Out west to Forbes

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This weekend we took off west over the mountains, to Forbes. The purpose of our journey was to attend a friends birthday celebrations. We have not driven out that west for sometime and it was good to get away and see how the countryside is looking. Our last visit to the town of Forbes was 10 years ago for the same person’s 40th birthday celebrations.

From our place Forbes is about 310kms, from Sydney you have to add about another 80kms. The temperature on the way gradually dropped from about 12 at our place down to about 4 degrees at Orange. The clouds on the horizon looked suspiciously like snow clouds.

At the party we caught up with some folks from our motorcycle riding days with an organisation called the MRA (the Motorcycle Riders Association). All that motorcycle touring seems like it was a lifetime ago. We got talking about old times and Lorenza mentioned that she would not mind getting a motorcycle again (sounds interesting).

Forbes is situated on the banks of the Lachlan River. Gold was discovered out that way back in the 1860’s and the area was also home to the bushranger Ben Hall. He was shot dead in gun battle about 20 kilometres north-west of the town on 5 May 1865. Hall and his gang were famous for stealing 77 kilograms of gold and £3,700 from the near-by town of Eugowra in 1862. Ben Hall is buried in the Forbes Cemetery. The town held a Ben Hall festival for the first time in 2009 and intends to make it an annual event.

In another connection to bushranging, Kate Kelly, the sister of Australia’s most infamous bushranger, Ned Kelly, lived in the town. She drowned in the Lachlan River in 1898. She is also buried in Forbes Cemetery.

One of the highlights of our short visit was the McFeeters Motor Museum on the Newell Highway, just a few kilometres from town heading in the direction of West Wyalong. The museum had an interesting collection of cars and the founder of the museum gave us a very good tour of the exhibits. The food in the café looked very nice also, we just had a coffee, but the Parkes and Forbes folks were having a meeting of their motorcycle club at the museum and seemed to enjoy the meals very much. A must see if you are in the Central West of NSW. You can get more information on their website here

The trip home was uneventful, except for the fact that you drive back through the expansive central west farming districts. As far as the eye can see there are endless rolling hills, acres and acres of grass, various crops, plus sheep and cattle with the Blue Mountains slowly looking closer as you approach Lithgow.

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Photos

Around Forbes
The Vandenburg

Japanese funeral car
bizaar!

Japanese funeral car
view of the roof inside where the casket goes - weird!