We’re Off Again - Home to Baradine

On Monday we hitched up the van and headed north, once again.  This time it is to attend “An August Escape” at Baradine.  It doesn’t start until Friday, but we decided to leave early and have a couple of lazy days in the lead up.

Before we left home I had to take a photo of our wattle tree, just coming into flower.  I dare say we will miss the main flowering.

Wattles seemed to be the theme of the morning as we drove through Orange, onto Molong and Wellington.  There are so many different varieties.

The other feature of the day was how green everything was.

Here you can see the Warrumbungles in the distance, just south of Gilgandra.

Gilgandra was our destination for the day, arriving in the early afternoon.  A nice way to ease into our time away.  We set up camp at the Bowling Club, where we have stayed twice before this year.

Mick decided to have a roll up on the green, while I did some crochet on my corner to corner squares.

He was able to get fairly close to the jack.

In the late afternoon we went for a walk along the river into town.   The weather was beautiful, reaching the low 20s C. It was nice to see water in the Castlereagh.  I had to take a photo of the happy wanderer beside the happy wanderer plant in flower.

We noticed seem rainbow lorikeets in the river red gums.

They had a nest in a hollow in one of the trees.  You can just see one peeking out of the nest.

The Cooee March memorial is a feature in town.

The sun was just starting to go down as we wandered home.

You couldn’t have asked for a better start to our trip.

Yesterday morning we woke to rain, as predicted.  It was still nice driving along.  The green of the landscape really glowed.  It has been amazing how green everything is.

We had a brief stop at Gulargambone to see the bullocky sculpture.  

Last month the replica wagon was replaced by an original wool carting wagon and a cover built to protect it.

Our next stop was at Coonamble, to collect some bits and bobs to take for our stitching weekend and have a cuppa.

Yes, it was still raining.

From there it was on the quiet road across to Baradine.  

We were treated to a gorgeous display of wildflowers as we drove along.  There were drifts of tiny white daisies.

Occasionally, there were also drifts of yellow.  So pretty.

We arrived at Camp Cypress just on lunch time, still in the rain.  Fortunately, it did ease up for a few minutes for Mick to get the van unhitched and set up.

It wasn’t long before our friends from Rockhampton also arrived.  

The four of us spent the evening at the Bowling Club with the local ladies, playing bingo, followed by dinner.  No, we didn’t win any of the games, but it was a lovely start to the week away.

A Nice Weekend With Friends

We had a great weekend with our friends Jo and Tony visiting from Mildura.  The last time we saw them was at Scrub Stitchin’.

They arrived on Saturday and we took them for a bit of a tour of the local area.

On Sunday the boys went up to the shed to discuss the finer details of Rosie the Suzuki Sierra and the motorcycles.  They visited the National Motor Racing Museum and went for a run in Rosie.

Meanwhile, Jo and I headed to the sewing room, where we quilted one of Jo’s quilts that has been languishing in the “To Be Quilted” pile.

It turned out fairly well.

They headed off on their adventures on Monday, as did we.

Rainbow Strippy Group Quilt

As I have previously mentioned, I have joined in with Betty’s merry band making blocks for group donation quilts each month. 

For the first half of this year the brief was slightly different, in that each month we were to make a strip in a colour of the rainbow.  

Here are mine.

Once all the coloured strips were completed and returned to Betty, she mixed them up and sent strip sets out to each of us to make into a quilt top.  Some were very creative and clever.

I finally got around to joining the strips I received into this flimsy.  Not very creative, but I think it is rather striking.

Instead of returning the quilt top to Betty for the girls down there to finish off, I have quilted and bound it here.  

I just used a gold thread for the quilting and a bright blue wideback for the backing and binding.

With Betty’s blessing, it will be donated to a local charity in Bathurst.

QUILT INFORMATION

Measurements -62" high x 64" wide

Pattern - None.  Rainbow strips for group quilts.

Fabrics - All from stash.  

Quilting Design - QCT6 - Loopmeander

Batting - Cotton/Poly

Backing - Wideback from Spotlight

Thread - Glide - Cleopatra

Cranky Rock Nature Reserve to Home

Finally, the last instalment on our recent travels.

Once we left Cranky Rock Nature Reserve we had to return to Warialda, before heading south the Bingara.  Everything was looking so green after the recent rains.

We visited Bingara last year, on our way home from Baradine in September, and were interested to see if the redevelopment of the former RSL site had been completed.  Yes, it had.  This is now the head office of the Gwydir Council and Visitor Information Centre.  It only opened a couple of months ago.  They really did a good job of preserving the facade of the previous building.  

Bingara has a nice streetscape.

We were happy to see that the cafe at the Roxy Theatre is once again trading.  Of course we had morning tea.  As it turned out, we were there on their opening day.  I hope they make a good success of it.

It was nice to see all the orange trees in the streets loaded with oranges.  These trees are a war memorial and on one weekend each year they have a festival.  Several shops had orange related window displays.  A part of the festival is the local school children picking the oranges.  The trees all had notices attached to them stating that it is an offence for members of the public to pick to oranges.

It would be a fun weekend to attend.

From Bingara, we just headed down the road through Barraba and Manilla to Gunnedah.  All places we visit fairly regularly.

At Gunnedah we had afternoon tea (yes, morning and afternoon tea in one day) with Lianne.  Of course we forgot to take a photo.  Too busy yacking away.

Our camp for the night was at the Gunnedah Showground.

The following day was just a leisurely one, travelling through Coonabarabran, Gilgandra and on to Eugumgerie, just north of Dubbo.  

We couldn’t get over how green everything was.  Such a contrast to when we drove this route on our way north. (I may have mentioned this once or twice before, but we continued to be amazed.) 

There is a camp ground at the local recreation grounds, just off the highway.  We have often seen the sign and thought this was a good opportunity to try it out.

We went for a bit of a wander around in the late afternoon.

Dinner was had at the Drover’s Dog Hotel, which has just had new owners take over.  We enjoyed one final pub tea. (Yes, morning tea, afternoon tea and a pub tea all in one day.  We were allowed.  It was our last day away.)

And, the following day, our last morning on the road.

We arrived home in time for lunch and to start unpacking the van.

That was on the 17th June.  Yes, it has taken me two whole months to get this written down.

Our holiday was for just on five weeks and we had a fabulous time.  We visited places we wanted to see, spent time with special friends and travelled on many roads that were new to us, despite heading north most years.  All in all, a very successful and enjoyable holiday.

Now to get ready to head off again.

Cranky Rock Nature Reserve

Following our night and morning in Warialda, our plan was to venture out to the Cranky Rock Nature Reserve, have a look around in the afternoon and then head off the following morning.

We travelled east from town and then turned down a smaller road.  The view over the river flats was beautiful.

When we arrived we discovered a rather lovely, peaceful campground, complete with several powered sites.  We found one and set ourselves up.

Once we were set up, it was time to go for an explore.  On the way to the actual rock, you have to cross a suspension bridge. 

Then, you can either go down to the swimming hole on the creek or up to the look out.  

We opted for the creek first.

How nice is that.  The reflections were stunning.  If you look to the top of the rocks, that is where the lookout is.

Next, we went up the path towards the lookout.  The granite boulders are rather impressive.  You have to love a balancing rock.

There is a viewing platform on top of the rocks, looking out towards the north and west.

Legend has it that in the late 1800s a “cranky” Chinese man jumped off this rock into the creek, while being chased by police, after having murdered a local woman.

There used to be a fenced off nature reserve in the area, hence the name, but the animals have since been released.

Back at the campground, there is a large aviary with galahs and red browed finches.

I had read on WikiCamps that there were chooks roaming around.  It wasn’t long before they came running over to see if we had any food for them.

They were very friendly and we did enjoy their company.

A couple of lambs were wandering around too.

When the afternoon closed in it was time to light our little camp fire.

We really enjoyed the peace and tranquility of the area and decided to stay for an extra day, as the weather was forecast to be nice.  A day of doing nothing at all, just relaxing.  Not something that is normally on our travel agenda.

The view out of the bedroom window first thing in the morning was rather pretty.

This is when I set up my little sewing machine outside and completed my June RSC blocks.  Mick enjoyed reading a book.

In the late afternoon, we returned to the lookout to watch the sunset.

However, despite not putting on much of a show, it was still nice to see.

And so ended our time at Cranky Rock Nature Reserve.  I can see us calling in here again one day, just to spend some nice quiet time.  Aren’t we glad the caravan park in town was full when we rang up.

More soon.