This morning we woke up to a red morning, so weren't at all surprised when it started to rain gently.

Nice gentle rain that looked lovely on the river.

Today's plan was not really a plan.  Rather than just travelling through, like we have on every previous occasion, we would have a look around Nyngan and do a bit of relaxing.

Being wet was a perfect excuse to visit a couple of indoor venues.

We crossed the railway overpass to visit our first destination, this little old goods shed at the railway, which houses a shearing museum.

This is very different to the Shearing Hall of Fame at Hay.  The shed at Hay is very smick and professional.  The signage lets you know that this is simpler, being run by volunteers, mainly retired shearers.

All the different shearing plants looked great along the wall.  There were lots of little interesting items, quite personal and relevant to the locality.  In many ways it seemed more real than its Hay counterpart.

Lots of bale stencils

I loved the cookhouse, particularly the green Fowlerware bowl, which I could very easily have taken home to put with the matching ones that I have.

There was a commemorative quilt, complete with shearing fabric on the outer border.

Our guide was really helpful and interesting.

We then went back across the railway line to visit the local museum.  We only recently learnt that Mick's Great Grandfather was born in Nyngan in I'm guessing the 1880s, so it was interesting to learn a little about the town at that time.

A significant occurrence in Nyngan's recent history was the major flooding in 1990, when the entire town of 2,500 people had to be evacuated.  There was quite a section on it and an interesting short film showing.  You wonder how people recover from something like that, but they do.

It was an interesting little museum.  I was drawn to the household items.  Aren't we lucky with our modern appliances.

Of course the green glass drew my attention.  I loved the green teapot (no, not glass) and the vase behind it.

This is the top of a wedding cake that is over 100 years old.  Often the top layer was kept for the first wedding anniversary or christening cake, but for some reason this one was never used.

I'm sure a little girl would have been delighted to receive this cute apron to wear.

I loved seeing the make do items, such as this sewing box made from hessian.

There was a room full of dolls from a variety of eras, which were rather lovely.

Back outside, there is a helicopter, which was a gift to the people of Nyngan to commemorate the evacuation of the population of Nyngan by helicopter in 1990.

There was quite a lot in the main street to see, including this historic wool wagon.  Wagons like this were used to cart goods as well as wool in the early days.

  

The Cobb and Co coach is an exact replica built by a Nyngan local.  Apparently he built quite a few.

A slightly controversial feature of the main street is "The Big Bogan".  He certainly is big.  I think most of the locals just think he is good for a laugh.

Of course, Mick, being a metalworker, had to check out the construction.  He was impressed,  It was really well made.

Like lots of small country towns there are some great shops and also quite a few empty shops.  I was surprised to see a patchwork shop, so of course had to pop in and have a look.  I really don't need anything at the moment, so I just bought  low volume light grey fabric.  I have also been looking for a new toiletry bag.  There is a range of really cute ones and I had decided on the style I wanted, but when I looked at the chemists at home I couldn't find a cute one.  I thought I would have a look here, but didn't expect to find anything.  Well, I was wrong.  I even had a choice of cute ones, but this little sheep version fitted the bill.

The rain stopped after lunch so we went for a walk.  We found yet another sculpture.  This time to celebrate the drovers of the past.

Once again, beautifully constructed.  It looks like new, not nearly 30 years old.

We saw a white necked heron on our walk.

There are so many shags.

The pelicans were cruising up and down during the day.

And some cute little parrots.

The weather cleared and we had some lovely reflections on the river.  

Our campsite is just beautiful.  It feels like we are bush camping, but we have power and water and are within an easy walk to town.  You really can't get much better.  We thought we would have our touristy bit over and done with very quickly this morning, but there was much more to see than we expected.  Yes, we did also do some relaxing sitting outside by the river in the afternoon.  

Another lovely day, and yes, we are in holiday mode.

Mick's Mystery Tour

Well, it's been a few days since we arrived home, so what have we been up to?

Firstly, Mick arranged to get the bike and trailer home. They should be leaving Rockhampton on Wednesday.  NRMA Premium Care is paying the transport costs.  They really have been wonderful.

I caught up on lots of washing - oh joy!

The yard has been given a good watering, as the weather is still desperately dry.  

Then, we packed our caravan and started to think about where we could go and what we could do with the remaining six weeks of our holidays.  Going back to work was an option, but we quickly dismissed that idea.

I cooked lots - a casserole, soup, chow ming, biscuits, a slice and an egg and bacon pie.  With the caravan we can take quite a bit of frozen food, so some quick, cheap, easy meals are ready to go and some yummy snacks are there for morning tea.  Not something I could do for our bike trip.

So, after getting our house minder organised again, we hopped in the ute this morning and headed west.

This trip is going to be very different from our last one.  This is going to be a holiday, as in sit somewhere for a few days and have a good look around, then maybe just sit and read or stitch or just be lazy.  It will be quite a change for us.  We don't really know where we will be going or how long we will stay away, but that's half the fun of it.

There was a big bank of dark clouds to the south, which only highlighted the dry paddocks.

Yesterday we heard on the radio that there were going to be markets at Molong today.  Bonus!  We didn't stumble on any markets on our last trip.

These ladies may have just sold us some yummy passionfruit butter for our toast.  

We were very good on the bike and didn't buy anything other than food and drink.  We may have bought some reading material and crystal glasses at the markets.  My excuse is that the glasses match our good ones and were a shape I regretted never originally buying 30 years ago.  These were still in their box and in perfect condition.  Score.  The books.....we are on holidays, you have to have something to read on holidays.  

We were captivated by the interesting clouds as we drove along, but were fortunate to be in the sunshine for quite a while.

Today was the day of "Spotto".

Firstly, the biggest big thing we had seen on the road so far was spottoed between Molong and Wellington.  Three pilot vehicles and a police car made us get right off the road.  Fair call, when you see this coming towards you.

We saw several emus.  This one decided to cross the road just in front of us.

There are camels at the caravan park we are in.  I'll have to try to get a photo tomorrow.

We stopped in Trangie for our picnic lunch at a nice park beside Goads Waterhole.

There were some magnificent trees beside the waterway.

Our destination for the day was Nyngan, in a caravan park right beside the Bogan River.  We had camped here in our tent once many years ago.

I'm not really sure about our neighbour.  I do hope those flimsy ropes keep him restrained.  We heard quite a commotion in the reedy area behind him just on dark, quite a lot of crashing through the undergrowth.  Then we spied the culprit........an echidna. Unfortunately, it was just a tad too dark to get a decent photo of it, so you'll just have to lake my word for it.

The view downstream.

The view upstream.  

There are a lot of cormerants (shags).  This one had just caught a fish and then lost it again.  On dusk we saw loads of fish jumping.  Unfortunately, no sunset photo as there was no sunset, just cloud.

There are plenty of fire buckets around the park so Mick got one set up beside our van.

What a great way to end the day, sitting in front of a little fire beside a river.

I think we may settle into holiday mode rather easily.

Just a Little Thank You

When I was on a roll of making zippy pouches before we went away I did end up making a pretty one with a lace zip...but just not for me.  The zip was nice and easy to attach.  I'll have to make a couple more with the remaining zips I have.

It was a little thank you for Jenny.  I hope she finds it useful.

I also had fun making a cute little tag for the gift.

I like to give hand made when I can.