Off The Road Again

[waitingman]

Back from another road-trip 'round the state... only one state (NSW) this time, unlike the last one which took in New South Wales, Victoria & the Aust. Capital Territory. We're still managing quite well to find places we've never been before, like the radio telescope at Parkes... well okay, I'd never been there... Apart from the Dish & an Elvis impersonator Festival in January, there's not much to say about Parkes itself. The countryside was nice, if not quite photogenic enough & the roads were in good repair, straight & reasonably flat ~ so it was quite easy to get OBluV8 up to 150km/h without even realising. Thank your god the Highway Patrol car I saw was already busting someone else when we passed by.

The Route & Review:~ Sydney - Windsor - Lithgow - Parkes - Dubbo, staying overnight & dining at the Hog's Breath Café where the steaks are large & the fries are curly, after which, dessert is just out of the question. Thence to Orange (& the Highland Heritage Estate Vineyard with its extremely chatty Tastemaster. Cheers!) - Bathurst - Oberon where, two years ago to the day, we were snowed on just as I'd finished describing the place as 'The Coldest Place In The Universe'. No snow this year, but a welcome taste of forthcoming winter with winds & single-digit temperatures. Our recommendation when overnighting in Oberon is to stay at the Big Trout Motor Inn, avoid the 'Royal Hotel' & head straight for the Tourist Hotel, which has a friendly bar staff, a Thai restaurant, a decent video jukebox & two local factory workers more than willing to talk at length about everything from your jukebox selections to how glue manufacture keeps the modern world functioning. Yes, I believe the phrase "Without it, things would fall apart" was uttered. Can't remember by whom ~ the house Shiraz is also highly recommended...

From Oberon out to the Kanangra Walls in the Blue Mountains, then the goat-track road down to Jenolan Caves, where we had to cool our heels & OBluV8's engine because the road out is closed between 11.45am & 1.30pm daily ( we arrived at 11.50am... Dammit!! ), to allow Coaches down the undulating road & enable hordes of The Great Unwashed tourists to descend upon the caves. We went for a short-but-steep bushwalk, then sat in the café amusing ourselves by watching motorists queuing up at the boomgate, picturing them watching their car clocks, counting the seconds 'til the gate rises & they can pretend they're WRC drivers as they drive slooowly up the other side of the valley. We left at our leisure, heading for KaBoomta Katoomba, then home to WaitingManor.

Back to life, back to reality...