The adventure begins

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Thursday 27 August
We left home today leaving an unsuspecting Milly behind. We feel a bit sad that she’s not with us. After several attempts to pack the Prado with more stuff than you can imagine, we got on the road at 11:30. By 12:30 we were ready to stop for coffee but we kept going until Peats Ridge and enjoyed a nice lunch and coffee and a quiet read of the paper. Traffic wasn’t too bad and we made it through to Taree before we stopped again at McCafe near Cundletown. I took over driving and drove to Kempsey before handing it back to Allen because of my sore knee. We arrived in Nambucca in time to have a snack at the RSL Club before driving to Margaret’s place and enjoying another glass of wine and a chat. Betty had visitors (Umi and her sister and daughter)so we didn’t stay long. WE had a good chat with Margaret but had to give in and go to bed. We were a bit tired and we knew that the next couple of days would be pretty hectic.

Friday 28 August – Aunty Betty’s 89th birthday!
Betty had organised for Margaret and I to have lunch at the Bowling Club with “the girls”: Phyllis (85), Norma (80) and Muriel (80). Margaret and I felt positively childlike! They are wonderful women and really shoe us how to age with vitality and involvement in life. After lunch Phyllis and Norma were off to the movies to see “My Year without Sex”……you can imagine the jokes! Allen got top have some quiet time while we were at lunch and during the afternoon we got ready for our family celebration with Betty, Margaret, Felicity, Andrew, Indigo and Hannah. We had fine food, fine wine, fine champers and great birthday cake. Betty loved all her presents and was pleased with her surprise chocolates, flowers and champagne from Jane & Ali.

Saturday 29 August
At 10:30 we did the weekly visit top the Plaza with Betty followed by a light lunch and then a surprise ride to the old farm at Valla and a dive around Valla Beach. This evoked many memories for Betty and thought the bus trip was a bit bumpy for her, she really loved the drive. We had a couple of hours rest before we all met for dinner again at Margaret place to celebrate again and to finish the birthday cake! We certainly slept well after yet more wine and champagne.

Sunday 30 August – Off we go on our adventure!
We’re becoming quite good at packing the Prado and managed to have it ready to go by 9:30. We headed up the coast and travelled up the Waterfall Way through Bellingen and Dorrigo. We left Nambucca with a temperature of 22deg and by the time we got to Dorrigo it was about 14. At Ebor it reached 10deg and we began to wonder if we had brought the right clothing. By the time we reached Gunnedah it was a healthy 14deg and we decided to stay in an ensuite cabin rather than pitch the tent. What a good idea that was! We had a great meal at the Services Club and a really comfy and warm sleep in our cabin.

Sunday 1 September
We left Gunnedah at 8:30 and made our way to Coonabarabran. We were making good time so we drove on to a picnic spot just outside Gilgandra and boiled the billy. Why is coffee and biscuits more exciting when eaten outside? We drove in to Gilgandra and then on to Warren. Warren was a bit bigger than we thought it would be….quite a pretty town. Nyngan was our lunch stop and was a bit of a sleepy hollow. I’m glad I wasn’t appointed there as a young teacher! Finally we reached Cobar where we stopped for the night at Cobar Motor Inn. We had a drive around town visiting a few sights (Cobar Gold Mine; The Heritage Building, the Main Street) and had a bit of a rest before a surprisingly good Thai meal at the RSL. We’ll sleep really well tonight before we do the long haul to Broken Hill tomorrow. Thank goodness we are staying there for 4 nights.

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