The road trip continues

August 22: Mudgee to Coonabarabran

Whatever happened on Tuesday morning in Mudgee will NEVER be known because the culprits, Les, Sally and Betsy, failed to take a single photo of their wine and food excursions. The other culprits, James and Julie, also failed in their photographic duty. Sara meanwhile was on a work call and took photos of the slides presented during the meeting but they can’t be shared ( secret Board business!)

So, the day started at lunchtime ….in a small pub in Gulgong called the Prince of Wales.

Note the swish in Sally’s hair- a very skilful photographic effect from photographer James, don’t you think?

A quick whip down Gulgong’s main street……very sweet town but lots of shops were closed.

A 3 minute visit to the photographic museum ( the curator had to do school pickup ), a search for some local beers and a snap of Les in front of an important hotel ( to signify Gulgong’s presence on the $10 note ) and we were off…..

On the road to Coonabarabran, we saw lots of yellow rapeseed (would have taken a picture but Les was driving too fast), cows, goats and sheep, and even managed to fit in some more rounds of naming cities and countries.

Arrived at our 5-star accommodation at the Warrumbungles mountain lodge at around 5 pm. We can all fit another 5-6 people in our rooms so plenty of space to spread out, plenty of soap and towels too.

After a quick cuppa, we drove to Milroy Observatory where Donna the astronomer lives, but unfortunately Donna is still not well. However we had two excellent substitutes who showed us Saturn, Mars, the kissing stars on the pointer of the Southern Cross, the scorpion, the moon, the emu, the pin cushion and many others ( whose names I can’t recall) . The viewings were cleverly spaced between the clouds which disappeared by the time we had to leave!

Home to our 5 star accommodation for a delicious dinner of beef and potato pie (provided by Mudgee bakery), salad from Aldi’s and any number of wines from which to choose.

You’ll notice that I’ve spaced the photos out because of the abysmal performance of my travelling companions. Here’s hoping they improve tomorrow