What a Cracker of a Night

This weekend is the Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend in New South Wales.  Unlike the last couple of years, there are so many things happening in the community. We had to pick and choose which to participate in.

We read in the paper that the small town of Portland, halfway between Bathurst and Lithgow, was going to hold twilight markets, a bonfire and fireworks at the old Cement Works.  As this weekend has traditionally been the weekend for cracker night, we knew we had to go along.  

As kids, we both used to attend bonfires and cracker nights. Mick recalls playing with bungers and getting up to all sorts of mischief.  I was a good girl and didn’t do that…..and also they were being phased out by then.  When Mick and I moved out of town we held an annual bonfire at our place for several years.  The first was for our housewarming party, with about 70 people in attendance.  They were great fun, and yes, we did have crackers, even though you weren’t supposed to.

Portland was a small run down industrial town that you never went to.  After the cement works closed many years ago, the site sat vacant and started to become derelict.  That has changed so much over the last five or so years, with lots of reproduction advertising signs being painted on the buildings around town and the redevelopment of the old cement works, now called “The Foundations”, in recognition of the fact that the foundations of so many buildings in the state were built using Portland cement.  We have attended a few events down there since the site has been converted into a community space and they have all been good fun.

As we drove on our way, the car beeped to advise us that the ambient temperature had dropped to 3 degrees C.  Brrrr.  We were really lucky, though.  It didn’t get colder than that, and despite cloud cover, it didn’t rain on us.

We arrived just before dark and the silos with the murals on them were still visible.

The buildings looked lovely all lit up.

First we had a look around the market stalls.  

The old industrial building is such a wonderful space.  There were heaps of interesting things to see and buy.

Live music, performed up on the balcony, added to the atmosphere.

Next door, there were various food vendors.  We partook in some soft pork buns and the most delicious Coq au Vin pies.  They were some of the best pies we have ever tasted.

Once it was fully dark it was time to light the massive bonfire.  The weather has turned really wintery this last couple of weeks.  Temperatures have been below average since the start of the month.  A big bonfire was just what we needed.

We had plenty of layers on, as well as beanies and scarves. 

The crowd around the bonfire swelled as the time for the fireworks neared. We enjoyed gazing into the fire.  Can you see the fire breathing dragon that we saw?

At 7:30pm on the dot, the fireworks got under way.  

They were put on by Howard’s who are one of the main fireworks companies in Australia, who just happen to have their headquarters just down the road from Portland. 

They put on a heck of a good show.  This wasn’t even the best of it.  The finale was spectacular.

And then it was all over.  Another quick wander around inside, looking at the stalls, before the drive home.  The best thing was, that as it was a family event, we were still home at a relatively early time.