Day 67 - Narrandera

This place really has taken hold of me, and to some degree Gail and Peter. A very broken nights sleep, scratching the eyes and trying to breathe. But, apart from that, another perfect morning.

Ruby seemed better this morning but was still somewhat out of sorts.

Today saw another rotation around the sun for Julie. It was her ??th birthday so well wishes all round.

Bacon and eggs on the camp fire was a great way to start the day however contending with the flies required its own management plan.

We finally managed to secure a photo with all of us wearing our Julie designed offical team merch. And what a backdrop it was.

Not sure if I’ve mentioned the situation with the flies since we’ve been here. They are that prevalent they’re nearly blocking our million dollar views. This meant the doggos were having a hard time as well, so given Ruby was unwell Graham and Karen sought relief by heading to town early.

The rest of us eventually followed suit. Back to the same bakery for pastries and coffee.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post the visitor centre was rich in local knowledge so I took everyone there to experience this service.

Our first port of call was the sky bridge that looked over the mighty Murrumbidgee River, the life blood of so many communities in the area.

Across the other side was a natural habitat of the species Phascolarctos cinereus, commonly called the Koala, also commonly, but incorrectly suffixed with Bear. The Koala is a marsupial.

We made our way across the river and successfully located 7 Koalas, which doesn’t sound super exciting but we are talking in the wild here, not housed in a zoo or other man made enclosure.

One of the sightings was a mother and her Joey. I’m not sure if Julie was more excited about seeing the koalas on her birthday or the Apple Watch Peter bought her.

A light lunch at a local dog friendly pub before heading back to the vans for our afternoon siesta.

Graham and Karen had a follow up appointment with the Vet for Ruby at noon. She has been booked into the canine resort at Leeton for an overnight stay, meaning Graham and Karen won’t be departing with us tomorrow. They will join us later.

To try and relieve my allergen symptoms I chose to rest in the van, which had the added benefit of not having to contend with the flies. Some of those choosing to remain outdoors exhibited extreme fashion choices donning lavish fly nets.

As an added celebratory event for Julie’s birthday we had dinner at The Grong Grong (that’s not a typo) pub about 15 kms away. For a Wednesday night this community owned establishment, in a town of 100 people, it appeared more like a thriving metropolis.

The Guvnas attention to detail and social intercourse gave us an inkling that he had previous hospitality adventures,, which he in fact did confirm.

To be offered an Affogato in bum @&$% nowhere was evidence of his expertise.

Julie ordered sticky date pudding for dessert which was a perfect segway into utilising this as her birthday cake in the absence of something more substantial.

Peter once again used his public relations skills to solicit the traditional truckie salute as a big rig rolled by.

Not sure if it was by design or not but the trip home did not follow the same path we used for out bound journey. Driving through bum @&$% nowhere that fails to utilise man made lighting sources made it somewhat difficult to locate our vans. Thank goodness for technology. Graham had saved a “Pin” in maps which he used for the previous nights mercy dash to the VET.

It was straight to bed for this little black duck, but not before popping more pills and flushing my eyes out with an approved chemist supplied solution.Read more