After a great nights sleep at Wheogo Park in Forbes we took our ebikes off the bike rack and set off for a ride around Lake Forbes. The shared path goes all around the lake on both sides and it makes for a very pleasant ride or walk.

A couple of the sculptures are right in the town so we rode in there to find them.

We stopped for a delicious coffee at The Bakehouse after asking a local where the best coffee was to be had in Forbes. It was pretty good.

We continued our bike ride all the way back to the motorhome where we packed up and set off to visit to McFeeters Motor Museum. This place is right on the Newell Highway near the entrance to the south side of Forbes and many times we have passed by that way and said ‘we must go there one day”. Well that day we did and what a good thing that was because it’s for sale. Bob McFeeter was there to greet visitors and he told us he’s in his 80’s and is finding it all a bit hard now. He has tried to sell it as a going concern but finding someone with many millions to spare is difficult. He told us he’ll probably sell the building and sell all the cars, motorbikes and other memorabilia separately. He had one car there worth approximately $2,000,000. That’s right $2 million dollars for one car. We reckoned the building alone would be worth $2-3 million.

It was a fascinating display and we enjoyed our visit in spite of the museum looking a bit tired. The cafe was forced to close during Covid and the McFeeters haven’t been able to get anyone interested in taking it over. A bit sad. We wonder what will become of it.

Continuing northwards and we stopped for lunch break at Billabong Creek Rest Area between Forbes and Parkes.

We came across lots of roadworks near Parkes. The road looked like it had been badly affected by floods previously.

The countryside was looking amazing around Parkes. Lots of ripening wheat fields and still plenty of green everywhere. Quite a pretty drive going north on the Newell with blue hills on the right. I think those blue hills in the distance are a uniquely Aussie thing and the colour is due to the eucalyptus trees.

Another thing we’ve never done while traveling on the Newell is to stop in Peak Hill and visit the Peak Hill Gold Mine Experience. Peak Hill began as a gold mining settlement back in the 1890’s and mining continued right up until 2006 with the large open cut mines. The Gold Mine Experience has a variety of walks and well constructed viewing platforms that overlook the open cut mining areas.

The largest of the open cut mines, The Proprietary Open Cut mined from April 1996 to June 2001 and took 95,000 ounces of gold out of the ground. I didn’t realise that Australia is the world’s third largest producer of gold and the third largest holder of gold resources.

We did the walk up and over the hill and this walk goes by the five large open cuts as well as crossing over an area of deep mine shafts. Fortunately there’s a metal walkway over these as they looked very deep.

A sad sight was the remains of miner Paddy Nolan’s house. Not a lot left except some rusting metal, an old metal bed frame and a scattering of bricks from a chimney. Paddy and his wife, Norma raised 6 kids on the spot until Paddy’s death. The original house had a dirt floor and the original two rooms were added to by Paddy with a further two rooms, two sheds and a kitchen. The family had to carry water from the town and heated it over a wood fueled copper. Norma cooked in a camp oven over an open fire. Paddy was killed from a fall over the old open cut in 1969.

The walk around and over the hill took about 30 mins and was well worth the effort. We were glad we stopped to check it out.

About 18km north of Parkes is the tiny town of Tomingley. Just before you arrive the highway crosses over a mine road, part of the Tomingley Gold Project. This is a huge open cut and underground mining project that started in 2014 and has extended their operations to at least 2032. The project has yielded over 500,000 ounces of gold so far. With gold worth about $4,200 an ounce, that’s a lot of money!

Continuing northwards and finally arrived in Dubbo where we went directly to our cousins place and parked under a shady tree in their driveway. We enjoyed a lovely dinner with Richard and Robert enjoying sharing a 12 year old Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. Richard says it was amazing. It was lovely to catch up with Robert and Fiona before heading off to bed.