It was chilly overnight (5 degrees). Woosey did I hear you say? Try 5 degrees in Fanda! We were very cosy in bed but a bit chilly out of bed. We arose and were greeted with bacon and eggs cooked by Brett – it was Mother’s Day after all.

Off to 9am Mass. The Dubbo church is relatively new and striking in a couple of ways. The altar is a huge piece of rough rock presumably from the local area. The crucifix behind the altar depicts a risen Christ rather then a crucified Christ - Very powerful imagery. The priest was also impressive in his preaching and the way he said Mass. Music was a bit dirgey. We said our goodbyes and picked up some supplies then we deserted Dubbo for warmer climes (we hoped anyway).

We stopped at Narromine and walked up and down the main street. We found the plaque put up by the locals to remember Sharron Dixon’s Great Grandfather who had a starring role in the beginnings of Narromine. He was the reason one of the dams was constructed out there. And we all know without Narromine there may never have been a Glen McGrath – the star export of the town. We had to take photos of the statue to said cricketing great in the main street near the railway station. As highlights go – that was it. It was cool and the wind was quite blustery.

On to the next town, Trangie, where we had lunch at a little park just outside of town. Once again the wind was going strong so we decided to have our lunch in the van. This turned out to be a great decision as the dust was really kicking up and the cockatoos were going crazy.

After lunch we drove into town and had a coffee at a little café. The café was run by a gent of Chinese extraction who once lived in Liverpool and did his shopping at Cabramatta. He had a masters degree in mechanical engineering but ran a café in this town (population 800 but now 1500), and also flew to China to buy and import air conditioning units to wholesale to sub contractors. When we asked why he got out of China, he said he didn’t like a lot of people around. He certainly picked the right spot to move to. The local high school has a twinning agreement with Hurlstone Agricultural College in Sydney and over the course of the year all students from Hurlstone spend time in Trangie. It’s not surprising as there is an agricultural research place and an irrigation research place nearby. Driving towards Trangie we saw lots of cotton by the roadside, (I collected some for Luke and Campbell), and huge bales of cotton waiting to be transported. Apparently most of it is owned by Americans. The area itself derives most of its wealth from cotton (broad acreage here) and sheep with mining starting to come into it as well. Copper and iron ore are mined locally . Backpackers come from around the world for a few months to work also.

Off after lunch to Nyngan via Nevertire. Adrian’s best man, Wayne’s mother has moved back to live in Nyngan, so I gave him a ring and we organised to call in a have a cup of tea. As it turned out one of her other sons was visiting from the Central Coast, so we caught up with him as well. We discovered that he had passed us a couple of times on the road. Had a lovely afternoon catching up.

We are staying tonight at a riverside caravan park in Nyngan that was under water in the floods. It is no wonder as the water is still fairly high and runs quickly.

As Adrian and I have been sitting here doing this blog someone has been letting off fire crackers in the park. We must be in the country!

Driving today we also saw some emus by the side of the road. There is certainly still lots of water in the paddocks and it was quite green coming into Nyngan. Closer to Dubbo there was lots of long grass but it was browner. Plenty of big mobs of sheep around. The railroad that we drove parallel to most of the day was having lots of work done on it. We presume it is used to carry cotton and copper etc. It was good today. not to have as many trucks on the road. We are off the Melb. to Bris link of the Newell highway and now on the Mitchell highway. Tomorrow is 204km of almost straight road. Bourke here we come.