Graham’s wanderings

There is not much to report today which started with my morning walk around a pair of bridges over the river in Moree. Like a lot of rivers in this part of the world it does not have a huge amount of water, but it is better than some. Then after my chores I headed to town to look around and to find a barber. Well I found a barber who after I waited quite a while, she actually put me into an iPad which kept track of my progress in the queue and allowed me to go walkabout while waiting, I was told that I had a much longer wait so I made tracks. The countryside out here is very dry but, I may be imagining it, it does not seem to be a lot dryer than our Western Australian eastern wheatbelt. Whatever it is definitely dry. I have finished up at a town called Walgett which has a very basic camping area on the edge of town.

I started today in high spirits having found a free bush camp that looked good, it had excellent reviews on both the websites that I use. So up I got and had a good look around the Showgrounds where I was staying. It has been in use since 1873 any many of the buildings have very long histories and when one registers to stay there they are given a sheet with these details. So as I said I had a good look around and soaked in the history surrounding me and following that walked down towards the town. I did not go all the way as it was a long way down a fairly steep hill so I only went part of the way and looked at some of the old houses. Then the usual routine followed by a drive around town without much to stop for as I passed through here a couple of weeks ago and had a good look then. Then off west I went with the next worthwhile town being Inverell. Quite a bit to see here as they seem to be a bit town proud and have done quite a few nice things. The highlight was their centennial...

Today, despite a poor start which I will report later, was great. Once again I have crossed the Blue Mountsins heading west and the scenery was nice, very nice and at times magnificent.  The greenery and the rolling hills really are something to bottle and take home. I stopped a few times at lookouts and enjoyed conversations with fellow travellers who were all going in the opposite direction to me. At one stop there were bell birds singing or should I say peeling as they sounded exactly like bells. The first time that I heard them I thought that something under my bonnet was making the noise until someone else who was at the same stop told me what it was. The driving, as I have said previously, requires lots of serious concentration particularly when on a narrow, barely two vehicles wide, one is confronted by huge two trailer trucks on very narrow bends. I had a period when there were five of them over a fairly short period of time and I actually got almost off the road and stoppe...

Today was very much varied weather from a cool overcast start, then some sunshine and now it is raining. The start was not auspicious, as I got ready for my morning walk, walked to the front of the van to do a few push ups and the van was covered, really covered in little ants. While I was deciding what to do a couple of locals from the lifestyle village came past and told me that they are quite common there. Anyway I got out the crawling insect spray and zapped all of them, then shifted the van to a tap and blew them all off with water. That sort of stopped my walk so I had breakfast and went into town to do some shopping. Then on the road again. The first stop was a pretty little riverside town called Woodburn and I was amazed at how busy the Main Street, cappacino strip was. After a wander road I moved on to Evans Head where there is an aviation museum that I wanted to see. The main attraction is that they have a F111 on display. Amongst some other interesting stuff on display i...

Here is a funny little story, one of life’s coincidences. Last night I was lying in bed thinking how I liked the way that my caravan repairer in Casino went about his business, just like the guy that sold me this van. Then it occurred to me that his name is Geoff Bryant and the man who sold me the van is Corey Bryant which you will probably agree is not a very common surname. So this morning I phoned Geoff and they are not related, so what sort of coincidence is that? Incidentally they are both primarily caravan repairers who have a few caravans for sale in their yard. Last night was a huge storm with big lightning, loud thunder and heavy rain for a few hours. I do not really know how long because I fell asleep, but I did wake during the night and the rain at least was still going. The rain was still around in the morning, but not so heavy, and the forecast was for it to continue all day. So I arranged to spend another day here as I do not see much when travelling the rain along the ...

Last nights camp at The Channon was interesting. It was on private property and the owner collected the fee but it is listed and signed as ‘The Channon campground’. It occupied what was basically a very wide driveway to a house which I presume is a farm house as it is surrounded by paddocks. Actually only on one side the other side is a very steep embankment leading down to the river. This morning the whole site and surroundings were blanketed by mist which made it rather pretty. They also supposedly have resident koalas, but I did not see any. The town itself is very small just a tavern, a post office and a few houses. There might have been more but I did  not see them. It is very pretty and would be a nice place to live if you like isolation and prettiness tucked away in the blue mountains. From there, after the usual routine, I proceeded to Lismore which was quite a pleasant drive, despite the poor road quality. At Lismore I refilled a gas bottle, which is happening far to o...