Parkes, NSW. July 6th 2024

 Parkes, NSW.  July 6th 2024

Just visiting for the day. Started out at 8am when I went to Parkrun out at the North Parkes Sports grounds. At least this year it wasn't a howling gale as well as freezing. Managed a 1 minute PB so it's all good!

We had a good breakfast in town at the "Deja Brew" cafe, which became packed as the locals came into town. Good start to the day. We then went looking for the info place, found it, the one with the Steam Locomotive, but it's not the one anymore.

Old 3075, parked up at Parkes, NSW

They have a new one further up the road, much bigger and includes an Elvis collection, a vintage car museum, a replica of Moat Cottage where Henry Parkes was born, (Birmingham, England) a Henry Parkes Museum and an Antique Machinery collection.

"Elvis" by John Murray. Parkes, NSW

We happily paid the $10 each have a look at the Elvis display and the cars. Most of the Elvis display belongs to Greg Wiggle, who turns out to be an Elvis tragic. Interesting video interview with him and Glen A Baker talking to an Elvis insider, best friend and road manager Joe Esposito. 

Part of the Greg Page, Kings Castle collection. Parkes NSW

Last thing of interest in Parkes was this photo of the Parkes telescope since its conversion to full Super conducting high-intensity LCDs, in the name of power conservation... 

Telescope, Parkes NSW
Image from Parkes Visitors Centre

Those Martians must have thought us so backward not to have done this years ago. fancy using radio waves, how quaint.

Just for fun, and to scratch an itch I've had for a while, we detoured back to Forbes via Bogan Gate. There is evidence to suggest that my great-grandmother came from out this way and was connected with the Nebungalo Homestead, which was out between Parkes and Bogan Gate. 

Now brace yourselves for a run past Bogan Gate.....

Going...

going..

Bogan Gate, NSW

Did you blink? The attraction is that it has a huge grain silo next to the railway line. I apologise to any Bogan Gaterians that may read this, I'm sure it's a delightful place to live and work, just that there's not much of it. Cheers!

Parkes, NSW July 7 2023

 

Parkes, NSW July 7 2023

Finally we were able to tear ourselves away from Canberra and home, heading north again, seeking some warmer weather.

This time we were heading to Parkes for our first night, a run of about 300km. We stopped at Boorowa for a break, but the cafe that we had ‘discovered’ a few years back on a BMW run, was unfriendly, cold and had nothing to eat that took our fancy. We wandered back up the road, stuck our heads into a cafe we didn’t recognise that only sold pizza, and ended up back at the bakery. We were only going to get a take-away coffee but succumbed, yet again, to the temptations of a rock-cake.

A pleasant enough run up to Cowra, then left and right to continue following the Lachlan Way toward Forbes. We pulled up at Goolagong, a tiny town at the junction of the road that goes either to Forbes or Orange, and made ourselves a sandwich in the van. It did occur to us that it was now colder than Canberra and starting to rain.

After lunch we pushed on to Forbes. It must be noted that the roads are in a bit of a mess due to the recent floods, so a slower trip weaving around potholes was the order of the day. I stopped just after crossing the Lachlan on the Iron Bridge (1892) to take a picture of the other side of the history sign, that I failed to take back in 2019 when we were last here.

We had thought the road a bit of a mess, but heading north out of Forbes on the Newell Highway we came across big road works, single lanes and traffic lights. We arrived in Parkes at about 3, parked up on the all-tarred terrace and nipped into town to get-a-few-things.

We are both a bit tired after our first day on the road and so the rest of the day was spent quietly n the van.

South Forbes, NSW

South Forbes, NSW