We are indeed back to covering ground.  In the last 4 or so weeks, golf on the Bellarine Peninsular was a big success (ie  I didn’t come last, thus avoiding the Brown Jacket), Rich & Rona’s wedding  in Whistler was terrific, 10 days travelling through the Canadian Rockies from Jasper to Banff was beautiful, a quick trip through Brisbane to have lunch with lots of old friends friends of long standing and to see Mardi worked well and then we jumped a plane to Melbourne, ubered to Avalon, picked up our still-working truck and rejoined ATGANI.  An overnight pause to recover our strength and off we went, driving a really long 750km day from Moriac (think Geelong) to Forbes in order to get a good start on our northward journey to Lightning Ridge and on into Queensland.

ATGANI’s host at Moriac, Peter Noble, is also a motor mechanic, which fortunately meant he possessed the necessary skills, equipment and acquiescence to modify our KINGS firepit.  It needed a couple of slits and holes in its mild steel plates to give it room to breathe and now it works like a blast furnace.  Succcess!

We were scheduled to meet up with Richard Miller and Trish Baldock in Lightning Ridge on the 2^nd of May.  We had already stayed at Trish’s in Brisbane which is also where the Dinner Group had met for a great lunch.  R&T had 2 days to get from Brisbane to LR – we had many more kms to cover but more days which allowed for some stops along the way.

Forbes was first port of call and was notable for nothing except rain and dinner at the Forbes Club.  The details are irrelevant but the rating was👎👎.  Sufficient to say it was our second worst meal since we started traveling over a year ago…and we’ve had a few grim ones.

Moving swiftly on, we headed for the CSIRO Radio Telescope outside Parkes.  Pretty impressive in its own way and full of secondary school students trying to get extra science credits on a Sunday – they appeared to be having lots of fun and might have even been learning something.  We were lucky enough to see The Dish move – it does so at a glacial pace but then it weighs 300 tonnes.  Perhaps the stand-out point of interest was the constant upgrading of the equipment over the last 60 odd years – they claim it is now 10,000 times more sensitive than when first commissioned.  We reckon that a guided tour on one of their open days would be great 👍👍

Next stop was Red Earth Estate, a vineyard, restaurant, caravan stay and Dumpling House (yep, Dumpling House) just out of Dubbo, bordering on the zoo.  It was billed as a “farm stay” but was more like a bunch of caravans crowded into a backyard, albeit near some grape vines.  The entire operation was manned by exactly two people – an extraordinary Chinese brother and sister team who handle the bookings, manage the caravan sites, prepare the food, hand make the dumplings (sensational 👍👍 – worth a detour), run the restaurant and look after the vines including the pruning.  Golly, do they work hard!

Finally on to Lightning Ridge, with a stopover in Walgett.  Walgett gets a bad rap (like Wilcannia, which we hated) but the day we passed through, it was buzzing.  We had no real intention of stopping but there was a carnival affair going on the footy grounds and it looked like there might be coffee!  Well, it was amazing!  The Walgett Aboriginal Medical Service (WAMS) had organised a day for community togetherness – the cops were there letting little brown kids sit in the front (!) seat of their patrol cars, the Flying Doctor had a mobile display unit, there were a dozen local organisations inviting people to join and join in.  Even live music.  Finally, I found coffee being dispensed by the good people from the Opal Street Café in Lightning Ridge…for free! Naturally, I had to wait for the free hot chocolates being carefully made for even more brown kids at the counter.  

I was lucky enough to meet the WAMS CEO, Christine and their Chair, Helen.  What did they want from me?  Nothing, except a positive mention on their “socials” and to spread some good vibes about their town – so that’s what I’m doing.  It was great.  Enough to encourage you to wonder if you should ever wonder what could possibly go wrong.