Blogs from Parkes, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania - page 2

As a relatively small person, I am quite enjoying sleeping in my little bunk bed that makes me feel like Gulliver. The mattress is less than posturepedic and leaving the AC on at night led to the cabin becoming as cold as your bottleo. Unfortunately, I did not have one of those green quilted jump suits worn by the Jewells Employees. Anyway, today we strayed into Parkes. It is quite a small town. 10,000.00 people which will basically double over the weekend. We stopped at the Dish. I am sure I have been to it as a small boy but it has faded in my recollection. It is actually quite impressive to realise that the moon landing was broadcast through and even more amazing to realise that bloke from the M & M's commercial appeared in ... read more

I have to confess that I have been a little bit excited about my odyssey to Parkes. It has always been a mythological place so distant and shrouded in mystery that I have been afraid to pierce the veil in January to find it is just a small country town that eavesdropped on Apollo 11 and gets rather hot in January and is possibly full of well, bogans. For me, it is a pilgrimage, not unlike the muslim's going to mecca, the jews to the wailing wall and for people too tight to go to Graceland due to the GFC and the damn dollar, the Parkes Elvis Festival. I like the idea of the festival as it has its roots in Australian ingenuity. January is hot in Parkes. Nothing happens. If you have money, you go ... read more