There was the usual scramble to pack up the cabin and pile it all into the car this morning – we do have this down pat now though. So, we were waving farewell to Blackheath for the second time this year … and still no golf. We might have to just keep coming back, though maybe not on a weekend next time!
We decided to make a little detour via Wallerawang and Portland – beautiful country and Portland had some lovely painted silos as part of their homage to the cement industry that they say “built Sydney”. Could have been nice to wander around but we were on a schedule and headed on to Bathurst. First stop was Bunnings to buy one screw to replace the one that fell off the bike number plate (that darn bike!). One large packet of screws later and we were on our way to the Tourist Information Centre to get the lowdown. After gathering some advice and a bucketful of brochures, we headed off to check into our cabin and unpack.
It wasn’t long and Maz and Kev popped in to discuss our plan of action. The table was covered in brochures within minutes and options were debated while we had a quick bite of lunch. The plan was then implemented with our first stop being the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum right in the middle of Bathurst. We spent a really interesting hour wandering around the exhibit, housed in the original Bathurst Public School built in 1878 – a very large and ornate building. The exhibits were amazing with a T-Rex cast from an actual T-Rex fossil discovered in the US in the 70s – it’s one of only five made. Other fossils and minerals were equally interesting and we enjoyed our time there.
Next stop was Machattie Park, a really lovely park surrounded by historic buildings right in the middle of town. It had beautiful gardens, a duck pond, rotunda, and fountain as well as a fernery that was unfortunately closed due to COVID. Apparently the gaol used to be in the park where the rotunda now stands and they had public hangings there! We also wandered down the Victors Walk, where plaques of past Bathurst 500 (OK, that ages me) winners are embedded in the footpath in a checkered pattern. Pretty cool.
Inspired by the Victors Walk, Kev revved up the car and headed for Mt Panorama where we did a spin around the circuit at a very reserved 60kmh – that must have been so hard, Kev! It was actually really great – the circuit is much steeper than I had imagined it and some of those turns are very tight!
Just when you thought the day could hold no more excitement, it was back to the caravan park where Bocce was the game of choice before dinner. Kev & I prevailed and Maz unveiled the progress scoreboard. It was then onto Maalouf’s Lebanese Restaurant for dinner – OMG what a huge amount of food. We ordered the banquet and that’s what we got – dish after dish of amazing food. So much that we brought a doggy bag home which will easily feed us for dinner tomorrow night too.
Even though we were all a little weary after a pretty big day, we did manage a few rounds of Taboo, where we implemented a similar scoring system to Euchre and changed partners every round. Kev 2, Maz 2, Pen 2, Gaz 0. Gaz was not a fan lol. “Stupid game,” he said.
Plans for tomorrow were discussed – maybe the railway museum, perhaps golf, perhaps a riverside walk. We’ll see what the day brings! Did I mention we were boiling hot all afternoon. What a difference a day makes haha.
No comments:
Post a Comment