Travelling Home From Binalong - Via The Woodstock Show

On the Sunday of our weekend to Binalong the majority of the group returned to Bathurst by the same route on which we had travelled down.

Mick and I decided to come home a different way.  Not far past Boorowa we turned off so that we could have a look at Wyangala Dam, not far from Cowra. The road used to take you across the dam wall, but about five years ago they closed that, for security reasons, and redirected the road.

As you can see, the water level is quite low. The dam currently still holds 17% of capacity, which is quite a bit less than when the photo was taken at the beginning of September.  In the Millennial Drought it dropped to 9%.

The countryside was relatively green with even a few crops.  However, there was not much length in any of that grass.  I think the conditions would have deteriorated considerably since then.

The other reason we travelled this route was that, on the Saturday morning before we left home, we heard that the Woodstock Show, just near the dam, was to be held on the Sunday.  We visited this many years ago and it was a nice little show.

Firstly, we were greeted by a substantial car and bike show, with a huge variety of vehicles.  

Who'd have thought that a little Corolla, like my first car would be hotted up!

There was a large array of stalls.

Not just one or two rides, but a rather impressive side show alley.

And so many people.  We heard that they had record crowds, and would believe it.  The fact that you couldn't have asked for better weather would have made a huge difference.

Inside the pavilion there was a nice display of produce.

Lots of quilts, art, cooking and photography.

Back outside a feature was the scarecrow competition.

The poor old witch was too funny.

There was even a pet show with a nice variety of pets in the competition.   One section was even for a pet rock.  

Some friends of our from home had their vintage bicycles on display and some other steam punk inspired contraptions.  They always really look the part.

We were surprised at how many people we ran into that we knew, from a variety of locations.  Just as well we were with the right companion on the day.

It's always fun to watch the tractor pull. 

There were big tractors.

Little tractors.

Shiny tractors.

Rough tractors.

And even little bulldozers.

Mick was particularly interested in watching this one, as it is the same model as they had when he was a kid.  He's spent many an hour driving one of those.

After we had had our fill of the show it was time to return to our central tablelands.

The closer we got to home the drier it looked.  That was accentuated by the fact that we were still experiencing colder weather and not much growth had taken place.

Our weekend away was really memorable.  The company was good, the weather couldn't have been better, the scenery and roads were enjoyable on the bike and Binalong and the Woodstock show were terrific to visit, and of course Sophia the bike ran perfectly.  She is lovely to ride on.  We don't seem to get on the bikes very often these days, and each time we do we ask ourselves why we don't do it more.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, there are so many things that we want to do and we simply can't do them all.  We will try to get out on the bike a bit more often, even if it is just to go for an afternoon ride to get coffee and cake.