Out and About in October

Considering we had just returned from a big trip, we were out and about rather a lot during October.  Where does one begin?

We arrived home just in time for Bathurst’s busiest week of the year - the Bathurst 1000 car race.  Although we have no interest in the race itself, we love seeing the town come alive and like to go and have a look at the street parade on the Wednesday.

There are always cars on display in the shopping centres and various businesses around town.

This was the first year that the race was back to full capacity after the pandemic, so it was really disappointing that the weather was so bad.  Yes, it rained on their parade.

Firstly, the race car transporters drove through.

Followed by the racing drivers. Some were lucky enough to be in hard top cars, but those in the sports cars made use of umbrellas.

On Saturday they have a Street Fair in Kings Parade in the centre of town.  We weren’t going to go, but it was advertised that the Cricket T20 World Cup would be there, so Mick wanted to have a look.  Well, it turned out that the Cup itself wasn’t there, it was just a promotional thing.

Mick tried to hit a six using a virtual reality bat.  No luck.

We watched a fellow playing with fire for a while.

There were hardly any people there in the morning, because, as you can guess, it was raining.  The roving photographer for the local paper was there and we ended up with our photo in the paper.

The next event was my favourite Church Fete.  Can you believe it - the weather did play nice.  What a pleasant change.  I assisted with the White Elephant stall, as most of the parishioners are rather elderly.  The day was very successful.

That was on the Saturday and on the Sunday we went for our motorcycle ride on Snubby, the Silver Sidecar.  

The motorcycle club in Orange held a small bike show in the little village of Millthorpe.  A few from our club rode up to have a look.  There were some really nice bikes there and it was nice to catch up with some mates we don’t often see.  Yes, the weather was nice for two days in a row.

I loved the seat on this old little Honda.

One of my friends and I have been planning a day out to Katoomba for ages and we actually made it happen.  Of course, the weather was rather bleak, but fortunately, not too wet.  The main purpose was to visit a little wool shop called “The Granny Square”.  

Don’t you like this lamp shade.  So simple and clever.

I need more wool like a hole in the head, but of course I came home with some.  I really liked this cowl on display, so have bought some of that wool.  I’ll probably use a different pattern, but I just love the subtle colours.

The wool is hand dyed.  I had recently come across a simple beret pattern, so bought some dark green to match.  I’ll share more soon. Oh, and a couple of other bits and bobs came home too.

Over the road was a “Street Art Walk”.   Let’s have a little stroll.

As can be expected from such a creative area, there was lots of other street art as well.

I loved these wrens.

We visited the famous “Carrington Hotel”.  The interior is rather grand, as expected from such an imposing facade.

It was a lovely day out and I’m sure, now that I have time, we will have some more.

Are you tired yet?  There’s more.  We really did do a lot in October.

Mudgee has an annual “Sculptures in the Garden” that we like to attend.  We didn’t think we would get there this year, but on the Wednesday the weather looked like it may be OK.  

We drove past lovely crops of canola and hope the farmers will be able to harvest it when it is ripe.

Windermere Dam is full, for the first time in 27 years.  All this water flows into Burrendong Dam and then down the Macquarie River, which is flooding.  The rain that has fallen since we were there will have kept things at capacity, so the flooding downstream will continue for some time.

As we drove into Mudgee we could see rain all around the district, but we were so blessed, as we did not receive a drop on us while were at the exhibition.  Here are just a few of the sculptures.

Back home, we attended another art exhibition. This time at the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.  It was all works by Linda Jackson.   I remember from her association with Jenny Kee, “Koala Blue” and “Flamingo Park” back in the early eighties.  She was quite a trail blazer.  Her work had such a variety of styles.  The exhibition was titled “Romance of the Swag” and featured art depicting several of the areas we have recently visited.  Just stunning.

There was a caravan and camping show down at our showground, so we went and had a look.  There wasn’t a lot there, as many exhibitors were unable to attend, due to the wet weather and road closures.  It was still fun having a look at caravans and realising that we are very happy with the one we have and wouldn’t swap it for any on display.

We did come home with a sticker for our van.  It is now official, we are “Off to See the Wizard”.

The last event we visited was the local open gardens, which we attend every year with my friend Lisa.  They haven’t been on for the last two years, so it was nice to be out and about to see them.  Once again, the weather for the weekend was actually nice, before reverting to wet the next day.  Here’s a little taste of what we saw.

Phew!  They say that once you retire you wonder how you had time to go to work and it has been a bit like that this last month.  There is so much to see and do at this time of year.  November will be the same.  Having said that, there is too much, as there are so many things we would like to see and do, but already have other commitments.  Not a bad situation to be in.  We will never be bored.