And good morning Winter! Yes yes I know it's Spring really but it feels like Winter to us! I was woken by the rain at about 4.00am and from then on it was a bit hard to go back to sleep. I lay in bed listening to the rain on the roof - actually a lovely sound - but ended up getting up at 5.30am.
There is only so much you can do in a caravan when it's raining and no-one else is awake - so onto the computer to see what the rest of the world is up to. At about 7.00am we had thunder and the rain got heavier. I guess our honeymoon of no rain is officially over. It has been an incredible run though - prior to today we've been away 11.5 weeks and only had two other days where we've had no more than a shower of rain. You can't be unhappy with that for a Winter holiday.
You would think being up so early we would have been on the road early too but let me tell you there is absolutely no incentive to go out in the rain and roll up wet hoses, wind up struts and hook up the car - and as a result we got away at about 9.30am. As we drove out Shane snapped a picture of the kennel the park provides for dogs. It faces west so gets the sun practically all day and yesterday obviously someone went out and put their dog in there - it barked non stop for 2 hours. No wonder - poor thing.
Everyone knows I'm a bit Halloween fan - but I think even I would have a problem with this in my front yard!
The rain continued for a while and then a thick misty fog developed but then the wind came up which was great - it blew the fog away - but it almost blew us away as well for the entire trip.
The township signs are very pretty!
Just before reaching Parkes we stopped off to visit The Dish! With a diameter of 64 metres, The Dish is one of the largest single-dish telescopes in the southern hemisphere dedicated to astronomy. It started operating in 1961, but only its basic structure has remained unchanged with the surface and much of the components being upgraded to keep the telescope at the cutting edge of radio astronomy. The telescope is now 10 000 times more sensitive than when it was commissioned. It was very disappointing that the weather was so bad and still so windy as the dish has to be pointed directly upwards when the wind reaches 35km or more due to the fact that it catches the wind like a sail. At 1000 tonnes – weighing more than two Boeing 747 aircraft - the moving part (the dish) is not fixed to the top of the tower but just sits on it so I guess it would be a bit of a job to re-position it if it blew off!
There is also the information centre which has heaps of interesting and interactive bits and pieces explaining about the dish and its history, plus there is a really cool example of how the dish receives sound waves. Two mini dishes are positioned about 50 metres apart and if two people stand facing the centre of each dish they can whisper to one another and you can hear it at the other end. Fascinating and fun!
On the way back to the highway - well you don't often see a boat driving down the highway now do you....
Originally we were going to stop the night at Parkes and try for some night shots out at the Dish however with the weather being so bad, light being absolutely crap for photography and it still being fairly early in the day we decided to press on a bit further. We would only be sitting in the van listening to the rain anyway so we might as well put a few more kms under our belt. But before we could leave Parkes there was one thing we had to do - buy Nuggets. Yes a visit to McDonalds to buy Nuggets for Miss Kitty and well because it was lunch time anyway we also bought McDonalds for us. Don't ask me why because the last time we did I said never again. This poor old body just can't handle that much preservative any more. And yes I could feel I was going to suffer mere minutes after eating it!
Just outside of Forbes there was a lake filled with dead trees. It was such a sight with all the silver trees in the slate grey water and the overcast skies. I was pretty sure despite Shane's best efforts it was going to be very hard to recreate how it looked in real life.
I'm not sure I've ever seen a cherry farm before when the trees were blossoming - but I have now. Its such a shame the light was so dull as these trees were absolutely magnificent - rows and rows of them.
The landscape for the most part was quite flat and of course since we are about level with Sydney now - the Blue Mountains formed the backdrop for our sights.
We turned off before reaching West Wyalong township as we decided to stay at the local Showgrounds for the night. As did every other traveller in the area I think. At $20 per night for power and water it's an absolute bargain place to stay and I might add has amenities that would be up there with the best of anywhere we've stayed for the entire trip. Add to that - finally a sunset worth photographing! It was windy - very windy - but there are plenty of buildings to find shelter near. I might add - it's cold. For the first time we had to turn the heater on in both the car and the van. It's definitely electric blanket night tonight!
271km
Total - 12,960km
Top today 14°c - expecting overnight 5°c
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