Here, There and Everywhere - Travelling West - Part 2

After our time in Forbes, we were ready to continue with our exploring.  The day’s plan was to travel to Condobolin, taking in the Sculptures Down the Lachlan.  Mick and I had seen them before, but there is at least one new one since our visit.  The final sculpture was unveiled a few months ago.  I’ll just add all their photos, without too much detail of artists etc.

The sculptures are located along the road from Forbes to Condobolin, covering a 100km distance.

I love this huge tree.

This was the first sculpture, created by local farmers.  Forbes now uses it for their corporate branding.

We had a little detour to visit Jemalong Weir.  This is used to regulate the flow of the Lachlan River for irrigation and flood mitigation purpose.

The boys were intrigued by the construction of this beautiful piece.  The construction from stainless steel chain, each linked welded in place, is extraordinary.

There is a pretty bridge over the river just next to it.

“Brumbies Run” is the newest and final sculpture.

That filled in quite a few hours, so it was time to set up camp.  We were in holiday mode, so fairly short distances and afternoons sitting around not doing much.

This time we would stay at Gum Bend Lake, which is a man made lake on the outskirts of Condo.  We thought it would be packed out, being a Friday night, but to our surprise and relief, it was really quiet.

Mick and I free camped here several years ago in the middle of winter. On that occasion it got down to minus 2 degrees C and we didn’t have any heating.  OMG!  It was so cold.  As a result, we very quickly invested in a diesel heater.  Believe me, there was no heater required this time.  Also, at that time, there was hardly any water in the lake.  It looks so much better this time.

Sitting beside the lake, it was rather pleasant, with a little breeze off the water, but down below the bank, where we were camped was stifling hot.  Therefore Mick and our friends decided to have a swim.  I opted out.  Apparently, the top layer of water was rather pleasant. But just below the surface was freezing cold.

There were quite a few locals making use of the area.  There is a really good playground and the local under 17s footy team was having fun in the water with a couple of footies.

We enjoyed seeing all the birds that were frequenting the area.

Fortunately, we didn’t encounter any snakes.

The sunset was beautiful over the lake.

As we sat outside in the dark, we noticed a string of lights crossing the sky, which was Star Link.  It was the first time we have seen it.  What a great place to spy it from.  They didn’t show all that clearly in the photos, but you get the idea.