Day 5 – Bendigo, Ballarat & The Grampians

April 20, 2024April 30, 2024 / jennyfletch / Leave a comment

Oh dear. No hot water. Had to have a very luke warm shower this morning. Now what’s wrong?

Like always, when something goes wrong on the motorhome it’s a process of elimination. Is it a power issue? Nope. Hot Water System (HWS) is plugged in and turned on. Is it the power point? No. Tried plugging in the battery charger and it worked.

Is it something to do with the town water? Unplugged the hose from the motorhome and turned the 12V pump on. Still no hot water.

It was working for the first couple of days when we were free camping so I turned the gas on to see if that worked. Waited 10 minutes and still no hot water. Weird!

Found the Truma HWS Manual to read the troubleshooting and couldn’t find anything at all helpful there.

Nothing for it but to resort to the professionals. A quick Google search found Ballarat City Caravans. I called them and the service manager was busy but would call me back. True to his word Rob called back and after I explained the problem he said the only way they can diagnose was to bring it in. So we packed up camp and drove the short distance to Ballarat City Caravans. Rob had told us to park around the back and we drove in the back entrance to their service area.

Rob introduced us to their ‘guru’ Grant and he quickly set about diagnosing the problem. About 10 minutes later he had determined it was our tempering valve that was faulty. The tempering valve is important in an RV as it adjusts the temperature coming from the HWS and mixes it with cold water so that the water that goes through the pipes and out the taps is not boiling. Luckily he could replace it straight away. Excellent!

Once that was done he asked if our water pump always sounded loud like that. When I responded yes, he then asked if I wanted it fixed. Yes, please! So now we have a new tempering Valve and the water pump is so quiet! $280 later and we were driving back to the NRMA Holiday Park.

Back at camp we tossed about what we would do that afternoon and it was decided to give the Wildlife Park a visit. Rob at Ballarat City Caravans had recommended it. What a lovely little park it is. Definitely recommend a visit if you are in Ballarat with children. Our three loved it.

We timed it right for the keeper talk at the Tasmanian Devils, tried to spot the two tigers hiding in their enclosure, patted kangaroos and emus, laughed at the antics of the koalas as the keepers gave them new leaves to eat, admired the huge Wedge-tail Eagle, watched the dingos, and marvelled at the huge tortoises. A favourite with the kids was the Reptile House with its snakes, lizards, alligators and crocodiles.

Crunch the 65 year old saltwater crocodile is a star of the park and he has his own habitat that he shares with his mate Bella. She is tiny compared to Crunch. They recently had two babies and they were also on display in their own aquarium.

It was a great couple of hours that the kids really enjoyed. We followed that up with a visit to an awesome adventure playground located near the Botanic Gardens and Lake Wendouree. What a great playground! Kids enjoyed running around their testing their skills and hiding.

It rained again when we arrived back at camp and was quite cold. We were all starting to get a bit sick of the rain and our mats were becoming very muddy. Oh well at least we know the boys swags are watertight!

Day 4 – Sovereign Hill, Ballarat

April 19, 2024April 30, 2024 / jennyfletch / Leave a comment

Rich discovered he’d left his thermals at home so we borrowed Katie’s car and did a quick drive to Anaconda to buy Rich another one. We arrived back to the RV’s to find he’d left his favourite cap behind in the fitting room. Bummer! He called them and it was found. They’ll hang on to it until he can pick it up.

We all packed our lunch and with our backpacks on headed off on foot to visit Sovereign Hill. As I said earlier Sovereign Hill is just around the corner from the NRMA Park. There’s even a back gate from the park to shorten the walk.

It is very easy to spend the day at Sovereign Hill and we managed to fit in quite a lot. Throughout the day there are various demonstrations with people dressed in period costume to add a little bit of theatre to the demonstrations.

We watched a Musket firing demonstration by a man dressed as an 1850’s mounted policeman.

We also watched a Blacksmith demonstration where the blacksmith made a metal shepherds crook.

Katie and the children tried Gold panning (didn’t find anything)

We explored the various shops full of goods for sale such as lollies. We checked out the houses full of interesting furniture and household goods. Ben pointed to a guzunder and said ‘Ooh it’s full of wee”

We ate our packed lunch near the children’s playground while watching a group of badly behaved school children.

Later we watched a fascinating Gold pouring where we were shown how gold is super heated in a crucible and then poured carefully into a mould to take out the impurities. The resulting ingot weighed 3kg and is worth around $60,000.

Ben was dying to go on the Underground Mine tour so once the gold pouring finished we had to move very quickly to the mine for book in offer the next tour which started in 10 minutes. It was a fun tour going underground on a tram then walking through the mine before riding the tram back to the surface. It was so dark going down and back up on the tram that you couldn’t see your own hand in front of your face.

By the time we’d done the mine tour we were all ready to head for home. It had been a long day. We’d mostly been on our feet all day so, after a quick stop in the gift shop on the way out, 6 tired people walked slowly back to our caravan park.

Katie and I did a little washing, the kids played on the jumping pillow, Ben found the games room, Pa and I went for a walk around the park and Katie cooked our dinner. It started raining about 6 and looked like it was going to settle in. Riley and Maddie played games while Pa surfed the net.

The rain really settled in so everyone called it an early night and headed to their bed to read or play games. We moved the boys swags so they were under the motorhome awning as it’s bigger than the one on the van.

Day 3 – School holiday camping with the grandkids

April 18, 2024April 30, 2024 / jennyfletch / Leave a comment

After our long day yesterday we all enjoyed a late start with pancakes and bacon & eggs for breakfast.

By the time we left Happy Jacks Reserve at 11am the road was very busy with trucks going by. We headed southwards to Castlemaine and Daylesford.

Daylesford is such a lovely little town we decided to find a park for our RV’s and set off to explore the Main Street. First stop was the visitors centre then we wandered along one side of the street and down the other. What an eclectic lot of shops. We found a fabulous bookshop and a shop full of all sorts of memorabilia. Daylesford Bakery smelt good so we chose there for some lunch. I had a pie and it was really good. I can’t remember the last time I had a pie!

Continuing our journey and we arrived in Ballarat around 2.30pm and checked in to the NRMA park. It’s just around the corner from Sovereign Hill. As we were staying for 3 days we fully set up camp. Awning out and tied down, mat out, chairs and table out etc.

Riley and Ben stayed at camp while the rest of us went for a drive around the city to orient ourselves. We drove all the way around Lake Wendouree and discovered prime real estate with expensive houses overlooking the lake. We did have to stop at one point to let a pair of black swans cross the road. We called at Bakers Delight and Woolies for some groceries then drove back to camp where we found the boys.

The kids spent a good hour jumping on the huge jumping pillow which is located directly behind our camp. At dusk a staff member came around to ask the children to get off as it was closing. There are no lights around the pillow so it would be quite dangerous for the kids to use it after dusk.

We had a BBQ with sausages and rissoles for dinner cooked on Katie’s Weber accompanied by potato bake and salad.

It started to rain after dinner so we moved the boys swags under our awning to keep them dry. Everyone retired pretty early as it was very chilly outside. What happened to Autumn? It was full on Winter in Ballarat!

Day 2 – School holidays camping with the grandkids

April 17, 2024April 30, 2024 / jennyfletch / Leave a comment

Departing Conargo early for us, we were on the road by 8am, heading towards Echuca.

Before we left Katie discovered that the water pump in her van had stopped working. She’d had a shower but when she went to clean her teeth…no water. The pump wasn’t making any noise at all! Bummer! We’d have to try and get it looked at in Bendigo.

After saying a farewell to the kids new friend, Skye, the German Shepherd, we set off. We were both very impressed with how the children helped with the setting up and packing up of the camp. They all know what has to be done and they just get in and do it. Awesome little campers!

Next stop was Echuca, across the Murray River, in Victoria. Echuca is a fascinating town and we could have spent a lot longer there however we were on a deadline. We had to be in Bendigo for our pre-booked tour at the Central Deborah Gold Mine.

After spending an hour exploring the historic wharf district and the fabulous museum we had to sadly leave Echuca. The historic wharf museum has free entry. Isn’t that great? The young ones were excited to see paddle steamers in the river and one even cruised past taking tourists on a tour. Ben and Maddie particularly enjoyed the steam engine display where they got to turn handles to pump water and make bells ring.

Echuca was once one of the busiest inland ports in Australia and the paddle boats carried huge cargo along the river to South Australia. From here the cargo was loaded onto ships and transported all around the world.

Along the way I put in a call to Bendigo Caravan & RV to see if they could have a look at the broken water pump. The friendly staff member said they could and quite by fluke their business happened to be in the next block away from the Central Deborah Gold Mine where we were to do the tour.

Arriving in Bendigo we drove directly to the Caravan & RV place and booked the van in. Katie had to park and unhook the van then park her car around the corner. They were to investigate and let her know what they find while we all go off to do our tour.

There is parking for long vehicles right behind the Central Deborah Gold Mine so Pa parked the motorhome there and we all walked around there to have lunch before we headed to our booked tour. We had to arrive 15 minutes before our tour and we were a little early. We were given wristbands to wear and had to be at the meeting point at 1.55pm.

Our tour guide was a bright and bubbly lady named Sarah-Jane or SJ. We spent the next hour with her as she guided us down 22 stories underground. Everyone’s footwear was checked to ensure we were all wearing closed shoes. If not, no tour for you! Another safety feature is the hard hat. First stop underground is to collect your hard hat. Each hard hat has a headlight torch and are adjustable to fit each head.

Once everyone had their hard hats on we could all enter the lift and go below. The lift jolted a little on take off and a few people let out little squeals! We very quickly arrived at Level Two 61 metres underground. Level 5 through to 17 are now fully flooded so they are not accessible anymore. We spent the next 45 minutes following SJ as she explained the history of Bendigo, gold mining, the Central Deborah Mine, the miners and their lives and the tools and equipment they used, until our tour ended back at the lift. What a fabulous tour. We all enjoyed it very much.

Once back on the surface the kids wanted to have a go a gold panning. That was a bit of fun. They were excited to find little sparkly pieces of stones in the bottom of the pan but I really don’t think anyone found any real gold. Ben m aye found $1 worth. Just a little flake. They had fun trying though!

Whilst on the tour Katie had been called by the RV place to let her know that the water pump needed replacing and they could do it while we were on the tour so once our tour ended we headed back around there to collect the van with it’s new water pump installed. Yay!

We left Bendigo and headed out of town to a spot Rich and I had found on a previous visit. Happy Jacks Reserve is a free camp spot right alongside a little creek and there is plenty of room for lots of RV’s. I think everyone was a little tired afterlour long day and it did take longer than usual to decide on a camp site. Eventually we settled on a spot and set up camp with our little fire pit burning merrily.

Tour of the Central Deborah Gold Mine, Bendigo, VIC & Happy Jacks Reserve

School holiday camping with the grandkids

April 16, 2024April 30, 2024 / jennyfletch / Leave a comment

The long-awaited April School holidays finally arrived. It felt like we’d been planning the trip for ages! We headed off towards Victoria with a general plan to visit Echuca, Bendigo, Ballarat and The Grampians.

After a late start, due to car problems with our daughter’s Prado, we finally got away around 2.30pm. A quick stop to fill up with fuel and put air in the tyres and we were away.

By the time we arrived at the tiny village of Conargo the sun was going down so that was as far as we went that first day. We pulled in for the night at Conargo Recreation Ground free camp. There was one van already in a spot so we set our RV’s up at 90 degrees to each other so our doors faced inwards. The boys quickly set up their swags on their large mat and Pa quickly got the fire pit out and alight.

As we were setting up another van arrived and set up next to the other one.

What great little campers the kids are now. No arguing, just helping each other get the camp setup so we could settle around the fire and watch the sunset.

I’d put a beef stew in my little crockpot and it had been cooking away all day. I served it up with crunchy bread. Yum. The kids hoovered it.

Our new neighbour in the second van invited the kids to come and meet their big German Shepherd. Kids jumped at the chance to do that.

Conargo Pub, which famously burnt down and was rebuilt, now offers meals but only from Thursday to Sunday. As it was only Monday not a lot was happening at the pub. The Recreation Ground is a great spot. There are clean and tidy toilets, tennis courts, an oval, and free camping is available. We think they should have a donation box at the front gate as we would be happy to donate to this great little camp. If all campers donated $10 that would really help the little community to maintain the area and most campers would be happy to donate $10.

Visiting our old house & the good thing about family funerals.

November 25, 2023November 26, 2023 / jennyfletch / Leave a comment

Sadly Molong was hit by floods in November 2022 and the small caravan park is ‘Closed until Further Notice’. You can still camp at the Bowling Club but the club itself has not been able to reopen due to flood damage. One of the cousins had rented a house in Molong via Airbnb and we were able to park the motorhome in the driveway. Free camping in the driveway!

The next morning we headed into Orange to check it out. We lived in Orange from 1981-1985. Our eldest daughter was born there. During our time there we had the Angus & Robertson bookstore in the Main Street.

Orange has grown so much since we lived there. There are many suburbs that didn’t exist back then, they were farms. The ring road that bypasses the town now makes it easy to go from one side to the other. As we drove down the Main Street there were buildings we remembered and many that were new. Cook Park is still magnificent with its huge old trees. Our old store is now an Optus Shop!

We drove out of town on the Ophir Road to check out our old house at Clifton Grove. We were amazed to find that the trees we planted 40 years ago are so big that you cannot see the house from the road anymore. You just get a glimpse through the trees. I remember planting the gum trees along the driveway and they are now enormous! We were a bit disappointed that we couldn’t see the house as we wondered if it has changed much. I remember brining our daughter home from the Orange Base Hospital. It had snowed the day she was born in late May. It was in the days before disposable nappies were everyday items and I had cloth nappies to wash. I remember having them out on the line and when I went to bring them in they were frozen stiff. We bought our first clothes dryer!

After spending the morning driving around Orange we headed back to Molong to prepare for the afternoon funeral. The funeral was held in the chapel at the Crematorium followed by a wake in a private room at a local cafe. The good thing about family funerals is you get to see and talk with family that you may not have seen for a long time. It is great to chat and find out what their families have been up to, what the children have done with their lives, how many grandchildren everyone has, who has retired and who is still working. Is it weird to say I enjoyed seeing everyone? I think Richard’s aunt would have been pleased to see us all together and enjoying each others company.

The next day it was time to head home and we took the most direct route home. As we left early we were home by lunchtime.

What’s your routine after a trip away in your motorhome or van?

We like to give the outside a good wash after unpacking our food and clothes. I strip all the linen and it goes to the laundry to be washed. Then I give the inside a good clean paying attention to the dusty windows and wiping anywhere that collects dust. Lastly the floor gets a good wash. Once the linen is all washed and dried it goes back in to the motorhome. The pantry is restocked and I make a list of any items that need replacing next time I do groceries. If we’ve had a fire Richard will restock the wood bin. Once that is all done the motorhome is parked under its own carport and is all ready for its next meander!

Following the Sculptures down the Lachlan

November 23, 2023 / jennyfletch / Leave a comment

The Sculptures down the Lachlan is an initiative of the Forbes Art Society. It has been proudly funded by the NSW Government’s Restart NSW Program through the Regional Growth, Environment and Tourism Development Fund, Forbes Art Society, Forbes Shire Council, Lachlan Shire Council and Evolution Mining. The sculptures are placed in the bush along the 100km stretch of the Lachlan Valley Way between Forbes and Condobolin.

We started our journey from the Condobolin end after a great nights sleep camped at Gum Bend Lake. We were very happy to make a donation for this fabulous spot. There is a donation box on a post near the rubbish bins. I hope other campers make donations too. It is so well maintained and there’s room for lots of RV’s. It’s a credit to the council to provide such a great facility for travellers. I’m glad we spent over $100 at the local supermarket.

Each of the 13 sculptures along the road are well signposted and at each of them is a gravel area for vehicles to park. At the entry to each pathway to the sculpture is a concrete post with a plaque that tells the story of the sculpture.

Some of the sculptures are huge, some small, some are quirky, some are thought provoking and some are just for fun. I’ll let you be the judge.

We finished the sculpture trail in Forbes. Within the township there are 12 more sculptures but we would save them for another time as we needed to continue our journey.

We stopped off at Wheogo Park, a favourite spot of ours as you can usually park with a view of Lake Forbes. It is a free camp provided by the council and we have stayed overnight there many times. We managed to find a lovely spot with a view of the lake from our dinette. Perfect!

Our destination for the day was Molong where some of Richard’s cousins live and we would catch up with them and others as they arrive for the family funeral the next day.

We had a leisurely drive via Eugowra and Cudal through rolling green hills. I always forget how hilly it is in that area. We made good time and arrived in Molong around 4pm. We’ve found the roads very full of pot holes due to the floods 12 months ago however we came across lots of roadworks where these are being repaired.

Griffith to Condobolin

November 22, 2023November 22, 2023 / jennyfletch / Leave a comment

Sadly we were notified that Richard’s Aunty Anne had passed away. She was 92. Richard’s dad Bob had three sisters and Anne was the last one of that generation. Her funeral was to be held in Orange on Friday 24th November so we packed up the motorhome and left home on Wednesday 22nd to head towards Orange.

We went via Rankins Springs and stopped briefly in Weethalle to take a photo of their amazing silo art.

Our plan was to head to Ungarie and then Condobolin however when we arrived at the turn off to Ungarie we found it was a gravel road. We really didn’t want to do a gravel road on this trip so we had to drive all the way to West Wyalong then back up to Ungarie. Neither of us had ever been to Ungarie. Arriving in Ungarie we found a tiny town that was obviously a much bigger one in its hey day. The Main Street was lined with lots of closed and boarded up stores from another era. It all looked a bit sad.

Ungarie has a ‘Big Thing’, a big AFL football. The big football is a tribute to four local lads, Terry, Neale, Anthony and Chris Daniher. The four brothers all played for Essendon and in Round 22 of the VFL in September 1990 they all played against St Kilda. It’s the first and only time in VFL history that four brothers played on the same team in the same game. They went on to play for NSW and played in 752 AFL games in total. Ungarie is rightly proud of the Daniher brothers.

In the little park behind the big football is an amazing wooden sculpture that was carved with a chainsaw.

The mobile preschool was in action in the park and it was lovely to hear the enthusiastic singing and see the dancing of the children as they practised for their Christmas performance.

Continuing on to Condobolin we had to backtrack 10km from Ungarie to reach the Condo road. We stopped for a lunch break at Ridley’s Rest Area on Humbug Creek. It would be a lovely spot if it wasn’t for all the rubbish lying around. Makes us cross, especially when the council have provided a rubbish bin. Put it in the bin (or if the bin is full, take it with you to the next town). It’s not that hard people!!!

As we approached Condobolin from the south we spied the brand spanking new Tourist Information Centre. Wow, it’s impressive. It was Wednesday 22nd and the new centre was due to be opened on the following Saturday 25th. The stunning new building houses the Tourist Information Centre, toilets, and a cafe with a large deck overlooking the Utes in the Paddock. Council had previously bought a 25 acre paddock to display the quirky painted and decorated Utes.

Utes in the Paddock was the brainchild of Jana and Graham Pickles of Burrawang West Station and was to promote and encourage visitors to the area. It worked and the Utes in the Paddock are a major NSW tourist attraction. There are 20 Utes some of which have been painted by well known artists. We managed to get a look at most of the Utes before the storm that had been threatening really started coming down. So much for our plan to wander along the Lachlan River to Forbes to view the Sculptures down the Lachlan! Looks like we’d have to stay in Condo.

Condobolin is a small country town situated on the banks of the Lachlan River with a population of around 3,500. It has been an important river crossing for many years. The area is part of the huge Wiradjuri nation of First Nations People.

The area was first explored by white men in the early 1800’s and by 1844 squatters had established the ‘Condobolin Run’. Since the early settlers the area has become a prime cropping and sheep and breed producing area.

We did a drive around the little town and stopped off in the pouring rain at the Foodworks to stock up on groceries before heading out of town to Gum Bend Lake.

On the way we came across a mob of kangaroos hopping alongside the road. A few of them made a dash across the road in front of us. All made it except one who kept slipping and sliding on the wet road before finally managing to regain her feet and hop off into the grass. We felt very sorry for her and think she’ll be very sore tomorrow. The mob then hopped along the fence line alongside the road for quite a way before heading into a paddock. A true Aussie driving experience!

Gum Bend Lake is a man-made lake just 3km from Condobolin. It was opened in 1988 as a Bicentennial project and expanded in 1990. It’s a popular spot for water skiing, and has toilets and hot showers, a children’s playground, boat ramp, swimming area and a free camp. You can camp for up to 14 days. They do have a donation box. There is also a walk/cycle path back to town.

We arrived in the rain to find the lake very full and 7 other camps were already set up, one motorhome, one 4WD with a roof top tent and 5 caravans.

Not long after setting up camp for the night, including putting out our awning and getting the chairs out, it started to pour down rain. We haven’t seen rain like that for a long time. The rain lasted for over an hour so we came back inside.

Some crazy people arrived with a ski boat in tow. It really wasn’t skiing weather. They didn’t stay long!

By 6pm the rain had stopped and the clouds were clearing. That gave us a chance to pack our chairs and awning away.

After dinner I went for a walk. It was a pleasant evening as the rain had cooled everything down. I found a wide concrete walkway along past the new amenities block and children’s playground. I met a man walking his dogs and asked if the path goes all the way around the lake. He replied that it did and it’s 3km all the way around. I could do that!

I set off to walk around the lake and wow, I’m impressed with what the Condobolin Council have achieved. The lake is much bigger than I remember with a large island in the middle. The new concrete walking path has been built on the top of the embankment. This has been sown with grass and trees have been planted. Every now and then is a shelter with a seat. As I came back towards the Campground I found another camping area. There were three camps set up there, a couple of vans and a tent. One of the vans had a generator going so I’m glad we didn’t park near them!

As I arrived back at our motorhome the sun was just setting. There was a chorus of noisy Corellas in the tall River Red Gums surrounding the campground. It’s a really lovely spot. Hopefully it wouldn’t be raining the next morning and we could set off towards Forbes to see the Sculptures down the Lachlan.

St Anne’s Open Gardens, Temora

November 1, 2023April 10, 2024 / jennyfletch / Leave a comment

After visiting the open gardens on our home town of Griffith over the weekend 14/14th October we followed up by taking the car across to Narrandera to visit their open gardens on 22nd October. We spent a lovely day visiting the six gardens and appreciating the hard work and time spent creating them. It cost $25 per person to view the gardens and this also included a Devonshire Tea in the Uniting Church hall.

*The lovely gardens at Berembed Station where we bought a boxed lunch form the CWA for $12 each and enjoyed it under the shade of an enormous Magnolia Grandiflora*

*Fabulous gardens at ‘Arcum’ alongside the Bundidgerry Creek*

I found St Anne’s Open Gardens, Temora to be held on 30th October on Facebook and as Temora is only 100km away, we thought it would be another great opportunity to take the motorhome out of its shed again.

We set off late on a Friday afternoon after minding our 2 year old grandson for the day and headed eastwards towards Temora. We wanted a campsite with water views, somewhere we could have a fire and hopefully where there was no one else. Thanks to WikiCamps we found a perfect spot. Just north of the tiny town of Ariah Park is the Broken Dam Rest Area. This rest area is right next to the Mirrool Creek and if you are careful and take the track between the rest area and the bridge it takes you to a large, relatively flat, area situated on a huge bend in the creek. Sadly the creek was dry so no water views for us!

We made camp on a good spot near the creek and Rich quickly set up a fire in an existing fire pit. Fortunately there was plenty on dry wood from the mostly pine trees in the area and we soon had a lovely fire going. It was quite cold so it was lovely to sit outside, eat our nibbles and enjoy a wine or two sitting by a lovely fire. Perfect! Not a another soul for miles, apart from the occasional car going by on Mary Gilmore Way.

The Mirrool Creek wanders across the vast western plains between the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee Rivers before it eventually joins the Lachlan River. A George Harmon of Quandary Station dammed the creek in the 1860’s to provide a more reliable source of water. You can still see the remains o the earthen wall on the bank of the creek. The dam quickly became a meeting point between Wagga Wagga and Condobolin and the east/west traffic between Narrandera and Young.

Sadly, the dam was washed away in the floods of 1869 however the intersection had become quite established by then. In about 1870 the Weldon family of Ariah Station dammed the creek one mile further downstream. Weldon also commissioned Thomas Sanderson to build a bridge which sadly failed in its first flood.

Finally in 1888 the NSW Public Works constructed a bridge at Broken Dam and it served until 1917, until carried away by flood in 1918. A new bridge was opened in 1933 and it lasted until 2005 and was replaced by the current bridge, opened in April 2005.

Quite a little settlement had grown up around the crossing with its various dams and bridges. There was a general store, post office, a hotel, and a few houses. There’s not much left of this little settlement at Broken Dam. What is left can be found if you follow the Broken Dam Walking Track. There is good signage, picnic tables and rubbish bins provided. It’s a fascinating little piece of our local history and shows the importance of water in this very dry land of ours.

The next morning we set off towards Barmedman to see if the Mineral Pool had any water in it. Last time we went through it was July and the pool is emptied each year for the winter. We arrived to find a group of enthusiastic volunteers getting the pool ready for filling. They told us it takes several weeks for the pool to fill up and recommended we come back in late November. They keep it full until around Easter each year.

The Mineral Pool is filled from an underground stream and the water is saltier that Sydney Harbour! The minerals are said to help soothe aches and pains and, although the water is cold, people come to just soak in it.

Oh well. We’ve visited twice now and haven’t seen any water. Another time!

On arrival in Temora we made a couple of stops at the Chemist and the IGA before heading to Lake Centenary where we parked up to have some lunch. Amazing to think that Richard was one of the earthmovers that built the lake over 45 years ago. It is a beautiful spot. There were a couple of ski boats and we enjoyed watching the skiers from our window.

We spent a couple of hours at the Temora Aviation Museum in the afternoon. I wasn’t particularly interested in going as I don’t really have an interest in planes (Unless it is taking me somewhere exciting) but I was surprised how good and well laid out the museum is. It kept me interested for a couple of hours. I appreciate all the work and effort put in by volunteers and in particular David Lowy who was one of the original founders of the museum.

I found it fascinating that all the planes on display are still flyable and come out each year for the annual air show. That would be a spectacular occasion. Must put it on the list!

The Temora Aviation Museum is well worth a visit, even if, like me, you are not particularly into aircraft.

Temora is home to one of the Campervan & Motorhome Club of Australia (CMCA) RV Parks. These fabulous campgrounds are for self contained vehicles and usually consist of a flat fenced area with a dump point and potable water tap. Often they also have a communal fire pit for happy hour and they are manned by volunteer custodians. As we are members it cost us the grand sum of $7 to camp the night.

Oh dear!! We ran out of gas whilst half way through cooking a roast lamb dinner and had to quickly pack up and drive into town to find some gas. Fortunately we were able to get our gas bottles filled and were quickly back at the RV park with dinner cooking again.

The next turned out to be a lovely sunny one and we spent the day visiting the six St Anne’s Open Gardens. St Anne’s is a school in Temora. To visit the open gardens you must first go to the school to purchase your entry to the gardens and are given a map to follow.

After a lovely day visiting the gardens we headed for home.

Spirit of the Land Festival, Lockhart NSW

October 9, 2023November 26, 2023 / jennyfletch / Leave a comment

We made a spur of the moment decision to get the motorhome out of its shed and go somewhere. I’d read on Facebook about the Spirit of the Land Festival in Lockhart, which is only 155km from our home town, and thought it sounded like fun. The motorhome had been sitting in its shed for a while and needed a good clean before we could go anywhere. Our poor motorhome was covered in dust and had spiderwebs growing!

After spending a whole day washing and cleaning (I even washed the roof!) she was spick and span and ready for travel. A quick pack of some clothes and food and we were heading off. Oh, what a great feeling that is….driving out the gate, perched up high, and everything we needed travelling with us.

I’d had a phone call the day before we left from Richard’s cousins and our intrepid travel companions on many previous trips in Australia and overseas. They were planning to come to Griffith on their way south to Victoria and spend the night at our place. After I explained that we wouldn’t be there as we were going to Lockhart it was decided they’d travel there too and meet us there. Excellent!

We set off on Saturday morning after the four grandchildren, who’d had a sleepover at our house, had been collected by their parents. They all wanted to come with us!

We had an uneventful journey to Lockhart via Darlington Point and arrived around lunchtime. The Main Street was blocked off for the festival, the park looked busy with lots of stalls and a good crowd of people.

Minor Disaster!

As we were driving into town I heard a clunk. As first I though something had fallen on the floor but had a quick look behind me and couldn’t see anything. I put the noise down to a pothole in the road. We drove through town to the Showground where we planned to stay the night and where Catie and Robert would meet up with us.

We quickly found a spot to camp with plenty of room for Catie and Robert’s rig with their Ranger and caravan and started to set up camp. This was when I noticed something odd. On the drivers side, just in front of where the gas bottles are stored, is one of our two water tanks. It was hanging down almost touching the ground. Oh no! That didnt look good!

We investigated further and found the bolts holding one side of the tank to our chassis had let go and the full water tank was only hanging on on one side. There was 90kg of water in there!

What to do? We spent the next few hours emptying the tank and jacking it back up so we could somehow tie it back up temporarily. This meant we had no water as our two tanks are connected and to drain one drained the other. Good thing the showground had toilets and showers.

Catie and Robert arrived around 4 o’clock and we borrowed a ratchet strap from Robert’s stash to tie the tank back to the chassis. Richard and Robert achieved this crawling underneath in that small space. That would get us home where we could get it repaired.

The four of us walked into town as the sun was setting and headed to Hodgson Park on the western side of Brooking Lagoon, where there were food vans and tables and chairs set up for visitors. The fireworks display was to be held there later once it was dark.

We found a table and moved it to a position that we thought would be good so we could watch the fireworks from there and settled in to enjoy the festival atmosphere. We’d brought our own wine with us so just need to buy some food. It was lovely sitting in the park and catching up with Catie and Robert again.

The fireworks went off after dark and they went for around 15 minutes. We were impressed at the awesome display especially for a small town festival. When they were over the four of us walked back to camp at the showground and headed off to bed.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast and packing up camp, we drove into town, parked our vehicles and walked to the Main Street to check out all the stalls. What a great variety of stalls there were. Very impressive.

We visited the towns painted water tower and admired the amazing sculputures around the town. We also visited the Town Hall to check out the entries in the art and photography competitions. Some truly incredible paintings and photos. Some people are just so clever.

The $10 entry also enabled us to enter the area near the park that was fenced off and housed the sculpture competition. These amazing sculptures blow me away. The big ones must take hours and hours of work to complete. They really are fantastic creations.

The winner of this year’s competition was a statue of a large bull. He was made from scraps around the farm and included such things as spanners, spark plugs, screwdrivers, old discs and chains. It was a worthy entry for first prize.

I especially liked seeing the ones created by kids under 12. Fantastic effort by the kids creating sculptures.

We decided we’d better head for home as it would be slow going with our broken water tank so we said goodbye to Catie and Robert who were going to stay on for a bit and visit the Art Gallery. We might catch up again after they’ve been south and are on their way home to Dubbo in a few weeks time.

Fortunately our trip home was uneventful. We pulled up at Brewery Flat in Narrandera for some lunch. Rich checked the strap was holding and it hadn’t moved at all so we were good to continue.

We arrived home in the afternoon with no further adventures and the next morning booked the motorhome in to have the water tank repaired. $165 later and it was all fixed and ready to go on our next meander.

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Our motorhome travels around Oz