'Wherarwee' in Oz: September 2014

Yes, another week has passed & we're still in Condo, not much to say really. Fay, the solo with us has family problems & had to return home. We've been to the club a couple of times for dinner. The weather has been hot, cold, raining, but always with a cold wind. Still, this is a great place to stay, the ever changing campers gives us the chance to talk to some very interesting people, their trips, where they live, how long on the road etc.. We are always amazed by the number of people that have sold up, bought a bus/motorhome/caravan & live full time on the road. The husband of one couple came down with terrible stomach cramps while here & was rushed to hospital. After 4 days they found it was kidney stones. He rested for a couple of days when he got out & they have moved on to a larger town

I have included a few photo's of the area & our camp. All taken at dusk with an iPhone.

Dave, Sally & Libby at the evening fire.

Same again

Childrens playground on the embankment

Looking across the lake

A few of the campers

Another view of the lake, as you can see - it's not very big,
about a K across

Well, after a long break we're finally on the road again, but just for a short while. Left home on Saturday 13th September around 9:00 AM. We had thought of visiting Port Macquarie for a week but a road friend invited us back to Condoblin & here we are.

We travelled via Muswellbrook & the Golden Highway on the way West as , although 150K's longer, it is a much easier trip across the range. Merriwa was our lunch stop, once again visiting our favourite bakery & then onto Dunnedoo for the night . The caravan park there is very casual, you pick your own site &, as office hours are from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, someone comes around & collects the cash. Bookout is 10:00 AM but of course you jut go when you want to.

We arrived at Condo mid afternoon to a couple of very surprised people as we had not said that we would definitely come. The place we stay at is 3K's out of town at Gum Bend Lake, it is a free spot with no time limit & no power but there is hot shower & water on tap. When we arived there must have been 20 or so vans/motorhomes in the area but still room for 20 more, it must get pretty crowded in summer. Did the usual things setting up camp & then found that our fridge wouldn't work on gas even though I had done a 24 hour test run at home, finally found the problem to be the gas regulator, of course none available on Sunday so our friends lent us a portable fridge/freezer that they have as a drink fridge. Monday, into town, locate a new regulator & get the fridge going. We have spent a quiet week here just relaxing, went to Ootha to see the 'Utes in the paddock" display again, it has deteriated noticeably since our last visit. Wednesday night we went to the local club for dinner & entertainment & today we went to Burcher for their bi-annual 'Poppas in the Pines' festival & markets.

Burcher is a very small farming community & the displays centered on farming equipment. The major entertainment for the day was various old tractors showing their ability to pull an ever increasing load along a set path. Honestly, how many tractors can you watch. We checked out the markets, mostly craft stuff, & visited the uninspiring food stalls for lunch. We always look forward to the pickles, chutneys, cakes & pies lovingly hand made by the locals. I had a small lemon meringue pie with lunch which turned out to be a shop bought casing with commercially prepared lemon filling & the meringue was home made & browned with a torch, I took one bite & through it in the bin. The highlight of our day was visiting the bush chapel. A bit hard to find as we were looking for a building, but it turned out to be an open space with a large cross decorated with vines & flowers. There were other varied displays similarly decorated & the area had tree trunks split longitudinally for seats. The whole area gave one a serene & peaceful feeling. The round trip from Condo was 130 K's along a sealed but very bumpy country road so we were glad to get back 'home' that afternoon.