore the park. We saw the Mulgowan Aboriginal Heritage Site, Yapa Rock Art, which had cave paintings. On the way out we followed a dad emu with his seven babies along the road and in the bush was another dad with nine babies
• Church—Bourke Christian Church, again
• Byrock, NSW—we had lunch at the historic Mulga Creek Hotel and visited and explored the Byrock Rock Holes/Aboriginal Place

We are on our way again, it’s 1005 hrs on Monday 16 September and we are heading to Lightning Ridge, NSW. We travelled through Brewarrina and Goodooga on the way. We arrived at Lorne Station Caravan Park at 1500 hrs after a long and adventurous trip and are here for 6 days, 7 nights.

Places we visited and things we did and saw while at Lightning Ridge, NSW —

• Unscheduled local mining “suburbs” exploration—we found ourselves following Google maps and travelling round and round the mine fields with the 5R, trying to get to the Caravan Park, very stressful and wrong. We finally made it, the easy way
• Visitor Information Centre (VIC)—collected some brochures and on Sunday we visited the weekly markets
• the Gourmet Gecko—Dean enjoyed coffee amongst the geckos (for Nyssa)
• John Murray Art Gallery—a great display of his and his wife’s art
• Murals/Street Art—the town is covered in art by John Murray mostly and others, fantastic works
• Blue Car Door Explorer Tour (dirt road)—we drove up to Bald Hill (no trees) and along to The Opal Mine Adventure Walk-in-Mine. After exploring the mine we drove through the opal fields ‘the suburbs’ for locals who live simply. We drove past Bevan’s Cactus Nursery and then back into town
• Red Car Door Explorer Tour (dirt road)—we saw the plaque for historical info on the area, then drove past the stone & bottle home, then onto the Ridge Castle and continued up to Sim’s Hill and then on past the local KFC non-drive-thru, on to Amigo’s Castle and then back into town to the Bottle House
• Yellow Car Door Explorer Tour (dirt road)—we began at Three Mile Opal Fields with the Big Opal Mine store, then we drove past various old mining equipment, we saw some stone miners cottages, well built, and then lots of “off grid” miners’ camps. We drove past the Bird of Paradise Art Gallery and the Chambers of the Black Hand Mine and saw the construction site for the Australian Opal Centre (AOC). We drove on to Lunatic Hill and got to view an open cut mining area and then back to town
• Green Car Door Explorer Tour (dirt road)—at 1700 hrs we headed off to Nettleton’s First Shaft Lookout Historical Reserve. We saw the monument, the stone labyrinth and the beer can house. There were at least 100 of us there to enjoy the sunset
• Sunset/Full Moon—we enjoyed the beautiful sunset and just before we left we saw the full moon rising over the horizon behind us, quite amazing
• Stanley the Emu—stands 18 m tall, crafted from old VW beetles and satellite dishes atop steel girders on the Castlereagh Highway, Lightning Ridge
• Bowling Club/Music Bingo—enjoyed dinner at the club and joined in and played the Music Bingo game, fun but no wins
• Sparks—a cinematic celebration of Lightning Ridge run by local volunteers three nights a week, fantastic evening
• The Opal Cave—shop set up like a cave, really interesting. Purchased a pair of earrings
• Lightning Ridge Community Church—we attended a good service on Sunday
• Orange Car Door Explorer Tour—we ventured out through Cumborah to Grawin

Places we visited and things we did and saw while at Grawin, NSW (dirt roads) —

• Lake Beard War Memorial—quite amazing area for where it is and was established by Vietnam veterans
• Sheepyard Inn—had coffee, Coke and a good Sausage Roll
• Black Opal and Stone—a store set up in the middle of the mining area, really interesting
• Glengarry Hilton—found it but didn’t go in
• Sweeney’s Arts and Crafts—very interesting range of items for sale
• Margo’s Carvings—mined, created on spot and some beautiful works
• Grawin Club in the Scrub—had an enjoyable lunch in a great setting

We are on our way to Narrabri, it’s 1025 hrs on Monday 23 September and we are heading to the Showground. We travelled through Wee Waa, Cryon, Burren Junction and Yarrie Lake on the way. We arrived at 1340 hrs and are here for 3 days, 4 nights.

Places we visited and things we did and saw while at Narrabri, NSW —

• Narrabri Region Visitor Information Centre (VIC)—well set up, has an enormous cotton harvester on display
• Narrabri Old Gaol Museum—had all plans to visit but it was closed
• CSIRO Australian Telescope Compact Array—enjoyed the whole area set up and all the info about the centre
• Yarrie Lake, NSW—we visited the lake, quite pretty and saw the camping area, some power available
• Dining—KFC, Watson’s Kitchen Bakery Express−good coffee, sausage rolls and fresh cream cakes, Thai Home Restaurant
• Mount Kaputar National Park/Summit Lookout—beautiful scenery, had picnic lunch at Kaputar Scenic Drive Info Bay and continues toward the summit, past the 914 m sign and a little further on but the truck was having overheating issues so we U-turned and went down. Try again another day.
• Sawn Rock—we ventured along a very rough dirt road on the way but somewhere along the track found ourselves a little lost in the bush, so we U-turned and headed home for the day
• Rain—today (Thursday 26 September) is the first time we have had heavy rain, not just showers, since leaving Granville in July.

We are on our way to Gunnedah, it’s 1000 hrs on Friday 27 September and we are heading to the Tourist Caravan Park at Gunnedah, NSW. Would you believe that half way between towns we had to stop at traffic lights, road works, not long. We arrived at 1300 hrs and are here for 3 days, 4 nights.

Places we visited and things we did and saw while at Gunnedah, NSW —

• Visitor Information Centre (VIC)—this was set up in the town theatre with a section newly renovated with great information and also a lovely local lady to speak to
• Murals/Street Art—there were a few walls , etc around town displaying local art
• Rainbow Serpent—this mosaic was at the front of the VIC on a brick pedestal and it was about 4 metres long and was also a water fountain
• Pensioners Hill/Heritage Sculptures—was up on a high hill, it was a large park area to walk around and there were views of about 270º  overlooking the town and farms. We ventured around exploring the sculptures and reading the information supplied. It was a well set up area and quite beautiful on a sunny day.
• Porcupine Lookout—after a windy climb up this mountain were were able to overlook Gunnedah and outer districts, all quite pretty

After visiting this quiet country town we were going to head to Singleton Showground but found out as we rang to make a booking that it was closed for the Rodeo. At 1000 hrs on Tuesday 1 October we headed to Muswellbrook Showground, NSW.  We arrived at 1300 hrs and are there for 1 day, 2 nights.

Places we visited and things we did and saw while at Muswellbrook, NSW —

When we arrived at the showground the manager guided us into an undercover, concreted area which was great. We were located across the main road from the local Shopping Centre, walking distance. For dinner we ventured out to Eatons Hotel on the main shopping street. There was no official information centre in town.

•  Simpson Park—in the park there was the Scarred Tree from the Dartbrook mine site, the Australian Magpie sculpture and the Reconciliation triptych mural for past, present and future
• Town Murals/Art—there was the Muscle Creek Cultural Heritage artwork, also along the side walls of the train overpass there was more art which worked quite well in tying the town together culturally
• Max Watters, OAM Bronze Statue—created in remembrance of the local artist and his contribution the the area
• The Blue Heeler—along the street there were sculptures the Australian cattle dog

Time to head to Granville, it’s 1000 hrs on Thursday 3 October and we are heading to the Nyssa & Brad’s. We arrived at 1300 hrs and are here for an extended stay.

Thursday 15 August to Tuesday 10 September

We were at Jerilderie Motel & Caravan Park awaiting the arrival of our friends, Richard & Heather Wilkins on Thursday 15 August in their Motorhome (hired) and we are here for five nights/four days.

Places we visited & things we did or saw at Jerilderie, NSW—

• Jerilderie Sports Club—Chinese Birthday Dinner for Dean & Reen from Richard & Heather, delicious
• Ned Kelly Touring Route—followed the info boards and visited a museum around the streets which gave the local history of Ned Kelly
• Luke Park/Steel Wings/ Lake—explored the beautiful park, viewed the working irrigation wings and walked around the lake
• Horgan Walk—the info boards took us around the historical buildings and gave the story for the town
• Billabong Creek—we were camped on the edge of the creek and there was a floating pontoon for sitting and fishing just around the bend from us
• Mini Rail—Dean, Richard & Heather found the rail place but it was closed
• Murals—enjoyed the mural on the Swimming Centre wall and the old Mechanics Institute/Free Library building
• The Kidman Way—officially the The Kidman Way starts about 17 kms north of Jerilderie

The Kidman Way

Sir Sidney Kidman (1857 – 1935) went on to become the largest land owner in the world. The Kidman Way road is not named for him, he was an Australian pastoralist and philanthropist but for his inspiring vision to open inland Australia and draws its history from the stock routes that linked cattle stations in the region.

We left Jerilderie Motel & Caravan Park 0935 hrs on Monday 19 August and were heading to Griffith with a stopover at Colleambally, NSW.

Places we visited & things we did or saw at Colleambally, NSW—

• Colleambally—is the youngest town in NSW, 1968
• Wine glass mosaic water tower
• Colleambally Irrigation Co-operative—history outlined on info boards with old equipment on display
• Painted birds on the street sign posts
• Metal sculptured Australian animals—along the streets were emus, brolgas, lizards, goannas, magpies and more
• Murals—Australian animals and aboriginal art
• Park—with info boards explaining how the town started

We left Colleambally at 1145 hrs and arrived at Griffith Showground Caravan Park at 1245 hrs and are here for seven nights/six days.

Places we visited & things we did or saw at Griffith, NSW—

• Griffith Tourism Hub—well set up with a history of the town surveying and planning (Sir Walter Burley Griffin) and a WW2 Bomber Aircraft on display outside on a pole
• Hanwood, NSW—Catania Fruit Salad Farm—met Joe, the owner who led us on a tour of the farm; walking, bus, movie, home history, home grown food to taste (mandarin, kumquat, blood orange, dried prunes, Cara Cara navel orange, pecans, honey, mustards, jams, balsamic vinegar), delicious and it was a great afternoon
• Darlington Point, NSW—Altina Wildlife Park—we toured the 500 acre breeding zoo on a Clydesdale pulled cart, it was an amazing morning with lots of information and some interesting animals
• Darlington Point, NSW—explored the town and found a park with aboriginal art and info boards, a digital clock sculpture, old bridge and historic buildings. Had lunch at the Gumview cafe corner store
• Whitton, NSW—Southern Cotton gin—toured the gin to observe the processing of cotton from farm module (bale) to clean bale for manufacturing distribution. All materials in the module including seeds and plant rubbish are used or sold on
• Whitton, NSW—is the oldest town in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, 1850. In the park was a mural of a silhouetted soldier on the water tower and a metal silhouette story sculpture
• Murals—a town of murals, at least 30 around town on walls, electrical boxes and pillars
• A Taste of Italy Festival—from 19−25 August 2024 the town has many Italian restaurants and cafes to try. We enjoyed lunch at Giuseppe’s Restaurant and gelato from Station 4 cafe
• Scenic Drive Lookout—great view of the expanse of Griffith, 27C, beautiful day
• Griffith Baptist Church—friendly people, good service

We left Griffith at  0950 hrs on Monday 26th August and headed to Hillston with a stopover in Goolgowi at 1030 hrs.

Places we visited & things we did or saw at Goolgowi, NSW—

• Info Boards—around the street and park telling the towns history
• General Store/Donna’s Diner—coffee, Coke and chai latte with Scotch Finger  biscuits for morning tea

We left Goolgowi at 1130 hr and continued heading to Hillston with another stopover in Merriwagga at 1200 hrs.

Places we visited & things we did or saw at Merriwagga, NSW—

• Black Stump info area—the info Boards around the park tell the story of the Black Stump and the town’s history

We left Merriwagga at 1215 hrs on continued on our way and arrived at Hillston Caravan Park at 1300 hrs and are here for four nights/three days in site #13.

Places we visited & things we did or saw at Hillston, NSW—

• Bakery—coffees and chai latte for morning tea
• Murals—the water tower was brilliant, there were many other walls painted throughout the town
• Information Centre/Red Dust & Paddy Melons Community Gallery—lots of info and local crafts on display
• Swing Bridge across Lachlan River—walked across while Dean bounced on the other end making it more wobbly
• Lachlan River—lovely river, flowing strong and surrounded by the Lachlan Red River Gums which were full of corellas (cockatoos)
• Information Boards—lots of history of the town
• Redbank Cafe—had dinner here, very yummy
• Sunset on Lachlan River—sunset with reflections in the river
• Lake Woorabinda—green (grassed) in winter, filled for summer for water sports

We left Hillston at 0950 hrs on Friday 30 August and headed towards Cobar, we stopped at Mount Hope at 1050 hrs.

Places we visited & things we did or saw at Mount Hope, NSW—

• Sign—metal worked sign
• Info Boards—history of the area
• Royal Hotel—Dean got coffee

On the way again, we left Mount Hope at 1020 hrs and headed to Cobar Caravan Park and arrived at 1340 hrs and are here for five nights/four days in site #59.

Places we visited & things we did or saw at Cobar, NSW—

• Information Centre/The Great Cobar Museum—lots of town info and a very informative museum with many items to see and read
• Fort Bourke Hill Lookout & Open Cut Mine—views overlook the town, the mine which is still working is enormous, amazing and there is lots of information
• Cobar Mining Heritage Park—lots of historical artefacts and info boards about the history
• Cobar Miners Memorial—lots of info and photos
• Cobar town signs—day & night photos, the metal work done by local High School  students
• Murals—wall, bins & boxes around town, painted and etched on steel, High School walls
• Cobar Baptist Church—good service, friendly, lots of kids and youth
• The Great Cobar Mine and Open Cut—this is the original copper mine in town which ran from 1871–1919
• Cobar Sound Chapel—off the beaten track to sit in an old silo refitted as an acoustic experience. It was interesting and calming
• The Old Reservoir—we visited the popular free camping area just to see it, quite nice
• The Newey Reservoir—we enjoyed a picnic lunch after walking around reading through info boards. There was lots of bird life on the water and it was all quite pretty

On the road again, we left Cobar at 0930 hrs on 4 September and headed to Kidmans Camp at North Bourke and arrived at 1130 hrs and are here for six nights/five days in site #52.

Places we visited & things we did or saw at Bourke, NSW—

• Traffic Light—who would have thought there would be a traffic light on the road between Cobar & Bourke? Roadworkers had set it up
• Exhibition Centre—we had lunch at the centre before we started our tour of 1.5 hours. It’s an amazing set up with town and local history and also some amazing sculptures
• The Old Wharf/River Walk—we meandered around the wharf and also down the 47 steps to the 4 levels underneath to the water. There were also lots of sign boards with historical info. We had coffee, etc at The Old Darling Store
• Crossley Engine/Wal Mitchell Precinct—we attended the daily display of the engine and heard of its interesting history and saw it in action
• Historical Lock And Weir—we travelled out to the weir to see the set up of the Lock and read the info board on its historical use
• Mt Oxley—sunset, BBQ and  stars. An interesting drive out of town, then through a private property to the mountain and then up we went, to the top.
• Murals—there were a few different Murals around town
• Silo Art—the art was great, it displays Percy Hobson, the first aboriginal athlete to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games, in 1962
• Historic North Bourke Bridge—we visited the bridge and walked to the barriers to get photos. This is Australia’s oldest moveable span bridge which operated from 1883 to 1997 for paddle steamers loaded with cargo
• Port of Bourke Maritime Heritage Trail—we drove along the west side of the Darling River and along the way we saw the relic of PS Wave which was stranded on a bank when the river went down overnight, so the info board said. There were lots of info boards with historical info about the river. We also got to see the Old Wharf from across the river
• Church—we attended the small service at Bourke Christian Church, very welcoming
• John & Hazel Bassett—we caught up with the other Bassett’s (Dean’s brother & his wife) as they were at Kidmans Camp. We spent lots of time chatting together
• May’s Bend—it was time to pack our lunch at head to a new spot for lunch. We sat by the Darling River enjoying the view, birds and the quietness
• Morrall’s Bakery Cafe—coffee is important and the Bakery seemed a good place to try, it was very good
• Bourke Bowling Club Chinese Restaurant—it was good to share dinner together at the club, yummy meal

We are off again, its Friday 6 September and this outing is to get to the Queensland border and back again. On the way we stopped off in Enngonia, NSW for coffee, but sadly no coffee in town. We travelled on to Barringun.

Places we visited & things we did or saw at Barringun, NSW—

• Coffee Truck—we were told at Enngonia that it was set up along the road but they couldn’t say for sure if it was open, we drove on until we came to the van but it was closed with no opening hours on display
• Bush Tucker Inn/Barringun Roadhouse—we stopped for coffee, tea and Coke and the girl there also told us about the coffee van but she didn’t know when it opened either
• Queensland—a little way down the road, about one kilometre, we drove into QLD
• New South Wales—after photos it was time to head back to NSW
• Lunch—after all the excitement of travelling to QLD and back we stopped again at the same roadhouse for a delicious lunch

We got back to Kidmans Camp at 1500 hrs and rested for the afternoon.

We made it to the end of The Kidman Way. It has taken us 26 days from Thursday 15 August to Tuesday 10 September. We had a great time travelling together and seeing and doing lots of interesting things along the way.

 

Images of The Kidman Way

Friday 19 April to Friday 5 July

We left Granville at 1010 hrs and arrived at Singleton Showground at 1330 hrs for our five night stay.

Places we visited & things we did or saw at Singleton—

• Brett & Liz’s 20th Anniversary—(Reen’s brother) enjoyed meeting their family and friends and a great meal and Nyssa, Brad & family visited
• Visited—Brett & Liz for a few hours
• Singleton Information Centre—really nice place with an art display
• World’s Largest Sundial—very impressive
• Bretto’s Food Truck—(Reen’s brother) enjoyed a delicious lunch of Beef & Gravy Rolls with chips

On Wednesday we left Singleton at 0950 hrs and headed to our friend’s property in Tea Gardens.

Places we visited & things we did or saw while at Tea Gardens—

• Raymond Terrace—shopping at Aldi’s, Big W and Woolies
• Sunsets—beautiful to watch
• Tea Gardens Baptist Church—Worship Service and lunch at the Bowling Club, every Sunday
• Weather—heavy rain with the forecast being the same for about 10 days.
•  LP recordings—completed
• TGBC Bible Study—every Tuesday afternoon and sometimes dinner afterwards
• Darling Harbour—Thursday 2 May, Dean met up with Joel at an IT Exhibition/Conference and Building Trade Show. He left Tea Gardens at 0520 hrs and drive to Broadmeadow, then train to Central Station and then walk to Darling Harbour.  Around 1445 hrs Dean headed back home and arrived at 1900 hrs.
• Family Tree—Reen spent the day working on our Family Tree
• TGBC Working Bee—Dean assisted in building of a small storage room and also assisted in dirt removal from Church driveway concreting. Dean got to drive a tip truck for the day and Reen was good at observation
• TGBC Live! Live! Live!—Church bands and singers entertain the community with songs from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s
• Scanning—Reen has completed a 55lt crate of scanning
• Mothers Day/45th Anniversary—Sunday 12 May we travelled to Granville for the day to celebrate. We enjoyed spending the day with Nyssa, Brad and family had an early Birthday dinner of Pizza for Jack as his 15th birthday would be on Thursday
• TGBC  Website—Dean worked at creating a website for the Church
• Reading—Dean has lost himself in reading 15 fantasy books
• Heatherbrae—shopping at Bunnings and BCF
• Bucket’s Way—exploring from Dungog to Buahdelah, drove through lots of hills/mountains, windy roads, it was beautiful.
• Dungog Information Centre—collected maps and brochures and had a chat with the staff
• Stroud—drove through the Showground camping area and saw lots of historic buildings
• Bulahdelah Information Centre—collected brochures and had a great chat with the couple
• Mount Bulahdelah—saw the carved trees and the info board at the start of the bush trail, drove over the bridge to the skate park which had historical markers for reading
• Blacktown Hospital—Monday 3 June, Reen had a doctors appointment
• Marsden Park—shopping at IKEA and Costco
• Granville—visited friends in South Granville and had dinner with Nyssa and the children
• Fire Pit—Dean set up a fire pit and we sat enjoying the fire

We left Tea Gardens at 1010 hrs and arrived in Granville at 1515 hrs. It was a slow trip due to two accidents on the freeway which caused major bumper to bumper traffic from Sydney side of the Hawkesbury River.

Things we did while in Granville—

• Vera’s 4th Birthday Party—a great time with family and friends
• Hannah’s 18th & Rachel’s 21st Party—for a couple of young ladies at GCBC
•  Nepean Belle Christmas in July Cruise—with our family—Joel, Beck & Vera and Nyssa, Brad, Jack, Charlie, Harry & Andy
• Granville Community Baptist Church—Worship Services and time to catch up with friends there

Monday 11 March to Wednesday 13 March

We left Granville at 1030 hrs and arrived at our friends property at Tea Gardens at 1330 hrs.

• LP’s recording—Dean worked at this
• Scanning—Reen worked at scanning papers and photos to electronic records
• Sunset—relax and enjoy
• Locals—watching the kangaroos outside, listening to the birds
• Weather—strong wind and vicious storm set in through the afternoon and for most of the night
• Blacktown Hospital—phone call about Reen’s next op (Total Knee Replacement-Left) is in 2 days, on Friday
• Specialist—appointment and new x-rays are booked for Thursday

We left Tea Gardens at 1130 hrs and arrived in Granville at 1435 hrs.

• Operation—went well with Reen home on Day 2, Sunday afternoon
• Physio—the team visited three times over two weeks, very happy with progress
• Exercise—Reen needed to exercise as much as she can
• Family—spent time with Nyssa, Brad and the kids and with Joel, Beck and Vera in Silverdale

Monday 19 February—Friday 1 March

Left Granville at 1315 hrs and drove to Travelhome, Cardiff for some minor repairs.

• Warranty work—Lower front doors of 5R and adjustment of the hitch fitting on the Iveco
• Decals—Graham added the decals to outside the 5R, the Tardis to the hall door inside and to the Iveco doors
• Problem—lounge slide room, it just stopped working, finally repaired the next day.

Left Cardiff at 1315 hrs and arrived at our friends property at Tea Gardens at 1645 hrs.

• Stopped—rest, read, watch TV,
• Recording LP’s— to our PC collection
• Tea Gardens Baptist Church—it’s always great to catch up with long time friends and have lunch at the Bowling Club
• Interactions with the locals—many kangaroos, birds and cows

Left Tea Gardens at 1005 hrs and arrived at Nyssa & Brad’s at 1430 hrs. The traffic was quite busy and we even saw three or four 5th Wheelers, which is quite unusual.

Tuesday 30 July to Wednesday 14 August

We left Granville on Tuesday at 1030 hrs and arrived at Yass Showground at 1345 hrs and are staying for a week.

Places we visited & things we did or saw at Yass, NSW—

• Sunsets—so good to watch the sun go down and enjoy the colours
• Fogged in—woke to heavy fog 3 mornings
• Sheep—woke to the sound of sheep outside the van, Xena was very interested in them
• Yass Information Centre—collected brochures about the area
• Yass Town Railway Bridge—was used from1892 to 1958 for the tramline to connect the town railway
• Railway Museum, Yass Tramway—interesting and informative
• Victoria Park Triggs Memorial Gates—erected in 1938
•  Yass Dam
• Oak Hill—a site of cultural significance for the (indigenous) community
• Rosebank Cottage—built in 1855 for travellers to the goldfields, it’s now a private residence
• Dean’s Birthday—Soldiers Club for lunch and Woolies sponge & cream cake
• Flat Rock Crossing—one of the original river crossings before the new bridge
• Weereewa Lookout on Lake George—90km return trip for a picnic lunch and great views
• Murrumbatemen Cemetery—photographed headstones of surnames of Reen’s Family Tree and a beautiful water tower mural
• Yass Cemetery—photographed headstones again
• Yass Community Baptist Church—Worship Service and the people were very friendly and chatty
• Murals—aboriginal wall mural on the back of the club, toilet block in Riverbank Park and also along the sides of the driveway under the road around the park
• Old Linton Manor-built 1857 by a Jewish innkeeper, Moses Moses. It has been an inn, a war veterans home and is now a private residence, accommodation and  café and is quite enormous
• Campers—always interested to see the other campers staying overnight and their vans

We left Yass at 1020 hrs and arrived at Temora Showground at 1245 hrs and are staying for a week.

Places we visited & things we did or saw at Temora, NSW—

• Lake Centenary—picnic lunch by the lake, beautiful set up
• Reen’s Birthday—Shamrock Chinese Restaurant and Vienetta Ice Cream for my cake
• Temora Visitor Information Centre—well set up for a small town with lots of rural history to see
• Drone—Dean experimented with his drone and recording
• Historic buildings—Flour Mill, Shamrock Hotel, St Anne’s Catholic School and Church which we could see from the showground and some of the buildings date back to late 1800’s
• Aviation Museum—well set up, interesting, informative, staff were knowledgeable and friendly and the displays were fabulous. Temora was a training base for the RAAF in the 2nd World War and on
• Sunsets—enjoyed sunsets each night from our lounge
• Trotters—each day there were a few and on the weekend there were many horse/carts ride into the showground to practise on the track and leave again, there were some beautiful horses
• Campers—we were again interested to see the other campers staying overnight and their vans
• Fogged in—only once but still lovely
• Temora Baptist Church—a small country church, very friendly people
• Temora Railway Station—enjoyed walking around the yard, reading all the info

We left Temora at 1010 hrs and arrived at Jerilderie Motel/Caravan Park at 1350 hrs and are staying for 6 nights with our friends arriving on Day 3.

Places we visited & things we did or saw at Jerilderie, NSW—

• Cows—had some up close and personal with a cow on the highway
• Caravan Park—beautiful location on the banks of Billabong Creek
• Fogged In—woke  the first morning to thick fog, very scenic

Trip #1:      —      Cardiff/Tea Gardens/Granville

Trip #2:      —     Tea Gardens, Granville

Trip #3:      —      Singleton, Tea Gardens, Granville

Trip #4:      —      Granville, Yass, Temora, Jerilderie

Trip #5:      —      The Kidman Way—Jerilderie, Griffith, Hillston, Cobar, Bourke

Trip #6:      —     Bourke, Lightning Ridge, Narrabri, Gunnedah, Muswellbrook, Granville

Images of 2024