Dubbo 2014

A Pit Stop along the way

A Trip To Dubbo

The day dawned cold and really Sandra and I were not looking forward to leaving home andheading into New South Wales. The weather forecast was for cold and wet. That we were moving North was good and that we were meeting up with Wendy and her family and Linda and her family at Dubbo was decent benefit of travelling at this time of year. The drive to Temora was rather uneventful.

It was like this all the way to Parkes

Sandra and I camped overnight at Temora and then on to Forbes to wait for Linda. They duly arrived and all were well and looking forward to the next couple of days. Maryrose visited our van and subpoenaed the TV set for a couple of hours. At least that kept both girls quite for a while. A couple of brews and dinner saw everyone off to bed for the night. It was cold. In the morning after finding our way to the ablution block and back to the van in the fog we headed to Parkes. The idea was to meet at the Parkes Telescope for a brew and possibly lunch.

The Radio Telescope at Parkes.

We drove through the fog all the way to Parkes and whilst wondering when we would escape this fog a message came in from Linda. "We are going on to Dubbo" She said, deciding that was a better place to be. She did not elaborate. We finally got to Parkes and around a corner we went, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. We stopped at the Telescope for a brew and a bit of lunch followed by a scone with cream and Fig Jam.

Linda, Sandra, Wendy, Maryrose and Tegan. Annaliese and Kasey were off on their scooters.

An hour or so later we arrived at the Plains Caravan Park and set up next to Linda, Robert, Annaliese and Maryrose. Finally Wendy, Des, Tegan and Kasey arrived and set up. All the little girls visited our van while their respective Mums and Dads finished setting up their vans. Wendy’s mob must have wondered what happened to the weather after arriving from Queensland via Port Macquarie. It was cold. The girls just took out their scooters and went to the playground. Next to arrive were Bill and Judy. They lived in the comfort of a cabin. For dinner this night everyone went to the Dubbo Club, next door.

Linda, Maryrose and Annaliese not taking a blind bit of notice of the Rhinoceros

After breakfast today, Friday, everyone went to the Western Plains Zoo It was good to see the animals close up but in decent size paddocks or enclosures. We were looking at some Ostriches when Kasey borrowed my camera and in her words "took some photos and they were awesome!!" The Giraffe were graceful, The Rhino relaxed, the Hippo hungry, and the Primates anything but peaceful. At one stage I got separated from the group and found myself around the lion, tiger and the monkeys. After this I caught up with Sandra and we bypassed many animals on our way to the Restaurant for lunch. Next was a visit to the monkeys who seemed to stop all activity and noise when I raised my camera. From here Sandra and I headed back to Dubbo while The others stayed at the zoo to entertain their children.

All clean and playing with Nan and Aunty Sandra.

Saturday was cold and we spent time mainly around the caravan park playing with Annalise, Maryrose, Tegan and Kasey, after they came back from the Zoo, again. Annaliese even went for a swim in the Park Pool. Apparently it was good in the water but not good when you get out. Still, she is only "nearly ten" and as Mum(Alma) would have said "Another twenty years will make all the difference".