We left Condobolin to head east-wards to Parkes, again, off of the main highways and to look at the less known attractions. We had read about a unique collection of Holden Utes, (pick-up trucks for UK readers). Down a side road off of the bitumen at Ootha, it appears that a cattle station (Burrawang West Station) family saw a need for attracting tourists off of the beaten track. Different to other attractions, this was free. In a paddock alongside the road, was a display of 16 Holden Utilities, positioned in a variety of poses, paint and accessories “Utes in the Paddock” http://www.utesinthepaddock.com.au.
Well known artists, including Peter Browne from Broken Hill, decorated the utilities in various themes to present a tribute to life in the outback, Dame Edna on the dunny, native fauna and even a bottle of Bundaberg Rum, (essential for most Ute owners at the end of a hard day in the paddock).
I could see from the roadside that they attracted many visitors to this unique piece of Australiana. They should put up a donation box if only to collect for the RFDS.
At Parkes, we headed for the Spicer Caravan Park, having been there when we last visited, it is off of the main Newell Highway and quieter. The Newell Highway is the main route between Victoria and Brisbane, Queensland. It is very busy with all manner of truck-trailer combinations. It is also the major route for southerners going to and from the Queensland winter resorts and nowadays, it is a toss-up as to whether there are more caravans than trucks. Of course, the truckies are being paid to get from a-b and do it flat out at their speed limited best and they don’t like being held up by caravanners. We have heard the chatter on the CB between trucks about their dislike of the “aluminium road blocks” along the way. We will do our best to keep off of the Newell. Not enough passing lanes, few rest areas and just too busy.
From Parkes, we again visited the CSIRO Radio Telescope, made famous by the movie “The Dish”. This was our second visit and just as interesting as the first; they have updated the video shows, and have a diary on display that lists what the “Dish” is doing at any given time. On this visit, it moved around a fair bit, searching for more electrical signals from space. Seeing a 64 metre span of over 1000 tonnes of steel being moved to within minutes of a degree azimuth and inclination is quite impressive. The display in the centre tells the real story of the televised event of the moon landing in 1969.
We used Parkes as a top-up time, shopping, washing and housework. Filled the tanks and charged the batteries ready for more of our discovery tour.
Molong-Yeoval and the “Animals on Bikes”
We left Parkes to head off to Molong (place of many rocks) for lunch, a walk around this Central NSW town and a bit of history of Cobb and Co stage-coach routes. Many of the buildings in Molong are just about as they were built in the 1800s and a history walk around the town tells their story. Near there is “The Wire Paddock”, the first place where barbed wire was used West of the Blue Mountains, 1860, and probably marked the beginning of the settings of boundaries of the massive sheep stations that helped grow Australia.
Just up the road is the turn-off to the Obley Road to Cumnock, Yeoval and eventually to Dubbo. Along the first half of the highway is another of those unique attractions. The Obley Road and the little towns along its way host an annual cycle event: “Mulga Bills Bicycle Ride” This event commemorates the Australian poet, “Banjo” Paterson who wrote an ode of Mulga Bill buying a bicycle to replace his horse. “Banjo” Paterson spent his childhood in Yeoval and apparently many of his writings were inspired by the characters he met along the way.
As an adjunct to the Bicycle Ride, the locals have erected a number of animal characters “on bikes” made from old farm machinery and a great amount of imagination. It is written that the locals were inspired by the “Tin Horse Highway” in WA; the characters are positioned in the paddocks along the road. As we drove along, van in tow, “....there’s one”, shouts Vicki, and with a bit of luck, there was room to pull up and take the photos.
Having made so many photo-stops, by mid afternoon we decided to camp at Yeoval Showgrounds. A lovely quiet spot alongside the river, power supplied for a measly $5 per night. There was only one other camper, so we had plenty of choice of spots. A walk around the town and along the river, we found out a bit more about Banjo Patterson’s early childhood and his home in Buckinbah. Another surprise was the sculpture of Henry Moore, another of the “Big-Things” that can be found around Australia. http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/07/26/2964123.htm Bought to Yeoval as a “traffic stopper, it works!
Burrendong State Park
Our next camp off the beaten track was to a New South Wales State Park, Lake Burrendong. The lake is a critical water supply and is formed by the damming of the Macquarie River. When full, the lake is bigger than Sydney Harbour. However, for the last few years, like many others, was almost dry. Just a couple of months before our visit, the lake had been down to 6%. When we arrived the level had risen to over 60% and rising. I am sure that I could see the difference with trees on the shore. As I write this, (Saturday 4th September) wild weather and lot’s more rain is forecast, flood warnings and wind squalls are coming. We had a steady rain overnight but the strong winds are just arriving, we have battened down and are hoping that we stay the right way up. The rain will surely add to the level of the reservoir, it has been known to rise above the spill-way. Work is underway to increase the reservoir capacity, several years of drought, climate change and population growth, the need is there.
The increase in water level is supposed to have bought back the fish, photos in the kiosk of recent catches look good but we haven’t seen any. With the rise in water levels, there is more space between them.
In the Park is the Burrendong Botanic Garden and Arboretum. The Arboretum was established in 1964 and is a grand display of the variety of flora from all around Australia, particularly from the more arid zones. Some of the walks are over a kilometre in length and best driven to in turn. The under-story fernery walk (Fern Gully), is a lovely experience. Under a man-made canopy, with a stream flowing through, birds and frogs among the plants, one could easily think that they were in a real tropical environment. The park has over 164 Hectares to explore, over 180 species of birds and fauna. We disturbed dozens of Kangaroos as we drove and walked around the park. http://www.burrendongarboretum.org/
Wellington is the local township 20 odd km north of the Park, and has its own history in palaeontology; near the town are a series of old caves, around 1830, the caves were discovered to contain the bones of thousands of years of animals. One of the caves had several thousand years of guano from giant bats, extinct for 10,000 years. The guano, as phosphate was mined and the mining uncovered millions of years of bones, extinct mammoth Diprotodon, a giant wombat’s ancestor. The caves are well worth a visit.
We had a fair bit of rain over the weekend and there was a flood warning for Wellington on the Sunday night. There are two rivers that join up alongside the town; the Bell River joins the Macquarie River, the town sits in between the two. As the Bell River catchment area around Orange has had a lot of rain, the river was running a banker. Tree branches, logs and all manner of debris were being washed downstream at a great rate of knots. Where the junction was, a few people were watching (and fishing!) with interest as the floodwater was rising. Another few feet would see it over the bank and into the town. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the river peaked at 3.1m around 2200hrs. Had the Macquarie been in flood too, it surely would have been disastrous for the town and surrounding areas. However, the Macquarie is held back by the Burrendong Dam, and the lake, after this rain, has risen to around 70%, we can see a difference from when we arrived on Tuesday. If the dam does fill and spill downstream, it is to be hoped that the Bell River has subsided and leaves room for the flow. The Macquarie River is one of the wonders of Australia; it doesn’t run into the sea but peters out inland in an area called The Macquarie Marshes.
So if we weather the storms tonight, we will be looking for our next camp in a similar State Park a bit further north, along the way we will be going “Beyond the black stump”. More about this next
post.Click on the link below to view more photos.
http://picasaweb.google.com/108879761974384702036/CondobolinToLakeBurrendong?feat=directlink
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