We're off!
Despite my best technical efforts, (staring intently at said light and slowly cursing under my breath) no luck. I know, I'll call the manufacturer! So a quick call to Goldstream proved the decisive move. "Have you given the plug a jiggle mate?" said a Victorian voice dripping with sarcasm. Jiggle? right, jiggling, jiggling, of course. Immediately questions ran through my head after I hung up the phone however. So what is the correct jiggling technique? Does one jiggle left to right or up and down. Visions of Mr Miagi danced through my head. Wax on...Right indicator, (post jiggle) - Check!!! We were off!
A very teary goodbye to Kaspa followed a last check of the house. It's a pretty surreal feeling driving off down your street knowing you won't be back for nearly six months, wondering what cards were going to be dealt while on the road. Soon however, trepidation was followed by excitement and animated discussions over how far we'd get on the first day, what our trip would be like and why all the cars seemed to be going the other way??? The plan was to try and make it to Tamworth. We fell a little short and ended up stopping at a quiet little free rest area in Guyra. Guyra is one of the highest towns in NSW and with the temperatures plummeting as we setup the camper, out came the winter PJ's and jumpers for a meal of Bolognaise and a game of Yahtzee before bed. (game 1 of 7,359 we expect:-) Grace had us in stitches in the morning with a re-enactment of her getting stuck in the middle of the night between the canvas and the mattress. Her efforts to get out were hysterical.
Guyra Sunset - a little chilly!
A good nights sleep and we were off on another long drive to a farm about 20kms outside of Narromine (50km west of Dubbo), birthplace of the great fast bowler Glen McGrath. We were going to stay with friends of the Carius', Keryn and Michael Finlayson on their farm, Oaklands. What a great way to kick start the trip. Red and white wine, cheese, bikkies and quince paste awaited us on the kitchen table, lots of affection from Jess the dog (which was brilliant as Kaspa was still being missed terribly), in a delightful homestead. No-one was home, and as we sat down on the verandah to tuck into our wine and cheese, I said to Maria, " I hope this is the right place!" Michael arrived soon after, confirming we were, we introduced ourselves and instantly felt at home. The girls had collected their first farm eggs within about 10 minutes, unreal. Keryn arrived later on after seeing their son Sam off to camp. We all sat down to Lasagne and a glass of red to get to know each other.
Stop the trip - can it get any better?
Welcome to Oaklands Resort!
The next day we were off to Taronga Western Plains Zoo, which is about 5mins outside of Dubbo. We decided to hire bikes and ride around the zoo rather than drive around, which was great. The bikes were a little tired but worked fine. Maria went for a lower profile dragster with seat down and looked very cool, however a few of the hills got the heart pumping and seeing her with knees up around her ears had us chuckling. (but not too much darling:-) The visitor centre and entrance is very impressive but the rest of the zoo looked a little tired we felt. All of the animals were there, Giraffe, elephant, tiger and wild dogs. Everyones favourite was the otters, followed closely by the Siamang Monkeys and one very cute baby learning to climb. The meerkats were as busy as ever. Alexander was also there, "I cannot find you cheap insurance!" The day concluded with an ice-cream and a great talk on the ring-tailed Lemurs. We headed back to the farm satisfied. It is an expensive day however. $75 for the bikes and $136 to get in, I'm glad we brought our own food! It was our turn for dinner with Thermomix butter chicken and lots of Nandos chicken pieces courtesy of Jaya and Williams' (our neighbours) St Lucia store, thanks guys it was delicious!
What a day and big thanks to Sam for showing us around! First we set yabbie pots in various dams around the property using the Go-cart and Quad bike. Next we spent hours around the main dam trying to catch some yabbies the 'old-fashioned way' consisting of a stick, some string and a piece of meat tied to the end. You throw out the string, waited for it to get tight then slowly draw it back in slowly so the yabbie stays attached. Then you quickly scoop it up from behind - simple - NOT. We collected nearly 30 at the end of the day which was not too bad and with some honey soy marinade, were a delicious entrée. Michael knocked off from work early, we loaded up the ute, and took a tour around the 2000 acre property, picked up the pots and chased some roos (the video is amazing). A lot of fun was had by all. Keryn and Michael work hundreds of sheep and share their fields with a guy who grows wheat. The Broncos even won so the day was perfect!
Shearing shed
Checking out the farm - the farmer is the guy in yellow on the right not the guy in board shorts on left. Simple mistake.
Checking the pots for yabbies
Grace and Caitlin go carting!
Dinner!
All good things must come to an end and it was time to continue on our journey. We still had 700km to get to Broken Hill. We set off having made steadfast new friends and with promises of visits. The Finlaysons were truly wonderful hosts and for basically complete strangers opened up their home to us and we will be forever grateful. I highly recommend the Oaklands Resort to anyone out this way!!!
We left in the early afternoon but made good time and stopped at a well laid out rest stop called Meadow Glen about 60km west of Cobar and within 400km of BH. Well rested we arrived in Broken Hill having saved an hour with the conclusion of daylight saving and another 30 mins with Broken Hill being on Central time. So according to the clock at the Tourist information centre it was about 12.30pm!
A fantastic start to the trip with so many new experiences in our first week.
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