This early morning walk was the least enjoyable.  The positioning of Goulburn as the gateway to all points in NSW makes it economically very important, but environmentally wobbly.  The heavy vehicle traffic is constant, noisy and leaves heaps of rubbish at the fuel stops.  Daily activities begin noisily well before sunrise here, and the Trappers Bakery is buzzing before dawn.

One of the more imaginative means of advertising was this company ute with the business history emblazoned on the side….very detailed and certainly eye catching!  Good PR.

The big Merino was BIG!

Out of Goulburn, the surreal silence of modern day Don Quixote windmills beckoned from the hills.  The mechanics of the gears and power to produce power are intriguing…..and apparently very lucrative to the landowners.

Then it was on to the little town of Harden where LSM’s Thorogood rellies lie in the cemetery….husband in Anglican section and the wife in the Catholic – as were the strictures of past generations.

As we have found with each passing village, town or city on our trip, survival relies on a catchy angle.  Many rely on the age of the place and its historic reason for existence; many create festivals to champion their famous sons and daughters or events which have taken place; and many focus on contemporary trends in food and artisan markets. So it came as no surprise that Wombat loomed large celebrating this engaging waddler.

Parkes and its communication and location for The Dish (peeking over the hills in the image below) was a convenient place to tackle some more of the cheeses for lunch and watch Elvis leave the building roof across from  the park.  The annual Elvis festival in January attracts bigger crowds each year.  We missed it by this much!

 

As the country changed from the rich dairy grasses of the southern  Highlands to the open dry grasslands of the western plains (bypassing Dubbo and the amazing zoo which we had seen previously) we made our way north through many slow patches of road works and passed the endless road trains, and the open cut mine.

The sight of the Warrambungle Ranges always inspires and reminds me of a Uni trip with a close girlfriend where we hiked and stayed in relative discomfort for a few days back when the bears were bad.

Many hours, kilometres, fuel, cheese and bitumen later we pulled in to Coonabarabran.  The motel Acacia is an oasis, and the Chinese takeaway from next door was the best I have had in ages.

So our road trip ended on a comfy note.  Tomorrow we will be home in Toowoomba after retracing our steps via Narrabri, Moree, Goondiwindi and back to Toowoomba and routine.

This has been the start of a year of adventures celebrating Murray’s 70th year.  Next he catches up with a host of rellies, friends and family during March and April in Toowoomba; then he heads to Morocco in September for a 13 day small group tour.  On our return, we take youngest grand daughter Estella on her end of primary school trip to the Dinosaur Trails and my cousin’s property near Cloncurry at the end of September.  No it doesn’t end there – a mystery trip around Christmas and hopefully to end off his special year, a cruise in February/March 2020.  A very special time ahead!

Thanks for sharing this trip with us, and we will keep travlyn. 👣👣👣👣👣