Day 16 – Parkes

Thankfully I managed to make my favourite Italian Fettuccine last night without the aid of the povomix – had 3 burners going on the stove at once – this was the first cabin with the facility to be able to juggle all the bits. Anyway, was quite tasty and we ate al fresco and had quite a feast. The euchre tournament is really hotting up with Maz and I victors yet again. I hope someone is keeping count, ‘cause I have no clue.

With the announcement of the special opening times for the elderly at Woolies, our resident elder, Gaz, set the alarm and was off at 6:40am. If you know Gaz, you know that he is rarely up before 9 normally so this could be a record. The lure of toilet paper (that we do genuinely need) was too great … though he did say he also bought a few pieces of fruit so he wouldn’t look like a dick. You gotta laugh!

With a leisurely start at 10am, we, of course, set sail for the main street and coffee. Maz and I wandered the shops while Kev and Gaz stocked up on caffeine. Maz was unsuccessful at procuring chicken thighs to cook for dinner and had to settle for pork (which will be fine as far as I’m concerned), - the shop shortages are a bit unsettling. Gaz continued his support of local businesses by buying some clothes and a hat and grabbing a lotto ticket in the hope of regaining some stock market losses from recent weeks – wish us luck…

We set off for the Henry Parkes Centre, housing the Tourist Information Office and a number of museums. We watched a 15-minute DVD on the life of good ol’ Sir Henry and then we spent an hour or so in an Elvis exhibition and (another) motor museum. You may recall that Parkes hosts an annual Elvis festival so there is a good reason for them to have such a thing as this museum here. Strangely, Greg Page, the original yellow Wiggle, is the owner of the memorabilia and has loaned it to be put on display. We were then told the devastating news that the interactive display at “The Dish”, the famous Parkes Radio Telescope, closed from today due to Covid-19 concerns. The lady said they were also considering closing the Henry Parkes Centre from tomorrow! Phew – we just made Elvis…

After trying to recover from the shock of that news, we went in search of a place to picnic and found Kelly Reserve where I left some painted rocks after we had feasted. There is also an old train engine there which we had a bit of a squiz at.

Next stop was Bushman’s Hill – not much there but Maz and I hiked up the hill and got a look at some pretty nice views. We then pressed on to Memorial Hill which was a little more impressive, both in views and monuments.

Back into town for the search for Sir Henry Parkes and Elvis and both were found pretty easily. Sir Henry was gesticulating outside the impressive NAB building and Elvis was discovered rocking away in the very pretty Cooke Park. That seemed to be it pretty much for Parkes, so we headed back to the cabin for a quiet afternoon. Kev and Maz cook tonight and then we’re off to our last stop tomorrow, Dubbo.