Finally left our lovely pals in Mudgee and set off today for the grand tour. Heading south west towards Wagga Wagga to catch up with Vanessa's relatives, so the route took us through Parkes ( of the Elvis convention fame ) and on to Forbes.
Did not think that any Parkes facts could outdo the annual Elvis festival, but it is also home of 'the big dish'..... the CSIRO Parkes radio telescope. Apparently the star of the movie 'The Dish' ( anyone seen it?) the dish was also responsible for most of the television images broadcast to the world when Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
Weather was fantastic, blue skies and a pleasant 20 degrees, great scenery. On arrival at Forbes we stopped at the Tourist Information to discover that a not insubstantial quantity of diesel was dripping out from under the Winnebago bonnet onto the road.
There were 2 very flustered and doddery octogenarians manning the tourist info centre and in the midst of a major crisis, so when Ness turned up they declared ' A young person, just what we need'. The dvd that they run on a loop to impart vital info to tourists was malfunctioning, fortunately the technowise 'young thing' diagnosed flat batteries in the remote control and directed them towards the 'play' button. In return they directed us towards a garage and a shy adolescent youth reattached the loose fuel hose to the engine. A $10 thank you and we were safely on our way.
Forbes is a surprisingly lovely town...it was only a stopover so we had no expectations, but it is really well preserved with lots of 1800's building beautifully restored/preserved.
Below is the post office ( 1881 ) ...we have decided that PO's are a good indicator of the style of architecture of a town so this is the first of a long series of nerdy pictures of such.
Below the magnificent Albion Hotel.
The campsite bible came up trumps again with a free camp site which is actually a small park in the middle of town.....feels strange and very unlike a camp site as we know them, but there was a caravan already here, generator on, 2 small maltese terriers in very smart pink coats awaiting dinner, Dad fishing in the lake. After we rocked up, 2 other Winnebagos turned up so it is obviously popular but there are no signs or indications that camping is allowed.
Off to explore Forbes tomorrow...tales of daring gold heists and secret underground tunnels.
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