Onwards and downwards....

It was with considerable reluctance that we left our little cottage by the river, of all the places we have stayed that was certainly the most memorable, and the most beautiful. However we have to get on, to be in Brisbane in a few days time, a long way to go and a lot to see.

One of the first places we passed through was a little gold mining village called Gulgong, Which boasts the oldest Opera House in Australia still operating. Started in the goldrush days, Dame Nellie Melba sang here, and a then famous boxer had his last bout. Many very old buildings line the main street, a rather quaint little town.

We are now passing into an area called New England, and it does indeed remind us of home, particularly as we passed Lake Windamere, (no- that's the way they spell it!), the water and the hills around it are just like our Lake District.

An overnight stop at Tamworth enabled me  to attend Tamworth Sunrise Rotary Club, only chartered 30 months ago, and already they have forty seven members. They are to induct another two next week. What is their secret? I don't know, but it works, bearing in mind that there are five clubs in a town half the size of Carlisle.

Meeting a dentist there enabled me to have my tooth sorted, so before we travelled on I made myself handsome again.

The president reccommended that we travel by Inverell. Another very nice area, we are on a site just outside the town. So today we are seeing what it has to offer, and the first visit is to the 'National' Motor Museum. There are around 150 vehicles of all types here from 1908 to the seventies, many famous marques are represented. I particularly liked the commercial vehicles, a Coca Cola delivery van caught my eye.

This afternoon it rained a little, but that didn't stop us from visiting a Pioneer Village. We have seen quite a few of these in our travels, but none as good as this one. Manned by vollunteers, most of the buildings have been gifted to them from outlying villages and farms, as have most of the contents. We enjoyed a great couple of hours there, and as a bonus a wedding took place in the grounds while we were there.