Day 65 - Parkes to Narrandera

Whilst the morning was pretty much atypical of this trip, the suffering continues……but today we move on…….reprieve!!!!

I caught a sensational Moon Set at the same time Peter caught a sunrise.

Reprieve I thought………think again. Before our departure today Karen was in touch with the host of the Hip Camp we are relocating to. It happens to be on a working farm that is currently harvesting its fields. Oh joy.

Who knows, the crop could be miles from where we will be based.

It was some time this morning before we stopped for brekkie and coffee. Forbes were the financial winners today. When 7 people roll up to any place they normally inject a decent days takings to any establishment.

I’d like to say the journey was uneventful but…

Let me start by saying it wasn’t as bad as it may sound. I’ll try to be brief.

One road train approached from the rear. Via the UHF airways we assisted him to get past all of us together. This encompassed us bunching up and slowing down as he consumed the whole of the right oncoming lane.

Hot on the heals of this first road train was a second large rig.

The rig that had already passed relayed that the road ahead was clear (even beyond the view of ourselves and the rear approaching rig). So the rig approaching from the rear pulls out to the right lane, passes Gail and I, then Peter and Julie, but as it does, brake lights are on and caravans are safely pulling to the left.

A car had emerged from a street on the right and was now in the path of the overtaking rig.

Either that car was privy to the conversations being relayed over the public airwaves or just reacted very quickly as he pulled off to the shoulder on his side.

Communication and co-operation were definitely the key.

That was enough excitement for the day.

By now the fire in my Eustachian tubes had been extinguished. I felt like a regular human again.

The journey to this Hip Camp took us onto some unsealed roads. Not gravel but definitely not sealed. To be honest, this was better than some of the sealed roads we’d traversed.

We found our spot, only to later learn this was not actually our spot. Because we’d booked so far ahead, the host was unable to recall why he had his usual sites blocked out in his calendar and proceeded to give them away.

He directed us to an area soon to be made available via Hip Camps, that for all intents and purposes appeared just perfect anyway.

We set the vans up, and explored. We are located about 50m from the bank of the Bundidgerry Creek, which to be honest is must larger than the expectation of the word creek. We didn’t have to go far for firewood, there is an abundance.

Julie’s turn again to establish the fire without the aid of artificial means, which she achieved admirably.

Not only was the camp fire established, but the fire in my Estachian tubes had reignited.

We settled in on the bank of the creek and pondered life, with alcoholic beverages of course. This location was absolutely beautiful. The images and videos may look impressive but they can’t do justice to actually being here.

It also allowed us to reflect on a very important event from the previous day……related to a very important person…….Craigs birthday and Anne and Craig’s anniversary ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Ribs and chicken tonight. Peter did the ribs over the fire and I did the chicken in the Ziggy (like a Weber Q).

https://zieglerandbrown.com.au/explore-the-rang…

Gotta say they both turned out extremely well. You may note my preparation of said wings and the secret ingredients in the collection of photos.

Karen magically whipped up some brownies for dessert which went well with the accompanying vanilla ice cream.

As Gail was about to retire for the evening, she was unable to locate her lead lamp. A brief look by all, with the aid of my headlamp and phone lights could not locate it. I handed my headlamp over and off she trots to bed.

In the distance the cry comes out from Gail..….”I found it………….around my neck”

There was some more special reminiscing before hitting the sack.Read more