Dubbo, NSW 24July2022

 Dubbo, NSW - 24Jul2022 - 410km

Our first day out after 3 years of covid lockdowns and generally being fiddled about. We are on our way to Cairns to pick up our twice delayed (originally overseas trips, now transferred to Outback Spirit) Outback Spirit tour of CapeYork. Mind you it was a close run thing: Covid is spreading seemingly unchecked through the Canberra Community. Our children had had it, our friends were down with it and it seemed almost inevitable that we too should succumb. Which we did and ‘luckily’ for us it was three weeks out from our start date so we feel confident that we should be able to get to Cairns without going down again. We have both been left weakened and lacking in get-up-and-go, which seems to have done just that. I have a dreadful choking cough and Judith has bronchitis, but apart from that wer'e fighting fit!

So this, our first day out was a 6 hour run from Canberra up through Booroowa, Cowra and on to Dubbo, with a stop in Molong for lunch. Molong was a bit of a surprise, we had formed the opinion from past visits that it was basically closed on Sundays, but this time through there is a great new eat-in cafe called Wildflowers in one of the side streets. Excellent!

We made it into the NRMA park in Dubbo in good time and were greeted by an immaculate park with all drive-through sites. We set up the van quick-smart and proceeded to sit in the sun for a hour or so. Two cute little grass parrots came  to visit and didn't seem the least bit concerned about us. We took some snaps to get started our photo gallery.

Continuing our tradition, the first night our dinner is eaten out, this time in the Dubbo RSL, a good meal with so much roast pork we brought the leftovers home for tomorrow lunches sandwiches.

Grass Red-rumped Parrot

Just how cold can it get in Dubbo? Very, very cold overnight as it turns out. We ended up with the doona, two blankets and I even had to put the track-pants and sweat shirt on and still froze all night. The heater went back on at 6am and stayed on until we left at 915.

Dubbo NSW 22 July 2017

It can get a bit chilly in Dubbo, -2 overnight, but lovely during the day with a top of 17 and bright clear skies and glorious warm sunshine. Mind you, laying in bed in a thin metal caravan with a doona and 3 blankets it still felt like -15. 

Undaunted, I was up and around to the start of Parkrun by the allotted time of 8am, and managed a reasonable walking time despite the cold, The walk starts on one side of the Macquarie river, then crosses over and heads back along the other bank until you reach the turn around point under the bridge. The parklands near the start were a white sheet of ice and totally deserted when we left. An hour later and there are 10,000 kids playing soccer, the ice has gone and the temperature is already climbing.

After a long hot shower and breakfast, we headed out to do one of the Heritage Trails. The first and main point of interest was Dundullimal Station, dating from the early 1800's. We had actually been here before many years ago and it was quite run-down. Today thanks to the National Trust it is in splendid condition and the homestead, barn and grounds are one of the best we've seen.  A new feature is an old timber church that they rescued from a property out near Narromine. It was built in the 1870's and this is it's seventh home!

Homestead, Dundullimal Station, Dubbo NSW

Barn, Dundullimal Station, Dubbo NSW

TimbreBongi Church. Dundullimal Station, Dubbo NSW

Barn, Dundullimal Station, Dubbo NSW

Further along the Heritage Trail is the 'Observatory', which wasn't even worth stopping for; it looked like someone's house with a tiny dome out the back and a sign out the front 'by appointment only'. The proprietor of this fine establish was a Mr Peter Starr. No, they weren't kidding, it said so on the sign.

Next in this travelcade of delights was the Red Dirt Winery, where we had hopes of scoring some lunch and a taste and chat about wines. We parked up near the other cars and strolled into the property. Out on the wide verandah was a few people sitting around a table in the sun quaffing the wine being offered by a woman one had to assume was the host. We went inside anyway, to check the place out but all its secrets were revealed in a single glance: there would be no coffee or ploughman's lunch for us, there was basically nothing in there except a few bare tables, secondhand books and an abandoned bar.  We made our egress back out onto the veranda where we were totally ignored for the few minutes that we waited and then we legged it back to the car and continued our search for a nice place for luncheon.

To cut a long story short, we ended up back at the Zoo where they were still open (it was 2pm and they were certainly set up to provide sustenance to the hungry hoards. I took a few snaps of the animals just for the hell of it:

Monkeys. Taronga Western Plains Zoo Dubbo NSW

Bird. . Taronga Western Plains Zoo Dubbo NSW

Giraffes. . Taronga Western Plains Zoo Dubbo NSW

Big Hippo, Little Hippo. . Taronga Western Plains Zoo Dubbo NSW

It was all too much; we went back into town and bought some supplies and retired to the van where a  warm heater and cold wine awaited.

Dubbo, NSW, 21 July 2017

Dubbo, NSW, 21 July 2017 

Well, its been nearly a year since our last trip, and it’s a relief to be on the road again and heading toward somewhere warmer. 

We drove through thick fog from Murrumbateman out past Yass and halfway to Boorowa. The temperature hovered between 1 and six and back again. Finally we broke into some clear sunny conditions and we had a pleasant run through to Cowra, where we stopped at the info place and Maccas for a break and a nice cup of coffee. After our rest stop, and ignoring the temptation to wander around the Japanese Gardens, we drove up to Wellington where we found a single cafe open, well almost, they were putting their signs away right on 2 o’clock, but were happy to feed us anyway. Wellington the town looks even deader than when we were there last a few years ago.

From Wellington it’s a 100km or so run up to Dubbo where we found the Big 4, despite our GPS having not heard of it - and it’s being right next to the zoo. The most anxious part of any trip is that first go at parking the van again. Made it in only three goes, so not bad given I'm a bit rusty.

And to our relief, it’s a balmy 15 degrees, well at least until the sun goes down!

Had a bit of a drive around the parkland alongside the river, mainly to find the start of Parkrun, which I hope to be able to do tomorrow, before getting fuel and retiring to our van, heater on full-blast, all blankets out and on the bed. Brrrrr!

Had time to visit the Dundullimal Homestead, is widely believed to be the oldest surviving timber slab hut house in Australia.

Built around 1840 on Wiradjuri Country as the head station for a massive 6,500-hectare "squatting run", it is the oldest building in Dubbo open to the public.

Dundullimal homestead stables, Dubbo NSW 2017