Day 43 - Wednesday 29th February

Another easy day today at Gae and Grahams. It was cloudy and cool this morning but warmed up during the day.
We went into Uralla again today, then went out to Kentucky, a small community where Gae and Graham lived for many years. Things hadn't changed very much. On the way back to Uralla we stopped at Thunderbolts Rock. Thunderbolt was a bushranger who apparently used these rocks for a hide out and held up and robbed stagecoaches travelling between Tamworth and Armidale.





From there we went to McCrossin's Mill Museum in Uralla, which houses lots of memorabilia and history of the area. Afterwards, Peter, Gae and Graham rested in the museum's shady garden.












And another beautiful sunset seen from Gae's back door.



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Location:Uralla

Day 42 Tuesday 28th February

We had a leisurely day today. This morning we went out to where Graham was doing some work at the local church where they had cut down some old pine trees.



Doesn't look like there is much work being done here!



This afternoon Graham took us for a drive around their 1000 hectare property where they have about 2300 sheep and 150 cattle. Also on the property are many kangaroos, rabbits, wild pigs and deer. Gae and I sat in the back of the truck while Graham and Peter were in comfort in the front of the truck.








There are a lot of large basalt rocks around the property. We walked up to the top of a large rock to overlook the property. I was treading very carefully after yesterday's walk.












Along the way were some wild blackberry bushes so we had a feed of some lovely fresh berries. These bushes have lots of thorns. I waited on the back of the truck while the others picked the blueberries and they gave me some.



After driving through water, over rocks and logs we discovered a flat tyre. Graham had an audience while changing the tyre.



Did Peter really climb this tree?



Not really, he climbed the rock first.










And today's sunset.


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Location:Uralla

Day 41 - Monday 27th February

Gae and Graham took us to Dangar Falls out of Armidale this morning. We had never been here before, despite having visited here several times.
On the way, we stopped at this lovely old church.







From there we went to the falls. Walking up to a viewing area, I got a bit of a fright, as out the corner of my eyes I saw something - it was a carpet snake only inches away from my foot. It just stayed there and looked at us.




So onto the falls we went, very conscious of where we were walking.

























Thankfully we didn't come across any more wildlife.


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Location:Uralla/Armidale

Day 40 - Sunday 26th February

We woke this morning to light rain, the first rain we have had since Narrabri, some weeks ago. It got heavier as we left Gunnedah but soon cleared. We passed through Tamworth, which of course is the Country Music Capital. There we found the "Big Golden Guitar".




The scenery today became more mountainous as we drove up the Moonbi Ranges from Tamworth, with huge granite rocks on either side of the road.










We arrived in Uralla and went to Mark and Belinda's (my nephew and his wife), where we are leaving our caravan while we stay at Gae and Graham's. We didn't think we would get the caravan over some of the causeways going out to the farm.
From left to right are Graham, Mark, Belinda, Gae and Peter.



As we don't have coverage here I can't post this blog until we go into town.

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Location:Uralla

Day 39 -Saturday 25th February

We left Dubbo this morning, driving through Gilgandra and Coonabarabran before arriving in Gunnedah.
Gilgandra didn't have a central water supply till 1966, so there were over 300 windmills around the area. These windmills below were at the local museum near where we stopped for morning tea. There is even a "windmill walk" where you can see an avenue of windmills.





The countryside became more mountainous as we drove towards Coonabarabran and then to Gunnedah. These photos were taken as we were driving and the landscape changed.













Gunnedah is home to one of the largest and healthiest koala colonies. So far we haven't seen any here.
By the time we arrived here today, Peter had a sleep, I did the washing and some shopping then we went to church, we didn't get to see much of the town. Since we left Adelaide we have only stayed one night in each town, so doesn't give us much time to look around. We will arrive at Gae and Graham's (my sister and brother in law) 30 kms out of Uralla (between Tamworth and Armidale) tomorrow and stay there till later in the week, before getting home by Saturday.

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Location:Gunnedah

Day 38 -Friday 24th February

We left West Wyalong and drove north to Condobolin where, in the middle of nowhere, is "Utes in the Paddock", an art installation by various Australian artists. There are about twenty old Holden utes "taking on new life as part of an ambitious tribute to life in the outback".














From there we went to Parkes, and of course had to see "the dish" - the CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope. We were very fortunate, as when we got there it was facing towards us, then it started moving and faced away, so could see it from both sides. This sophisticated piece of scientific equipment is ironically in the middle if a sheep paddock. I remember going to see it in the 1980's and it had a fence around it, and the sheep were there in the paddock. Now there is a cafe, tourist shop, a display centre and theatre next to the 64 meter steel paraboloid, balanced on a three storey high concrete tower. (No, we couldn't play a game of cricket in it!)







From there we drove through Peak Hill then onto Dubbo. The landscape today changed from the dry flat land to more undulating hills, taller trees and much greener than we have seen in a long time. There is also hundreds of hectares being cultivated ready for the next crops.


This pic was taken at 95km hr through the windscreen on the iPad.

Dubbo is of course the home of the Western Plain Zoo, but we didn't go there as it was too late by the time we arrived here, so sorry there aren't photos to show you.


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Location:Dubbo

Day 37 Thursday 23rd February

As we were leaving Hay this morning we filled up with diesel, then discovered our second flat tyre on the van in two days (and it was the same tyre). The first one had a screw in it, this one was a piece of wire.
We finally left Hay and headed towards West Wyalong, 255 kms away. For the first 80 kms the landscape was unchanged and looked like this -






Suddenly we saw a crop of sunflowers on one side of the road and on the other, well off the road, were olive trees.







So there isn't a lot of spectacular scenery down this way. In the photo above, just below the horizon, the darker line is the olive grove.

John Oxley was the first European to investigate this area in 1817, saying "from want of timber, grass and water, it would never be inhabited by civilised man". (I can see why he thought this.) However squatters began to settle in 1833, introducing sheep and cattle. In 1893, gold was discovered. West Wyalong has a crooked main street, following the original bullock track that curved around trees and gold diggings.
These are some of the murals highlighting the pioneering past.










This second world war plane - a Douglas DC3 Dakota - is in the Lions Club park next to were we are staying. I couldn't find any significance of it being in this location except that it was donated to the West Wyalong Lions Club, so they put it in their park as a tourist attraction.





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Location:West Wyalong