Coonamble June 2014

June 6^th, we packed up this morning and drove to Coonamble. We booked into the Riverside Caravan Park, in Coonamble, for 3 nights. The Park was booked out and vans were virtually 2 to a site (one powered and one not powered) as this was a long weekend and their annual Rodeo and Campdraft Competition was on for the 3 days. Val took me out to the local Bowling Club to celebrate my 74th Birthday. We had a nice meal at the Bistro and found that they were having a meat and vegie raffle at 8pm. So, Val bought some tickets and we went home with 3 meat trays, priced at $30 each (How good is that?)

June7th, We went down to the Rodeo around 11am and made our way to the main arena. There was a good crowd there but no problem to find a seat with the sun at our backs. It was awesome to watch these cowboys and cowgirls risk their necks to compete in these Rodeo Events. We saw bull riding, horse riding (with and without a saddle), Steer wrestling, Rope and tie, Lifting the colour (coloured ribbon on the back of a running steer, a cowgirls event), team events and of course, The Clown who was always amusing the crowd or the kids. We saw some of the Cowboys get hurt (not surprising) but the worst incident was a bucking horse that bucked violently into a steel fence and dropped dead from a broken neck. The rider was thrown onto the fence but was able to walk away. We took the time to take a walk around the various stalls, which were all selling products aimed at the Rodeo population.

June 8^th, We had an early lunch and went down to the Rodeo and decided to go to Campdraft area first. This event involves the rider selecting a steer from a group of 7 that are put into the yard, then controling its movement to separate it from the group before the steer is released from the yard. The rider must drive the steer in a figure eight pattern around 2 markers, then through the end markers. It was broken up into men’s, ladies and aged groups. The youngest rider started from 7 years old and we were amazed at how the young riders could ride, control their horses and complete  the course. Not all the contestants finished the full course and we could see how difficult an event it was. Some of the steers had a mind of their own, so went where they wanted to go. It was very interesting to watch, so after a couple of hours we went back to the main area and finished off the day watching the bucking horses and bulls. We have really enjoyed going to the Rodeo, it was interesting and educational as we had not been to one before. Tomorrow we move on to Dubbo, continuing on our way back to Sydney.

Lightning Ridge June 2014

June 1^st, I woke up this morning to find drizzling rain and puddles of water all around the Park. Val informed me that we had torrential overnight rain and I slept through it all, while she was up making sure the awning was alright. The showers continued all day so the entertainment was cancelled for tonight.

June 2^nd, We went down to the fossicking heap at the Information Centre and Val was very excited when she found a couple of rocks with a minute seam of white opal through it. I gathered up some chips of worthless rock and Val was happy to be able to say she had been “noodling” in Lightning Ridge and found a seam of Opal.

 

June 3^rd, We went on a drive to see the “3 Pubs in the scrub” at the Grawin and Glengarry Opal Fields. It was around an hours drive from Lightning Ridge, passing through the Town of Cumborah and out to the Opal Fields, where the tarred road changed to gravel. We couldn’t believe the number of animals and birds we saw on this short drive, all alive, Kangaroos, Goats, Sheep with newborn Lambs, Emus, Hawks and Galahs and the “Road kill”, deceased, Kangaroos, Pig, Emu, sheep and a rabbit. Our first stop was at “The Club in the Scrub”, which had a Golf Course with dirt greens. We were surprised to see a dozen cars parked outside and noticed that most of them were unregistered. Obviously “rego” is not needed to drive around the opal Fields! After signing in we found out the miners and wives were here to play “Bingo”. We had a long chat with the Barmaid while we sat at the bar and ate our delicious lunch. I had an open hamburger and Val had bacon and eggs, with a glass of Chardy. Our next stop was “The Sheepyard Inn” with its big open wood fire burning well. Their restaurant was an old Train Dining Carriage and the locals friendly. As we drove out we were amused at this sign (see photo) and how appropriate it was, knowing the condition of vehicles driven around the Opal Fields. Our last stop was at the famous “Glengarry Hilton Pub” boasting accommodation and meals. Val chatted up a few drinking locals and took their photo. We did enjoyed our Tour today and have found that these Miners are a happy lot that enjoy their style of living and their pubs in the scrub have all the same activities that you would find in any Hotel, in a suburb or Town.

June 4^th, We went to the Bowling Club for the 4pm raffles only to find we had been wrongly advised and they weren’t on till tomorrow, so we settled for a chardy and a flutter and left after a couple of hours even, so a free days entertainment.

June 5^th, Tomorrow we leave for Coonamble, so we went into Town and visited a few of the Opal Shops, then back to the Park to pack up. While I was going in and out of the Van, putting things away, ready to travel, I opened the door from the inside and the door handle came off in my hand! Bugger! Then I wasted a half hour or more fiddling with the door lock to prevent us being locked in with no way out. I removed the inside assembly and took out the broken parts of the handle and re-assembled it so the outside handle was working properly and I could open the door on the inside by using a screwdriver. What I wasn’t going to tell you was that while fiddling with the door mechanism, at one stage I closed the door and found that I couldn’t open it from the outside. I didn’t panic, as Val was still inside but without a handle, she could not open the door. I got Val to open the widow over the lounge and I removed the screen and with the aid of our step ladder, climbed in with some tools and managed to get the door to open. After removing and refitting the door latch assembly correctly, I got to the workable stage where the outside handle worked normally, I could get it open from the inside with my screwdriver but I wasn’t able to lock the door and we can live with that. The nearest spare parts place to Lightning Ridge is at Dubbo, only 360 klms away.

Lightning Ridge May 2014 week 3-4

 May 19^th, After getting some relief from soaking in the Artesian Pool, I have been down there yesterday and again today, but both days I felt a bit dizzy when I got out of the pool and had to rest on the side while I recovered. Although I don’t have a blood pressure problem, Val decided to check my blood pressure and it was low but on a second reading 30 minutes later it was OK. Val thought that it could be related to the high heat of the Artesian Pool and staying in too long.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

May 20^th, I drove the 75klms down to Walgett, to keep my 11.30am Dental appointment at the Aboriginal Services Centre. After an x-ray of the offending tooth showed a deep cavity in the side of one of my upper back tooth, my options were “root canal” or removal. I went immediately with removal. Of course, with the size of the cavity, the tooth broke into pieces and had to be removed a chunk at a time. Although a lengthy difficult extraction, my Dentist did a marvelous job getting the entire broken tooth out. It was absolutely painless. When I got back home, Val gave me a bowl of tomato soup and I went off to bed and slept off the anesthetic.

May 21^st, Val went down to the Pool, in our Park, to test out the solar heated temperature and do her noodle exercising. She wasn’t all that happy as the temperature wasn’t as warm as the artesian pool at Moree. Willie and Jo came to entertain us again (they really are a class act, very entertaining and enjoyable to listen to) and after the show, we sat around the fire with a group from the Park and enjoyed good company with a few wines.

May 25^th, I went down to the Sunday Markets, at the Information Centre, and bought a few more westerns. We have a new singer/songwriter (Steve Case), staying in the Park, that has been doing his show every afternoon that Willie and Jo are not on.

May 27^th, We went into Town and had a look at some of the interesting shops. We started with “Mr. Cheap”, which is part of True-Value Hardware, and stocks a huge variety of goods. Next we went into the “John Murray Art Gallery” and were absolutely gob-smacked at his work. Brilliant vibrant earthy colours of, mostly, charactertures of animals in Lightening Ridge scenes. No photographing was allowed inside the Gallery, so I could only get a photo of the front wall. Next door was the Newsagency, which also doubles as a furniture store. Our last stop was the Opal Cave, which has a huge display of Opals and Opal Jewellery. The colours in the solid “Black Opals” are brilliant and very expensive. As you would expect, there are a lot of Opal selling and buying places in Town.

May 28^th, Willie and Jo entertained us this afternoon, then after a quick dinner, we gathered in front of a big TV screen, at the back of the BBQ area, to watch the NRL “State of Origin” game, this 1^st match being played in Brisbane. A very tough encounter, but with a great NSW WIN! Yea! Next game is in Sydney, we can’t wait for that.

May 29^th, Willie and Jo invited us to their place for afternoon tea and to have a look around their camp. They live just out of Town on two opal mining sites. All opal claims are 50 X 50 metres square. They started with a small “Miners shack” 37 years ago and have gradually expanded  their living and outside pergola areas, to make life more comfortable for themselves. It was interesting to see the way they live, typical of miner dwellings in this region, but on a grander scale. Noboby living in this area throws anything away, as it will come in handy one day. As an example, Willie was given an old unwanted corrugated  water tank from someone he worked for years ago, so he bought it home, laid a concrete floor inside, put in a door and turned it into a Visitors Bedroom. How inventive is that? Their block is filled with old trucks, caravans and a lot of stuff that to us would be junk. It’s the sort of junk that they love, some will be fixed up and used or sold. They generate their own power, and use solar power during the day and take their rubbish to the Tip. They get no services from the Council. They made us very welcome and we enjoyed our afternoon visit. Today is our 49^th Wedding Anniversary (how has Val put up with me that long?), so we went to Bruno’s Italian Restaurant for another lovely meal and finished off the evening at The Bowling Club.

May 30^th, I had to go into Town to get a few items from IGA and I thought I might try fossicking at the Information Centre. I found out that the Lightning Ridge Mens Shed was in the street behind the Information Centre, so I drove around to check it out. I was standing out front, taking a photo, so I could show Carole and Rob that I had went there, when an old guy came out to get in his car and started talking to me. It was 2.30pm and the shed was closing up but he told me to go in and they would show me around. So I did and was made feel very welcome. After a tour of their complex, I was surprised how large their premises were and I made the comment that Rob would be very envious as this facility is much larger than the Newcastle Men’s Shed. I went and did a bit of fossicking but didn’t find anything worth mentioning. We went to the Bowling Club for the 8pm meat raffle, but didn’t do any good. We listened to Tina’s Karaoke, after the raffles. She is a very good singer and also works in the Office at our Caravan Park.

Moree April 2014

April 8^th, We finished packing up and drove to Moree. We booked into the Gwyder Caravan Park and Thermal Pools for a 3 week stay, so that we will have accommodation for Easer and the School Holidays, before we have to move on. After setting up, we went into Town and did a bit of shopping and familiarized ourselves with the Town layout. When we got back to the Park, Val headed off to the thermal pools for her 1^st soak and noodle exercise, while I finished the setting up.

April 9^th, I had to find our mouse traps and set them, as we had a little furry visitor last night, while we were sitting in the Annexe. I decided that seeing we were going to be here for 3 weeks that it was time I did a few of the maintenance jobs that I have been putting off for some time now. I took the boat off the car, ready to clean up the bottom and repaint it. I went to the local Hardware Store and bought a piece of flyscreen to fit the screen door on the Van and a set of security drive bits, so that I could take the boat rack off the car and tighten everything up. We had developed a couple of rattles in the boat rack which was concerning. We caught 2 mice in our 2 traps before we went to bed.

April 10^th, Only 1 mouse in our traps this morning. I removed the roof rack and did find one anchoring nut was a bit loose in the roof. There wasn’t a lot I could do about it so I ran some “Loctite” around it and refitted the rack making sure all the mounting bolts were tight. Only time will tell if I have improved the rattle problem. Val got permission from the Manager, to set up her jam and pickles table in the BBQ area near the entrance to the thermal pools, alongside a wine tasting guy who comes into the park on Thursday and Fridays. When he arrived Val was all set up, so he had a look at what she was doing and he said, ‘I bring my home made jams and pickles to sell, while I do the wine tasting”. So did the only right thing and packed up her gear and took it home. We heard , on the news tonight , that the farmers were having problems with a plague of mice, so that explains why we are catching them.

April 11^th, Another mouse this morning. I washed down the Caravan screen door and fitted the new flyscreen today.

April; 12^th, 2 more mice in the traps this morning. That’s 6 in total now, so we are doing our bit to keep the mice population down.

April 15^th, Two more mice in the traps this morning, that brings our total to 8. Val has been in the thermal pools as often as she can go and is very happy to be losing weight. I cleaned down the underside of the boat and repainted it.

April 18^th, Good Friday and the Park is packed, as you can see by the crowd in the Pools. I came back from the shower tonight (about 11.30pm) to find Val with a broom in her hand, very distraught, and threatening to kill any mouse that comes near her! Can you imagine the sight? We didn’t catch any mice tonight so the broom treatment obviously worked.

April 22^nd, We went into Town to do our Shopping, so I had lunch at the Centre. Val is sticking to her Diet so is not eating out at all. On our way home we went to the Moree RSL to check it out and it’s a very nice modern Club with a Chinese Bistro. They also have a Motel next to the Club. We were impressed with the place and after a glass of Chardy and a flutter, left a few dollars up.

May 5^th, Not a lot to report on up here, I’m reading my Westerns, Val’s been noodling in the Thermal Pools and we have caught a total of 23 mice during our stay in Moree. I put the boat back uip on the car yesterday and did a bit of packing up today, as we leave in the morning for Lightening Ridge.