Abba Dabba Doo

Finally, the day arrived.  The main day of the Trundle Abba Festival.

We dressed in our finery and ventured forth.

This year the format was different.  Previously, the happenings throughout the day were in the main street and only the evening concert, which has an entry fee, was in Berryman Park, which is fenced off.

This year, everything was in Berryman Park - markets, food and support bands etc. and there was an entry fee to the venue, which also included the concert.  There were mixed views in relation to the change.  Some felt it was all too expensive, while others felt that it is the only way that the event can be maintained financially, as it costs about $200,000 to put on.  We just went with the flow.

However, we did go up the main street in the morning.  When we got there, there were loads of people and plenty to see, as coincidentally the Parkes Antique Motor Club was hosting their Pre 1930s vintage car rally and they travelled to Trundle.  There were about 120 beautifully presented vintage cars.  What a sight!  This wasn't part of the festival, but it certainly was a hit with the many visitors to town.

Of course, everyone knows I'm a little fond of old cars.  I had fun checking out the bonnet emblems.

While we were there the Abba train arrived, carrying enthusiastic, colourfully dressed fans.  We were surprised at the number of carriages.  This means of transport was very popular.

Trundle is famous for its wide street (the widest in NSW) and its pub (the longest pub verandah in NSW).

The verandah was the perfect vantage point to see just how many cars were in the street - and that isn't all of them.

Oh yeah, there are our crew as well.  The idea was to emulate the Dancing Queen album cover, but we looked more like the Blues Brothers, but those little white hats were the best for finding each other in a crowd.

Once we arrived at Berryman Park we started to really see some fun outfits. 

Let the entertainment begin.

 

There was a talent quest.

The band "Amite" from Parkes got everyone up and dancing.  They performed here last year and I reckon they have really improved since then, (and they also had a much better stage and sound system than in the main street).  These girls have seriously powerful voices and a put on a great show.

It was all so colourful.

And the crowd kept growing. (Notice the lady knitting in the front row)

Official things took place just before the main concert.  Our dignitaries dressed in their full Abba garb are Michael McCormack (Deputy Prime Minister of Australia) on the left and Ken Keith (Mayor of Parkes Shire Council) on the right.  It's so good to see them getting into the spirit of things.

As usual, the main concert is performed by "Bjorn Again", arguably the best Abba tribute band in the world. 

Everyone was having a marvelous time.

It was a bit sad that it all had to come to an end.

There was more happening at the pub after the concert, but we were happy to return to our fire.

Another fun day had come to an end.

Oh, and I nearly forgot - during the afternoon I received a phone message to go to a certain stall to collect my raffle prize from the quilt show.  How exciting.

Isn't it a lovely cushion and beautifully made.

But not only that, there was more - I also won the lucky door prize!! A hamper of all sorts of pamper items.  I couldn't believe my luck.

Friday at Trundle

Firstly, I thought I'd better show you our camp site.  We were at the Racecourse and last year we worked out that if there were two vans travelling together to get sites behind each other, as the sites were really wide.  We were able to fit our two vans on the sites so that our awnings faced each other while still being drive through. Perfect.

After brekkie we wandered up the street and visited the op shop, as you do.  This op shop has heaps of haberdashery which was donated from a shop that closed down.  They seem to have more each time we visit.  This time I stocked up on zippers at 80c each. They won't go astray for zippy purses.

Then we hopped in the ute and headed north - quite a bit north to the geographical centre of NSW, north of Tottenham.  It was quite a drive just to see a cairn in the middle of nowhere.  I couldn't help notice the contrast to the first time we visited, back in 2010, which was in a wet spring.  There were heaps of wild flowers opposite the cairn that time.  This time, there were just a few dried out twiggy bits.  Mind you, once some decent rain is received the bush will miraculously  bounce back.

The payoff for the long drive was a yummy counter lunch at the iconic Rabbit Trap Hotel at the village of Albert.

Once back at Trundle I was looking forward to visiting the CWA Quilt Show.  I hadn't seen it advertised anywhere, so I was pleased to see that it was on again.  Come for a stroll.

Don't you love these signs and the fact that you were invited to touch some quilts.

Of course we enjoyed afternoon tea, bought some sticky date muffins with caramel sauce (they were delicious) and bought a couple of raffle tickets, as you do. 

Once again a great display for a small group.

In the evening we rugged up and went to the first of the organised events.

The music guru Glenn A Baker was the MC for the weekend.

 Rhonda Burchmore and Lara Mulcahy performed their Abbasolutely Fabulous Show.

It really was fabulous.  It wasn't an impersonation show, but they wove Abba into their story.  These besties met at the auditions for the first Mamma Mia production in Australia. The joked of their similarities as well as their differences.  So much fun.

They had us laughing and dancing all the time.  We're so pleased we went along.

The show finished relatively early, so we went back to the vans and tested out Mick's latest fire bucket creation.  As we forgot to bring a toasting fork, one was quickly whipped up from some tie wire - a bit wobbly, but it did the job.  

The end of another full, but fun day.

A New Adventure Begins

After three busy days at work for me and the boys playing caravan home improvements, on the Thursday we headed off on another adventure.

This time we had a little convoy heading west.

Along the way we decided to visit the CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope, affectionately known as "The Dish".  Google Maps showed two routes to the dish from Parkes, so we took the closest one intending to do a loop and we were surprised to see no signs.  We travelled along and missed a turn, once again not signposted.  Once back on the correct road we realised why it wasn't signposted.  Yep, a gravel road.  Not to worry, it really emphasised that The Dish is in a sheep paddock in the middle of no where.

On arrival there were lots of signs to turn off your phones.

The visitors centre had lots of interesting information.  This console was created for the movie "The Dish" and is rather close to the original design.

It was interesting to read the facts and fiction panel about the movie.

By then it was lunch time.  We always enjoy seeing Apostle Birds when we venture west.  These ones were rather tame and Mick had one eating out of his hand.

As we drove out of the car park we noticed a sign on the road we had come in on.  I had to laugh.  It was really quite a good road.

The scenery around Parkes was lovely, with wide open spaces.  However, everything is looking very dry.  Normally there would be lots of wheat crops planted by now, but hardly any this year.

You always know when you are approaching a country town by the proliferation of billboards.

Back on our travels we headed through the village of Bogan Gate.

And, finally to our destination for the day - Trundle, for the Abba Festival that would be happening on the weekend.  We attended last year and had a ball, so we weren't going to miss it this year.