frog in the bog

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Blog 3

Tips on bush laundering and something else to look for before going toilet.
Leaving Bathurst we head north , ( Tasmania has been put on hold until after Christmas when we will be heading south again to meet Norman in Melbourne Christmas eve ) to a small town called Hill End, it was here in 1873 there was a gold rush . A photographer recorded the growth of the town on glass plates which were only discovered in the 1970’s. the pictures are mounted in front of the properties to show what they looked like then and standing in family groups outside the occupiers. Where the buildings no longer stand there is just the picture. It is very interesting. There is an excellent camp site here, during the first evening we were visited by wild kangaroos. There were loads of mine shafts , and where some were vertical , others horizontal, when one collapsed an arch was formed as you see in the picture. The town had a good museum and fortunately one of the 20 pubs was still standing and doing good business.
We continue to head north to Mudgee , here there was a big campervan convention, people asked if we were going, unfortunately we didn’t have enough dusters or polishing clothes. ( there were 1,500 vans there , all pristine. A river ran through the site apparently platypus could be seen here early in the morning or at dusk. We didn’t see them. We spent 2 days ridding ourselves of the Bathurst dust.
Again we head north to Dunedoo (pronounced dunnydooo ) it means black swan, from here we travelled west to Mendooran, here we met Hugh and Julie , they had been on the road for 18 months, Julie gave me tips on bush laundering and showering using a 2 litre milk carton, after having dinner, (see the picture of Dave complete with glass of wine , we have to maintain standards.)we spent the evening in the local , where there was a country and western singer , they had a kind of meat raffle, a chap we were talking to won a dozen eggs and a load of bacon. We are now heading northwest to Lightening Ridge ,on the way we stop at Siding Spring Observatory where we visit a giant Anglo / Australian telescope it is not open in the evenings to the public, mind you in the evenings you don’t need a telescope many an evening we just sit looking at the milky way , the skies are incredible. And so back on the road, we see smoke in the distance, we are waved through a bush fire , it was here we had hoped to stay for the night , the flames are 20 feet high the heat very intense , there is a major drought here , the firemen back burn to keep it away from the roads and , although they often can’t put the fires out they control them. We admire them enormously. We pull into a town called Wee Waa , ( nope I’ve wracked my brain and haven’t a clue what it means. ) We are on a site with a laundry , and I was so looking forward to doing the washing in a bucket with a modified sink plunger, still another time.
Had a bit of a shock in the toilets, when I flushed a frog appeared from under the rim , now as well as checking for the dreaded red back, I find I have to flush before I go to make sure I’m not sharing with a frog.


 


 


 




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