Sweet Wayfaring

Down by Coolaburragundy River (near Coolah) at dawn. Happy Easter.

We've reached the railway line towards the end of the street. Though the station is abandoned the line is still used daily for a coal train from the Charbon mine. That's it for our street. I hope you enjoyed the walk.  I didn't show you much of the houses but let me say that it's a mix of tin sheds, low cost demountables and kit homes, ancient patched up cottages, and  a couple of brick houses.  Every place seems to have an animal or two. We saw cats, dogs, goats, a calf, horses, hens and rabbits as well as wild birds -- wrens, finches, willy wagtails and parrots but no canaries.

Now that is an unexpected image for this street.  It's on a small dam at the bottom of one of the gardens. I think going for a row would get a bit circular.

Some of the animals are a little bit different.

And a little further down the street we met this guy who seemed sad that he couldn't come closer to say.  There doesn't seem to be a single house without a dog.

A few houses down we met this neighbour with the young couple who were cleaning out their garage on this delightful sunny Autumn morning.

That's our next door neighbour, about to build his house.  The beautiful mountains are our neighbour over the back fence and below is what it looks like across the road from our front fence.  It's the town oval which the local kids use as motor bike circuit.  I've not seen it used for anything else.

We camped out on our block this weekend so I took a morning walk. Of all the six streets in village of Clandulla I think the one where we live has the most interesting name so I am taking you for a walk along our street. I am guessing the name canary has some link to the the coal mining that occurs in this area.

I've run out of material for a while.  So will take a blog break until something new comes up. With Autumn getting into full swing surely it won't be too long before the west calls us to go on a excursion (the one above is from the archives) In the meanwhile, don't miss the new former Royal Hotel I've added this evening.  It's the most splendid one yet.  I spotted it on Paul's blog last week and got permission to republish it in the collection.

I wake from a restful sleep and gaze out the window. The land is soft, green and undulating.  I guess we must be near Oberon and when I see Tarana station pass by my guess is confirmed. Soon we will be at Lithgow and start the climb past our Blue Mountains home and down to Sydney. That's the end of the photos. It was a work day.  I settle into the lounge with my computer and answer emails while magnificent but familiar country passes by. The trip has left me hungry for more train rides.  I look forward to one day doing the full 3 day Indian Pacific run to Perth and The Ghan which runs up through the red centre from Adelaide to Darwin.  But I also know we are going to have to hit the road and go see those places by car.

As the day draws to a close we pass by Menidee Lakes, now flowing with water after the inland floods of last year. We soon settle into our bunks to be gently rocked to sleep.

As me move north towards Broken Hill we enter the desert country.  I adore this landscape. We stop at Broken Hill for an hour or so before rejoining the train for our overnight trip to Sydney.

Here is the lounge car.  There is a wheat silo outside the window, saw plenty of those this trip.

Yep we are in South Australia with it's characteristic stone houses.  Soon we will be passing by the Flinders Ranges which we enjoyed so much a year or two ago.  But I knew what to expect this time, to see none of the wonderous detail we enjoyed on that trip.  They would just flash by like this house.

We are back in the wheat country again. I didn't realise there was so much of it around Adelaide.

Well the cabin is cosy but quite comfortable.  This is going to convert into bunks for our overnight sleep. Derek, the guy you saw welcoming us at the door, encouraged us to go to the lounge which he assured us we would find very pleasant.  And he was right.  Comfortable chairs with good views on both sides whereas the cabin only has a view on one side.  We settled in there for the trip. Red Sleeper doesn't have an ensuite but doesn't bother us at all. The shared toilets and showers are very spacious.

We are riding Red Sleeper.  There is Gold class and Platinum class but this train is relatively expensive so we are saving our pennies.

We've reached the moment we've been waiting for, our chance to ride the iconic Indian Pacific which is going to carry us from Adelaide to outback Broken Hill then overnight to our home near Sydney. I peer through the windows, what is our cabin going to be like?