Griffith-Forbes-Dubbo

Since our last update we arrived at Griffith on Wednesday, weather was very pleasant around 19 degrees and sunny. We found the free camp beside a park in Griffith it was a lovely spot and handy to the town & shops approx. 1.5 klm, we were able to leave the van hooked up and use our bikes to cycle into town and check out the many Italian restaurant's. Lucky we have our bikes as the ankle is not doing all that well, unable to walk too far, have even ridden the bike to the amenities when we were in Temora.

After leaving Griffith we travelled towards Forbes passing many wineries and orange groves, the orange tree's were loaded with fruit. We passed the Debortoli Winery but as it was only 9am it was a bit early for us to stop to sample the wine, so we kept moving arriving in Forbes about 1pm after stopping for lunch at West Wyalong. We spent the night at another free camp beside the Lachlan River right in Forbes, where there was a walking/cycling track just near where we parked. Bazza was very thirsty & ready for a drink that evening, after having many chats with people passing by during the afternoon. We also had an older man (John) drive in and come for a chat, he was off to the Men's Shed and shared with us some of his treasure's that they make at the shed. He even returned the next morning to see if we had mastered one of his puzzles that he had shown us the previous day, and to leave another puzzle for us to solve. While we were at Forbes we found it a great place to use our bikes again with the track going right along either side of the river, and we just had to ride over the bridge to Woolworths to stock up our supplies. The weather today was a very pleasant 20 degrees, we felt quiet warm after our ride.

Today we left Forbes passing through Parks and stopping for lunch at The Dish (Radio Telescope), where we were lucky enough to see them re positioning it, I have taken a series of photos as it changed position. While we were there we watched a video in 3D on the Galaxy and also of an astronomer climbing to the outer tip of the Dish, it felt like we were up there with him. We arrive here at Dubbo this afternoon experiencing the occasional shower of rain, a much cooler day hoping it will fine up tomorrow as wanting to wash the bedding and towels.

Temora - Junee

The Aviation Museum at Temora is a must to visit with their flying collection of Australian ex-military aircraft, very well presented and value for your money. It would have been even better if we had been able to time it with one of their regular flying days, would have loved to have seen the Tiger Moth and Spitfires in the air.

After passing through Junee yesterday we decided that we would retrace 58klms to return as we missed out on seeing the Junee Railway RoundHouse & Museum. After booking into yet another caravan park with beautiful grass and vista, we visited the Junee Licorice & Chocolate Factory where we just had to buy a supply of goodies. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the RoundHouse where a very enthusiastic train buff volunteer by the name of Harry, had us climbing in and out of carriages & engines. We were also able to watch a working diesel loco shunting & moving carriages onto the 100 foot long turn table. It was a good place to go on a very wet afternoon, has been raining constantly for the last four hours and more forecast for the next couple of days.

Temora

We were disappointed when we were at Rutherglen that Barry broke the chain on his bike and we were unable to get a replacement until today, we had been looking forward to cycling the rail trail from Rutherglen to Wahgunyah.

The Autumn leaves are looking magnificent, a lovely time to be travelling through the country side.

After spending our second night at Rutherglen where we visited Campbell's & All Saints Wineries, tasted the famous Parker pies and had a very enjoyable meal out at the Victoria Hotel, we moved on today to Temora. On the way we travelled via Corowa, Albury, Wagga Wagga & Junee, we are now at our very first grassy caravan park at the Airfield here at Temora. Tomorrow we will visit the Aviation Museum here where they have restored and operational aircraft.

The weather forecast is not looking the best with strong wind and rain coming, temp is not too bad around 18degrees and 7degrees overnight.