Scrub Stitchin’ - Part 1 - The Lead Up

Although the retreat didn’t start until Wednesday, we headed off with our van on the Sunday.  What could be travelled in about five hours, was going to take the best part of two days.  We were on holidays, so what’s the rush?  

We enjoyed seeing the trees in all their autumn glory as we headed off.

First stop, Wellington for morning tea.  We like to stop at a nice cafe come homewares shop when we travel this way. I love how they use vintage silverware.

While wandering around the store, I noticed a crochet rug draped over the back of a chair.  It wasn’t for sale. It is so simple, but light.  I think I want to make one.  

We’ll see, at least I have a photo.  I may have to venture into Mum’s yarn scraps.

We did notice that the roads were much quieter than normal, particularly the number of caravans.

Our destination for the day was Gilgandra, where we free camped at the Bowling Club.  This area has previously been full, but there were only two vans on the night we were there.  We filled up the truck with fuel and discovered the price was quite a bit cheaper than home, at $3.09/l, which was surprising.

Once we were parked up, Mick went over to the club to see if he could have a roll up.  It turned out that they were just about to start their social bowls, so he was invited to join in.  He had a lovely afternoon.  It is a wonderful way to get to meet the locals.

Meanwhile, I did some of my crochet.

The following morning, while in Gilgandra, a fellow commented that there was a horrible noise coming from one of the van wheels.  Mick had checked them before we left home and there had been a slight issue with one that he thought was fixed.  He had, as a precaution, bought another wheel hub and carried it as a spare.  Fortunately, we were where he could change it over.  Phew!  If the fellow hadn’t commented, Mick reckons the wheel would have literally fallen off very soon.  Before we left town we found a business where he could buy another spare, but all went well from then on.

This did, however, take us to a different part of town to what we normally see and we saw a beautiful old chimney beside the railway line.

From Gilgandra, we took a different route to Baradine, as recommended by the fellows at the bowling club.  Rather than travel through Coonabarabran, where the road is rather hilly, drive to Coonamble and across.  It is 30kms further, but flat, so a much easier drive when towing the van.  The landscape had now changed to the flat country of wide open spaces.  We were noticing that the area was definitely in the grips of a nasty drought.

We topped up with a splash of fuel in Coonamble, with the price being $3.35/l.  Ouch.

The road from Coonamble to Baradine is one that I haven’t travelled before.  We do like going on different roads.  It was a nice drive, so this will be our main way of travelling to Baradine from now on.

We were all set up at Camp Cypress by mid afternoon.

Time for me to bring out my baby Stella and do some last minute stitching that I needed to complete.

We were treated to a beautiful evening.

Chooky arrived in the evening and we spent some time emptying her very full car.  There was just room enough for her.

On Tuesday, the three of us went to Coonabarabran.  First stop was Picton Patchwork to pick up some supplies and maybe a little shopping.

Then into town to have lunch.  Chooky was doing the catering this year, so time to do a very large grocery shop, as well as pick up some click and collect groceries.  Once again, the car was very full.

Back at camp it was time to put all the food away and start setting up the room and goody bags. A few more turned up during the afternoon, so it was all hands on deck.  Before long, the room was all set up and looking calm.  No hint of the chaos that had reigned only a short while before.  Didn’t it look nice.

Dinner was at the Bowling Club, followed by some star gazing at Milroy Observatory.  No photos, as it was dark.  We were blessed with a beautiful, clear, moonless night and were treated to a great display.  What I enjoyed most was seeing the emu that appears in the sky that is well known to Aboriginal people.  It is huge, not what I imagined at all.

It was a very late night, so we slept well before the main event began.

The Aftermath

So much for a tidyish sewing room.  This is the current state it is in.   Quite a bit of sorting and putting away is required.

Scrub Stitchin’ for 2026 has been and gone.  What a wonderful time we had. We were away for just over a week, arriving back home last Monday.  We unpacked the necessary things and all the washing is done, except for the van linens. As you can see, the ironing has not been done.

Having arrived home on Monday, I started helping set up the Bathurst Show on Tuesday.  When you just attend a show you have no concept of the amount of work involved behind the scenes.  I know I certainly didn’t until I put my hand up a couple of years ago.  Although my main section is the Needlework, everyone pitches in on most of the pavilion section to get it done.  We are well and truly on track.

We had the day off yesterday for Anzac Day, but it was an early start to attend the dawn service at 4.30am.   A lazy day was had after that.  A bit of progress on my corner to corner rug was made.  The only crafting I have done since we returned home.

It was back to the show this morning to assist with more judging, then this afternoon we removed the remainder of my sewing stuff out of the van.  It was rather mind blowing how much I had packed.

I noticed this gorgeous row of trees as we drove to Bunnings today to buy some red onion and leek seedlings.  It was the perfect autumn day.

They will be the only veges planted this year as we will be away when most veges will be needing some TLC next summer.  They are all netted to stop the birds from digging them up.

While we were in the garden, we noticed that the first feijoas have dropped, so enjoyed one each at lunch.  Yummo.  There aren’t a great many this year, but we will enjoy what we have.

Mick is having a lovely time this afternoon, supervising some corned silverside cooking in the  camp oven.

Tomorrow it is back to the show.  It is a big day, with the judging of the Needlework and getting it all displayed.  Being a public holiday has been a great bonus, as there will be quite a few more helpers.  With a bit of luck, I will then not have to go back in until Thursday afternoon for the final tidy up and check that everything is ready to go on Friday.

Hopefully, on Tuesday, I will get a chance to start loading posts about our wonderful week away at Baradine.

The Rest of March

Apart from stitching, some other things took place during March as well.  Grab a cuppa, this is a long one.

Let’s start with the first thing that I was rather happy about.  I finished the jigsaw that I started between Christmas and New Year.  This one was rather challenging, so I kept avoiding it.  

You can see here how the shapes were not the usual standard sizes.  It was occupying half of the dining table, so it was time to knuckle down and get it done before any pieces were lost.  I spent a full day on it and it has now been packed away.  Fortunately, all pieces were present and accounted for.

As the season officially moved on from summer, it was time to redo my little shelf in the kitchen.  Firstly, with a very simple green theme for St Patricks Day.

Then after that, it was time for Easter.

Now, for the garden…

The start of the month was quite warm and we were still getting lots of veges, but the plants were getting rather tired.  

To our delight, we ended up getting enough tomatoes to make a batch of relish.

The freezer is full of zucchini slice, which is the perfect lunch to take to a stitching day.  We also have a large supply of frozen beans.

The eggplant did well, so some moussaka was on the menu.  Yummo!  There was also barbecued eggplant and eggplant curry.  All so good.

The veges have all been pulled out now, until next season.

To our delight, after a couple of years bearing next to no berries, our raspberries are starting to produce lots of berries.  These are our favourites, so we are rather happy with the outcome.

The flower gardens did well in the late summer/early autumn.  They look a bit unruly now, but will get a good haircut in a little while.

Over the road from us there is a horse paddock and the roadside verge sometimes puts on a nice display of wildflowers……until it gets mowed.  I was able to snap a photo while they were still there.

Mick alerted me to some mushrooms growing amongst them, so I went to have a look.  Now, we have grown up with foraged mushrooms and they do sometimes grow on our front lawn and we have foraged them just up the road from our place, but when I went over, although they on the whole looked OK, the crinkling on top didn’t look quite right.

I cut one, and no, that was definitely not a mushroom to eat.  I went home and washed my hands and knife well.

What else did we get up to?

I tried a new recipe.  It was muffins made from just four eggs, two bananas, half a cup of peanut butter and some berries.  They were OK, but I won’t really rave about them.

I listened to a book.  It was The Road Trip by Tricia Stringer.  A light hearted read about a caravan trip.  I enjoyed it as the characters followed a pretty similar route to what we did through northern Australia.  It was amusing reading of all their dramas.

As we do twice a year, we helped out at the church fete.  This the white elephant stall that I work on, before the rush of patrons.

We had  day in Orange, while Mick’s truck “Frank” was serviced.  On the way up we saw some ibis flying in perfect formation.  This isn’t something you see very often here.

As we had loads of time to kill we visited the art gallery.  There was a photographic exhibition of spiders.  They are an Australian variety called “Maratus”.  The males have very colourful tails that they display during courting.  

What is amazing is that these spiders are only three to five millimetres in size.

There was another exhibition from their permanent collection with all works featuring animals.  I was delighted to see an original Jenny Kee Jumper.

With more time to kill, we went to the museum next door.  They had an exhibition of botanical drawing by two sisters in the 1800s, who drew butterflies and moths.  They were one of the earliest records of the creatures.  It also shows some of the early landmarks of Sydney in the background of some of the paintings.  All rather lovely to see.

The trees in the forecourt were starting to change colour.  The first we had seen for the season.

And now for the weather…..

March usually starts to see the sting go out of the heat and transition to relatively stable weather.  The nicest time of the year, in my opinion.  This year it was rather hot at the start, with some nice rain, and then it did start to get to that gorgeous temperature of the mid 20s C.  

Then, on the last Thursday of the month a rather strong cold front came through with a little rain and lots of strong wind.  It even blew a tower crane off a building in Dubbo.  The next day saw us reach a maximum of 10.9C!!!  That is the coldest March day since records have been kept.  The previous coldest day was 11.3C in 1939.  There was even snow in Orange and Oberon.  Fortunately, that was just a blip and today we reached 26.4C, which is 5 degrees above average.

What I have noticed since Friday, is that our street tree has started to change colour and ones further down the street are quite golden.

Now, for the elephant in the room…. This is just for my record……

Australia, and the world, are living in “uncertain times” due to the war in the Middle East which started on 28 February.  The vital shipping lane for oil, and consequently our fuel, has been blocked.  Fuel prices have doubled with diesel at about $3.50/litre.  We are assured there is sufficient fuel coming to Australia, but our reserves aren’t all that large.  People have been panic buying and the farmers are stressing as it is just about time to plant the winter cereal crops.  Not only is diesel an issue, most of the fertiliser also comes from that region.  It will be interesting to see how long this goes on and the outcome.  As a result, we have decided to cancel our trip to Melbourne to attend the Australian Quilt Convention.  There will be other years when we can go.

On a more positive note, we will still definitely be going to Baradine.

Day 11 - Huskisson to Home

We headed for home on the Friday, with the plan to take two days, having a look around the towns on the way.  However, when the weather was so wet, and having got away at a good time, we thought we may as well get home.  It gets like that, you are ready to be home.

The route we took was through Kangaroo Valley, Moss Vale, Goulburn, Crookwell, Tuena, Trunkey Creek and home.

The thing about visiting the coast is that you have to travel over the Great Dividing Range, regardless of which way you go.  When towing a van it is not an easy drive, particularly in the wet.

It is a steep drive over Cambewarra Mountain, but so very pretty in the rainforest, particularly when it is low light and everything is shiny and drippy.  Very atmospheric.

We have ridden this road several times on the motorbike, generally in the opposite direction.  There is one corner where the footpeg scraped the road surface every time, as it was so tight.  A very different experience to towing a van.

As I said, not the easiest of drives.

We noticed one pretty little waterfall beside the road.

What goes up, must go down.  This took us down to the village of Kangaroo Valley.

It is such a pretty settlement, although rather touristy, but the weather meant it was not the day for having a look around.  The historic bridge is always a nice one to cross.

We then had to climb back out of the valley, this time ending up in the Southern Highlands area.

We finally drove out of the rain once we reached the Goulburn area.  We noticed how different the landscape is from where we had been.  We had lunch in Goulburn.  Mick suggested it was a good day for “Friday Pie Day”, so that is what we did at a local bakery.  Yummo.  They hit the spot.

From there we just drove through to home.    You feel you are on top of the world when you in the Tuena area.  Notice how very dry it is.  This area is in the grips of drought.  Australia is such a land of contrasts.

Finally, as we neared home there was a slight tinge of green to the landscape, which was a welcome sight.

We were home by mid afternoon and had the van all unpacked that day.  

It had been a thoroughly enjoyable few days away, and something we had been looking forward to.  The cricket was well worth attending and we now know what everyone raves about when they speak of Jervis Bay and Huskisson in particular.

Now we have to start thinking about our next trip away.  This trip has whet our appetite to be on the road again.