Day 2 – West Wyalong to Gunnedah
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 04:53AM Had a great night in West Wyalong the master chef (my wife) threw together some chicken, rice, olives, butter beans & made a magnificent bacon, chilli, Basil & white wine tomato base. Yum! Anyone who wants the recipe (Brad) just email Ness. I guess one day we will start using the hundreds of cans we are carrying with us
Slept like logs, the caravan is really comfy. Still annoyed that I could not watch all of Bear Grills though! Hopefully better TV reception in Gunnedah.
Jumped into the shower, now most of you know we have our own shower & toilet in the van.... But when we are in a caravan park we use their facilities (saves using our water) now I have not stayed at a caravan park since before Christmas so I had forgotten the joys of communal bathing!
The guy that was showering in the cubicle next to me was seriously dying! He was coughing, spluttering, spitting & farting like I have never heard before! There was a gap between his cubicle & mine, I kept checking to make sure no foreign objects were floating into my space! Think ill start using the van shower.
The Discovery is performing well, (Thanks very much Egg!) I looked at the speedo at one stage today & we were actually doing 103 Km/hr.
On the way out of West Wyalong we decided we needed a treat, the local bakery was open & I found a car park nearby..... which by the way is another thing, it is hard enough to find a car park these days, you should try it when you have 21 foot of caravan behind you!
Anyhow I found a park, Ness only had to walk a few hundred meters to the bakery!
When Vanessa came back with the Hot Chocolates (they were not real flash.... so next time you pass through W.W. give the bakery a miss!) She said that she had just seen something strange..... I was expecting her to tell me that there was a guy in a dress, or a farmer kissing his sheep.... but no, she said that the bakery had carpet on the floor! What the!!!!
We then spent the next hour or so in the car drinking crappy Hot Chocolates & discussing why you would have carpet on the floor of a bakery.... Gees! We are only on day 2!
Driving out of West Wyalong we were amazed at how many motels there are, can anyone shed any light on why there are so many motels in W.W.? it is a farming town in the middle of no where!
A couple of highlights on the drive were the Elvis museum in Parkes (Egg you have to get up here, maybe a future trip when you buy that new 4WD?) The Dish just outside Parkes, and for me personally I came across a yard fully fenced off with an amazing assortment of old rusting out cars.... (Russell .... there were FC’s EK’s HR’s HK’s HT’s HG’s even a HG the same colour as mine!).... its just wrong, they are just wasting away... I nearly cried!
The drive for me today was awesome, especially as we got closer to Gunnedah, for those of you who don’t know I grew up in Gunnedah & my dad is buried there, so I was firstly excited about showing Ness my old stomping ground & also catching up with my dad & introducing him to my wife. (I know, sounds a bit weird huh?)
We came through Coonabarabran, & then Mullaley where one of my best mates lives, we rang him (on the last number I had for him) but he was not home so we continued on to Gunnedah.
We were being followed closely by a large delivery van & doing between 70 & 95 Km/h (depending on gradient) and we were coming down a hill at a good speed when an echidna started to walk across into our lane!!!
Now all up I am guessing we are close to 6 tonnes! & we are articulated so the last thing I want to do is swerve sharply. The echidna by now has heard us coming & is starting to panic. It was in the middle of the lane & I had to decide whether to go right or left. I chose Left & put my two left wheels over the line but not off the road, we went past where the echidna was & was relieved to see it in my rear vision mirror after the caravan had passed!
But I then watched in horror as the van decided to go right & squashed the poor little bugger!
Hahaha!... no just kidding, the van went into the right hand lane & missed it too! Bet the echidna soiled its spikes!
Got to Gunnedah & unhooked the van, headed straight to the cemetery. Dad has not moved (lazy bastard) but we still struggled to find his plot! Ness & I were covering different rows with no success so I eventually rang my sister for advice.... She did not have a clue so put me on to my brother in law Brad, his advice was useless (thanks anyway Brad) but we eventually found him.
Had a few moments with him & we even took a couple of pics, he has not aged in 17 years!
Then did a bit of a town tour & showed Vanessa some of the good & bad bits of Gunnedah. That took about 5 minutes!..... no really it was great fun sharing some of my old stories.
We had to go shopping at the local woollies store, I waited outside while Ness went in, after a couple of minutes I had to grab a newspaper & hide my face... I was surprised at how many people I knew coming in & out of the supermarket!... I kept peeking over the top thinking... “ I know him... or I know her!” I didn’t want anyone to know I was in town! Doesn’t anyone “Move on” anymore?
Anyway back in the van, tonight’s dish is Risotto with fresh salmon, lemon, chilli, & fresh rocket lettuce...... Mmmmm Looks like the cans travel another 500km with us!!!
Anyone know where I can find Bear Grills DVD’s?
Sayonara till tomorrow.....James
Reader Comments (1)
JUST LOVE IT ... Learning alot about you James :) I laughed outloud at the echidna (at work!!!) ... Mr& Mrs BOXEHAD