Sweet Wayfaring

We are on our last day. We had thought to stay out an extra day but had got very wet setting up camp the night before and the rain was still bucketing down when we packed up in the morning so we decided to head for home. How welcome this rain would be across the land ... a burnt out paddock and nearby burnt orchards a reminder of the ever present threat of fire. I could smell the ash being lifted by the raindrops and see the sheen of green so quick to appear after the slightest drop of rain.

We called into Junee because I remembered it to be a lovely town with a nice railway station and buildings with iron lace verandahs. Can't you see the squatter's daughters on their way home from posh boarding schools alighting from the train and heading over to this hotel for the night. In Australian history squatters were the people who took over large tracts of land often with no legal rights other than being the first Europeans to get there. Over time the squatters/pastoralists became among the wealthiest people in the colony assuming high social prestige. This whistle stop tour simply didn't give us time to enjoy and explore these lovely towns ... we resolved to go back soon as we set of to Cootamundra for our last night's camp.

At Wagga Wagga we said goodbye to the Murrumbidgee at the old river crossing, so typical of the river bridges around New South Wales.

I got so excited as we neared Wagga Wagga ... a mountain! Later there were rocks and the hills began to roll. This was feeling much more like home.

I just remembered that I haven't shown you a photo of any of the country towns. Lockhart is a nice example. It calls itself the Verandah Town. While most old towns have verandahed shops like this they generally are not as intact. Remember it was Christmas day so no wonder the town looked sleepy. The photo below is of Pepperina, a tree often favoured as a street tree in such towns. Just looking at it makes me think of hot sleepy country towns, singing cicadas and crows cawing. I didn't hear a single cicada on this trip ... where were they?

It was Christmas Day. This colourful fellow I found by the road is known as a Christmas beetle because they come out at this time of year.

We are on the road again retracing our steps through the big wheat and sheep country, but taking a little different route to see some more towns on the way.

At my husband's request we diverted to Temora where there is an aviation museum with many working wartime aircraft beautifully presented. The museum guide was pleased to see us, "The last lot I took through weren't interested in the planes at all," he complained as he began sprouting a myriad of facts and figures. As my eyes glazed over I finally muttered, "I don't really care about aeroplanes, my passion is photography" and left my husband to listen to the details while I snapped away.

I just had to stop a take a photo of this little church which like so many country churches appeared out in the middle of nowhere. This is the area where the Santas were at the farm gates . And also note how "thin" the grass is getting though there are still tall trees.

Is that a Coolibah tree beside the abandoned house? Every Australian knows about Coolibah trees because the bush ballad Waltzing Matilda is nigh on our unoffical national anthem but most of us live nowhere near the inland where they grow. Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong, Under the shade of a Coolibah tree, And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled, You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me. Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me, And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

We are going to go south of the main route today, but we've gotta go through more wheat and sheep country first. It's wide, getting flatter and monotonous ... aptly named I think.

Happy, happy Day 2. The overnight rain has cooled us off. It's now a chilly 15C with mist gathering over the mountains. I call this blue and gold country.

Here's the publicity blurb "Grenfell the birthplace of Henry Lawson, haunt of notorious bushranger, Ben Hall, and home to some of the finest examples of heritage architecture in rural Australia, is a must see destination for those wanting to escape the hustle and bustle of city living. Originally known as Emu Creek, Grenfell nestled in a picturesque valley at the foot of the Weddin Mountains, is a town steeped in history and the pioneering spirit of our colonial forefathers. Grenfell offers visitors the chance to soak up the atmosphere of days gone by and to relive the nostalgia of a time when life moved at a more leisurely pace." The most exciting thing for us was the not so leisurely rain that blew through just after we set up camp ... relief from the horrid heat at last.

We are beginning to leave the hills behind and enter the broad wheat and sheep country. By the end of trip we had seen dozens of wheat silos standing sentinal beside railway sidings like the one below. The temperature was still sky high but the clouds were gathering nicely as we rolled into Grenfell to set up camp for the night.

I'm not going to show many abandoned houses on this trip. One reason is that once we get into the big open country the properties are much further apart and their homesteads not visible from the road. This one is for AB who wondered if most of our buildings are in timber ... actually its just that that the timber and corrigated iron ones are to me the most visually appealing. Here is a brick one for a change ... corrigated iron roofing and bullnose verandas are typical of buildings of this era.

Last year I explained about the Japanese POW camp in Cowra but as we passed through on Christmas Day I could not show the Japanese Garden. Having braved blistering 41C heat to get these shots I'm not going to stop at one image of this beautiful garden so there are more below. In case you are wondering, clipping all those smooth shapes keeps three gardeners busy.

At Parkes the Radio Telescope is the big thing in town ... actually a little way out of the town. Musing: From the Holy Bible Psalm 8:3-4 (New International Version) "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"

We are back home after three days exploring more of the central west. This photo was taken today during a leisurely lunch in the city of Bathurst and the sign below was at the Mount Canobolas Tea Rooms (near the city of Orange) this morning. There are lots more country shots to come in a week or so but in the meanwhile please enjoy the Wentworth Falls walk currently in progress on the Blue Mountains Journal . Musing: From the Holy Bible , Matthew 28:6 (King James Version) "He is not here: for he is risen."

"The sapphire-misted mountains, the hot gold hush of noon" I adore this country west of the Blue Mountains but even more I love the beatiful sapphire-misted mountains of home. We get there tomorrow.

At Blayney we found farms with orderly paddocks fringed with trees. Now I must confess I rather like this landscape even if it is reminiscent of another world.