Sweet Wayfaring

We took one last detour into the tiny town of Woodstock. I loved this little place which encapsulates everything I found so endearing in the dozens of small towns we have passed through on this trip. A bank with residence atop and a sturdy brick Post Office. Shops, some empty and some going strong. Remnant signage from bygone times Impressive buildings that have seen better days One for the men and one for the ladies, a soldiers memorial and a CWA (Country Womens Association), An Anglican church with a bell and Catholics up the street as well. A railway station with a level crossing. But best of all a Royal Hotel.

The fields are cut, the harvest in. Man looking wistfully at the gathering clouds, "The crop got off to a good start but there was no follow up. If it had rained a month ago there would have been big money in the town for Christmas." Oh how they must be enjoying the current widespread rain, even if it is a little late and is now causing floods! At Julie's request I have added a link to a map of the trip to the sidebar . I will put the photos along the track every few days as we move along.

We are whizzing our way through the rolling countryside I love so much. This hillside reminds me of the one that was so attractive in the evening light . Today we are in the searing midday heat ... no long lovely evening shadows here. So let me set some expectations ... 3000kms is a lot to travel in 10 days and we're towing a van which when rolling at highway speed is slow to stop. I had to be very selective in calling for photo stops so shot many from a moving car and almost all are in bright light which doesn't lend itself to the best images ... I hope you don't mind.

Happy New Year everyone, the perfect day to start a new trip. Thank you for following my adventures throughout the past year ... having people to show things to makes the travel all the more fun. We are off to Mildura and Mungo National Park. Mildura is 1000 kms west from here and Mungo a further couple of hundred kilometres round trip. So I'm taking you on a 2500-3000km journey, an exciting drive. I hope you enjoy it too over the next month or so. It's a hot day. The sun is shining brightly and the thermometer is rising quickly, making us a little worried that the people who warned us against going outback at this time of year might have been right.

Here we go, the empty house for this trip. I trudged through ripening grass seeds and burrs to get this shot .... yes spring is quickly passing giving a high-noon summery bleach to the image.

Here's the shearing shed. With the sunshine going up a notch or two since our train ride a couple of weeks earlier the grass was beginning to dry out and was no longer bright green . If you were to go out there today, a further few dry weeks later, you'd find the grass brittle and dry as we are having unusually hot close to spring.

It wouldn't be a visit to the country without me trying to add to my hay series and other favourites. I've got a shearing shed and an abandonded house coming up next but didn't find a new Royal Hotel.

The wheat crop was looking promising. I believe the harvest is now in progress.

The bee keepers had their hives out collecting the bounty from spring flowers. AB in Germany posted some beehives recently so I was pleased to find the Australian version to show. Given the interest in vineyard differences yesterday bees are just as much fun. Also check out Z's Bee Hotel in Switzerland .

On the way out we passed through the vinyard and orchard country which was beginning to burst out with spring growth ... by now (several weeks later) I'm sure they will be in full leaf. In light of the comments I am adding this additional image taken nearby the same day.

When we were on the train trip I saw some fields bright with canola flowers and made a note to myself to get out west again before the season has passed. A few weeks later we did go for a drive but we were too late. Instead of seeing this or this we saw fields with just a stray flower or two left. As such, it wasn't a terribly exciting drive but I will show you some of the photos over the next week while I wait for us to do something more interesting.

To wrap up this trip, here are some of the farm gates seen in Cabonne Country. And it's back home for a while, I'll start something new at the Blue Mountains Journal today , see you over there.

Over the road from the orchard I saw these bull rushes which I thought were pretty with their flower spikes forming.

Another chance to apply the red rule at the orchards around Mount Canobolas on our way into Orange and home. Musing: From The Garden by Andrew Marvell "What wondrous life is this I lead! Ripe apples drop about my head ; The luscious clusters of the vine Upon my mouth do crush their wine ; The nectarine and curious peach Into my hands themselves do reach ; Stumbling on melons as I pass, Insnared with flowers, I fall on grass. Meanwhile the mind, from pleasure less, Withdraws into its happiness : The mind, that ocean where each kind Does straight its own resemblance find ; Yet it creates, transcending these, Far other worlds, and other seas ; Annihilating all that's made To a green thought in a green shade."

How's this for a rare find! I thought they had all been eradicated by zealous councils and replaced by the low plastic variety with soft plastic turf below. They had a big dangerous see-saw and high swings too in this park. The kids would love it. Musing: A Wish for My Children by Evangeline Paterson " On this doorstep I stand year after year to watch you going and think: May you not skin your knees. May you not catch your fingers in car doors. May your hearts not break. May tide and weather wait for your coming and may you grow strong to break all webs of my weaving.

On the way home we went through Borenore (15kms outside Orange) which proudly announces on the entrance into town that it is home of the Borenore shop (note singular) and Australian National Field Days which according to their website is "Australia's oldest annual agricultural exhibition where visitors will see a vast range of agricultural machinery, implements, services and ideas. Each year over 600 exhibitors from throughout Australia and overseas display their products and services at our event." So for a few days each year the place becomes alive. Musing: I Meant To Do My Work Today by Richard Le Gallienne I meant to do my work today, But a brown bird sang in the apple tree, And a butterfly flitted across the field, And all the leaves were calling me. And the wind went sighing over the land, Tossing the grasses to and fro, And a rainbow held out its shining hand-- So what could I do but laugh and go?

There is a lovely picnic and camping spot at Ophir, beside the still water. Musing: From Endymion by John Keats "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing. Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing A flowery band to bind us to the earth, Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth Of noble natures, of the gloomy days, Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all, Some shape of beauty moves away the pall From our dark spirits.

And red rule applied again, I think to good effect. Musing: If I can stop one heart from breaking by Emily Dickinson If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain.

Red rule applied to give yet another corrigated iron shed a point of difference. Musing: Love and Friendship by Emily Bronte Love is like the wild rose-briar, Friendship like the holly-tree -- The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms But which will bloom most constantly? The wild-rose briar is sweet in the spring, Its summer blossoms scent the air; Yet wait till winter comes again And who will call the wild-briar fair? Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now And deck thee with the holly's sheen, That when December blights thy brow He may still leave thy garland green.

When I noticed this fence around the graveyard, I had to take a photo. I've become entranced by fences. Musing: When death comes by Mary Oliver "When death comes like the hungry bear in autumn; when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse to buy me, and snaps the purse shut; when death comes like the measles-pox; when death comes like an iceberg between the shoulder blades, I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering: what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness? And therefore I look upon everything as a brotherhood and a sisterhood, and I look upon time as no more than an idea, and I consider eternity as another possibility, and I think of each life as a flower, as common as a field daisy, and as singular, and each name a comfortable music in the mouth tending as all music does, toward silence, and each body a lion of courage, and something precious to the earth. When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married ...