Starting to Head North

Once Mick had finished his bowls it was time to head north on our latest adventure.  When we travel with the caravan, we generally have a rough plan of where and when we will go.  This is always subject to change.

The first day was wet, so we didn't stop and look at things as much as usual.  Not only that, it was all places we knew quite well - Forbes, Parkes, Narromine and then onto Gilgandra. 

While walking up the street in Parkes we had a chuckle at this fun creation.

We did call in at the butcher's at Narromine to buy some meat for tea and were surprised at the beautiful tiles.

It turns out that the Butcher's shop was opened in 1902 and the tiles were imported from England.  The cow tiles look like new.

The current butcher is only a young fellow, who has been working there since he was an apprentice and now owns it.

We free camped at Gilgandra and it rained gently all night. The following morning we went for a walk and noticed this fun mural.

Then it was time to venture further north.  There is a little village off to the side of the road, Armatree, which we've never been to see.  This was our opportunity.  It is famous for its pub and we noticed that there is good camping areas to its rear.  We may look at camping there in the future.  There was a rather new sculpture in the park, which we had to take a photo of. 

From there it was on to Coonamble, where we enjoyed catching up with Chooky and Mr Chooky for morning tea.  Of course, with all the chatter, we forgot to take a photo.

Plan A of our trip was to camp at the Pilliga Bore Baths for a couple of nights, but due to the rain, that wasn't going to be a terribly smart idea, as the ground tends to get rather sticky and boggy when wet.  Therefore, we went to Plan B, that was to travel on to Narrabri and have a couple of nights there instead.

So, what to do while there?  The obvious choice was to drive out ot Mt Kaputar, the highest point in the area, from where you can see 10% of New South Wales on a good day.

We headed off nice and early.  As you can see, the top of the mount was shrouded in mist when we left, but we hoped it would clear by the time we got there, as it is 52kms east of Narrabri.

As we got closer the trees created a lovely tunnel.

Once you enter the National Park the road turns to gravel.  There are various rock formations along the way.

As you start to climb, the road returns to bitumen and is narrow, windy and steep.  We passed a sign saying we were at 914 metres above sea level and then kept climbing.  The summit is at 1,510 metres above sea level.

One spot had a lovely collection of grass trees beside the road.

By the time we were nearing the summit, we realised that we were not going to see anything, as we had entered that layer of low cloud.  It was all rather moody.  We made the decision to turn around and return to Narrabri.

We had visited the summit back in 2014.  You can read my blog post from the time here.  The photo of the two of us in my blog header is the one we took of ourselves at the summit on that day.

We did manage to snap this photo of the view once we returned below the clouds.

So, what to do next?

We had heard of a place called Lake Yarrie, to the south west of Narrabri, so headed out there.  It is only a small, shallow lake, but such a pretty setting.  The water level is currently quite low, but at times people take their boats out on it.

It has camping sites all around the lake, and even power for some of them.  We enjoyed our picnic lunch there and had a nice walk around.  Another potential camp site for future reference.

On the way back to town we did our final touristy thing, visiting the Australia Telescope.  As you enter, on several signs, they instruct you to turn off your phone, wifi and bluetooth.

They say this set up is like the Parkes Telescope x 6.  There are six dishes.  (You can't fit them all in the photo.) One is fixed and is 5kms away from the centre.  The other five are close together and on tracks.  They can be positioned up to 3km apart.  The array of the six smaller dishes creates the same effectiveness as a 6km diametre dish. It is so sensitive that they say they could pick up a mobile phone call on Pluto.

It was all very interesting, but way above my understanding.

Oh, and as we returned to Narrabri, we noticed that it was as clear as a bell over Mt Kaputar.  We should have waited till after lunch to venture out there.  Oh well, there will be another time.

And that completed the next couple of days of our trip.  More soon.

We’re Off Again

About a week and a half ago we headed off with the van again.  Our first day was a big one…..travelling 110kms to Cowra, where we stayed for three nights.

We stayed in a lovely caravan park, right in town and beside the river.  Very convenient to everything.  The autumn coloured leaves looked so nice in the afternoon light.

The reason we were there was that Mick was playing in a bowls tournament.  His club had won the local Pennants comp and were representing the area in the Zone competition.  

There were eight clubs competing, with each club fielding three teams.  They were divided into two groups. They each played two games on Saturday and one on Sunday morning.  The winner of each group would then go on to play a final to determine which club would represent the Zone at the State level.  The scores were calculated on the combined total points of each club, so two teams could win their games but the third lose by a lot and they may still not get through, if you get my drift.

Anyway, Bathurst managed to achieve the highest score in their group of four teams, so went on to play Binnaway in the final, which Binnaway won by two points.  Mick’s team did win every one of their games, which they were pleased with.  Binnaway has never reached State level before, so they were thrilled and Bathurst will be cheering them on.

In the meantime, what did I get up to?  Well, I didn’t watch bowls for the entire weekend.  I wandered the street for a good look and actually did some sewing.

I packed my baby Stella and finally added the shadows to the crumb blocks that I have made so far for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Before we left home I bought a wool pressing mat that worked beautifully with my $5 garage sale mini iron.

The blocks look good together.  Keep in mind, there will be a sashing in the light grey between them all, which will make the effect so much better, but a good bit of progress.

I also started knitting a new scarf, using my tried and trued pattern for a boomerang scarf.  This one is a festive red colour.  No photo of progress at that stage, as I forgot, but I will update later.

So, that was a nice way to start our latest adventure.  More to follow shortly.

California Fashions

Bathurst hosts a series of events known as “Autumn Colours” each year, concentrating on local history.  This year, one of the events was all about the little known California Fashions clothing manufacturer.  I’ve lived here all my life and only learned about it in the last couple of years.

Let’s start with a little history lesson…..

In 1912, the Small Arms Factory in Lithgow opened, making munitions.  They supplied our military in WWI and WWII. 

However, during WWII they could not meet the demand, so a second factory opened at Bathurst.  That facility was not required once the war ended, which left a large empty building and unemployed workers.  The hunt was on to find an industry to replace it.

Enter California Fashion Group.  They operated at the site from 1946 to 1963.  This was a group of American fashion manufacturers.  Separate brands that came under the umbrella of California Fashions.  They made women’s apparel, swimsuits, footwear and children’s wear.  They made some very high end fashion.  Cole of California was a leading swimwear company, with Esther Williams as the main face of their brand. They catered for both the domestic market and exported to America.  Many of their items were worn by Hollywood stars, all made in Bathurst.  In Gillian’s Island, the character of Ginger is seen in a zebra print one piece.  That was made in Bathurst.  Some of the other brands were Kimm’s childrens wear, Joyce footwear, Zukia and Betty Barclay.  The English company of Horrockses  also had their Australian manufacturing arm in the building. 

Robins Shoes were the other company that worked there, making Gro Shoes form children, Sandler and Jane Dempster.  They still operated in Bathurst up to the 1970s, although at a different site, and I remember going on a school excursion to the factory in primary school.

At its peak, they employed 500 people, so a major employer.  Some of the employees are still around and the Historical Society are gathering stories from them to flesh out the little history that is recorded of this significant part of our more recent history.

Now to our tour…..

The site has been used by various other industries since California Fashions closed down.  No one seems to know why it closed.  Hopefully, they will find that out during their research.  I refer to the buildings as “Atels”.  That was a kitchen manufacturer that was there when I was growing up.  After that it became “Timber Industries”.  Mick did a bit of work in the building at one point during that part of its life.  

The building exterior is relatively unchanged since its inception.  It is now a warehouse for bales of wool.  It was rather a nice backdrop to the display.  What I noticed was what wonderful natural light came into the building through high windows in the saw tooth roof structure.  It would have been a great bonus for those working there.

Here is a photo of how the factory looked.

The above are all Horrockses, the British manufacturer.  The ones below are the various California Fashion labels.

There was a nice display put on by the museum and we listened to a very interesting talk on the history.  Initially, the museum only owned a couple of garments that had been manufactured there.  Then, after a previous general historic fashion display they were gifted two more.  They were able to purchase one Cole of California swimsuit at quite an expense.  Then, when talking to one of the previous employees, it transpired that she owned several items, some of which had been samples and have never been worn that she lent for the day.  What a bonus that was.

Let's have a closer look.

Aren't they a lovely collection and still looking so fresh.  I can just picture the dresses with the big petticoats of the day holding the skirts out.

The main designer for Cole was very innovative. She was American of Hungarian descent and was the first to introduce some elastic to cotton fabric.  She also used a lot of shirring in garments.

The two piece with the mesh insert was extremely risque when it was produced.

There isn’t a great deal of written history either.  Some ads had been found in magazines and on Trove and some articles located in the archive of the local newspaper, particularly of a more social side of things.

Clothing made at California Fashions featured on the front cover of the Australian Womens Weekly on several occasions.

It was such an interesting event to attend and was extremely popular.  They ended up having to run the event twice on the day to meet demand.

Once I got home afterwards I decided to have a look through a box of random vintage magazines that I have.  

I didn’t expect to find anything, but to my delight and astonishment, I found a few articles and ads in Woman's Day magazines from 1958 and 1960. The article featuring Fred Cole was a great bonus, as was the article featuring Cole of California swimwear. 

I have now donated the magazines to the Historical Society, as they are endeavouring to collate a collection to do with the topic.

It’s Show Time

As soon as we returned home from Baradine it was time to get into show mode.  Starting the day after we arrived home, I would be assisting with the set up and pull down, which went on for two weeks.

Firstly, we had to clean the pavilion and receive all the entries and sort them into their classes.  Although I was primarily stewarding in the Needlework section, it was all hands on deck to assist with the judging and display of other areas as well.

Here is the needlework, all ready for judging, which took place on the Monday of the ANZAC long weekend.  Being the public holiday, we had some extra helpers, which was greatly appreciated.  Doesn’t the area look bare.

Once the judging was over, it was time display everything.  That is quite a task.  

There was some lovely work on display.

I really loved the quilt that won best machine pieced.  Such intricate piecing.

Yes, that is my hexy quilt hanging on the wall.  Rather happy with that.

The feature display this year celebrated 100 years of the Edgells brand, which originated in Bathurst.

There was a special section in the cake decorating for the event.  Isn’t this clever.

Once the pavilion was all set up it was time to have a wander around.  The weather for the weekend was perfect, dry and quite warm for the time of year.  Let's have a wander.

Sideshow Alley is always so colourful.

We stayed until early evening to watch some ring events.  These motorcyclists were crazy.

After gates closed on the Sunday we pulled down the display, ready for the owners of the entries to collect them on the Monday.  Monday was another busy day and I think everyone involved slept well that night, satisfied that another show had run to plan. Oh, and the Monday was cold and wet.  How lucky were they for the weekend.

We already have the date for next year’s show, so it is in the diary. Next time it will be the week before Scrub Stitchin’, so fortunately doesn’t clash.