We Had Visitors - Part 1

We had some very welcome visitors back in October.

Our lovely friends Lou and Tony came to visit from NZ.  Lou blogs over at Manx Girl and we first met on the Isle of Man back in 2009.

We visited them in NZ for my 50th, so Lou & Tony returned the favour for Lou's 50th.  They postponed their trip until October so that Holden fan Tony could attend the Bathurst 1000 car races.  I call that a win, win.

They stayed for just over a week and we crammed lots into that time.

Firstly, on the Wednesday before the race, we attended the street parade of race car transporter trucks and the race drivers being driven in sports cars.

Tony looked quite pleased to be with the Brock Commodore.

Of course he had to check out the open wheeler as well.

Our local park is always nice to stroll through.

Mick visited with Elton John.  Elton John will be performing in Bathurst in January on his farewell concert tour.

In the afternoon we ventured to the National Motor Racing Museum at Mount Panorama.  We were surprised at how quiet it was.  We certainly timed our visit well.

It has a really varied collection of both cars and motorcycles.'

A rather distinctive motorcycle helmet caught my eye.  We never realised that the famous Isle of Man motorcycle racer Joey Dunlop had raced in Australia.  Here was the helmet to prove it.

On the Friday, we went for a road trip to Parkes to visit the radio telescope, otherwise known as "The Dish", as the movie is a particular favourite of theirs.

Our next stop was at the town of Forbes, whose buildings were used in the movie "The Dish", as they are somewhat more picturesque than those of Parkes.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch by the lake and of course there was too much focus on the food, so no photos.

There are some interesting sculptures around the town.

Lou and I noticed an interesting shop, "The Sewing Shop".  It has only recently opened, and had a lovely display.  It turns out it is an alterations type shop, rather than a fabric shop.  Some of those farm fresh eggs came home with us.

There were some storms around, but we seemed to miss most of them.

 

We continued on our way through the small town of Eugowra, with its murals and nice little craft shop.  The town is famous for the Escort Way Gold Robbery by Ben Hall and his Gang.

 The wall hanging depicting the event in the craft shop is rather good.

Our next stop was Canowindra, for a visit to the patchwork shop and of course, most importantly, afternoon tea. I forgot to take photos.

Lou and Tony visited the races on the Thursday, Mick and Tony went on Saturday, while Lou and I visited Anni at the Home Patch and went shopping.  Sunday is the main race day so our guests went to the races again, while boring Mick and I watched on the TV at home.  I still haven't been to the races since the mid 1980s.

I'll share what we got up to after the races next time.