So, we set out at 6 am on Saturday morning. We were sharing the driving so needed something to interest us during the " relax" times. I armed myself with t- shirts, rubber bands, thread and needles to prepare for some shibori/ tie dyeing on Wednesday. I also brought some knitting I am slowly working on. Bob brought his iPad and phone so he could contact work. We also had the radio and
some talking books.
The drive proved to be taken at a time when eastern Australia is looking its best. The morning light gave a beautiful, yellow, pink silver hue to the landscape.
Unfortunately, there were so many road- kill corpses on the road side too. I suppose the ravens and crows seemed to be enjoying them, and I didn't really mind the amount of dead foxes we saw, but it was dismaying to see the high number of magpies, wallabies and kangaroos lying dead on the roadside. It is a wonder that there are so many native animals left! The other thing that really disturbed me disturbed me was the lack of parrot flocks. Again, when I used the same road in the sixties and seventies, we used to drive through flocks of so many galahs that the sky seemed pink. Alas, no more.
What we did have a lot of was semi-trailers and, even worse, wide-load vehicles, which drove at 40 kilometres an hour and were almost impossible to pass. Bah! Why don't they use the railways any more?
We stopped for a beautiful coffee and cake combination ( gluten free, to boot!) in the pretty little garden of a cafe which featured old Hollywood memorabilia and an antique shop. Was it Coonabarabran? And later, very unmemorable wrap in Moree.
To stave off the boredom, we listened to Bill Bryson's amusingly witty "Notes from a Small Island" and collected wierd place names. Poison Waterholes Creek, Tongaboo, Gronggrong, the Shire of Bland, Wunghu, Talligaroopna, Bogan. Wish we had time to find out the backgrounds of all these places.
But, we finally made it to West Wyalong, where we did our usual trick of finding the worst, saddest and most ageing motel to stay in. This is the trouble with being so tired that you just take the first place you see. We were so tired, we stopped at the first eatery we came to and had a traditional Aussie Chinese dinner before collapsing into bed.
The town appeared to have very little to offer in the way of breakfast fare, so we drove on to Narrandera and had a very pleasant breakfast:
Once we entered the Riverina, the dominant crop was rice. It looks very weird and out of place here, after seeing it grown in Japan and Vietnam. The fields are huge- you could fit an entire town in one of them. And the water is all irrigated. Not sure I think this a good idea for the soil. Also, it strikes you how much monoculture there is in Australia. This may be economically efficient but it seems very unnatural. Doesn't this type of farming require enormous amounts of fertilizer, irrigation and pesticides? Plus, on a purely sentimental note, it is pretty unattractive as it seems to involve cutting down every tree in sight and planting right up to the edge of the farmhouse in a lot of cases. I might be wrong. After all, I am city bred. I must talk to my country friends.
Victoria looks so familiar and beautiful at this time of year. Roses everywhere and the bright yellow green of the introduced trees contrasting with the grey green of the native gums. And home reminded me why I love the seasons. The garden in my old house needs a good pruning after the roses flower, but it is still lovely.
We only managed to catch up with a few members of our extended family, then it was back home with our new car. We stopped for lunch in Albury, and the only thing we could find at 2.30 was very sad looking bagels. We made the mistake of trying to get lunch at La Porchetta. A waitress who obviously was looking forward to her afternoon off and was not keen on customer service appeared to be trying to talk us out of ordering, or encouraging us to eat quickly so we took off and had noodles. Another uninspiring meal.
We got so excited trying out all its new features in the car that we missed our turn off and ended up doing a tour of rural NSW. Very interesting, but added time to the trip. We stopped for a break at Culcairn and discovered this mural . The artist saw us photographing it and yelled out proudly that it was his work.
When we finally stopped at Forbes, we again got the dud motel - should have guessed when he greeted us in a filthy "wife beater". It was $40 dearer than the previous one, yet beside the railway crossing and the highway intersection. We really must develop a better system for picking motels or learn to walk out when they look bad. Dinner at the pub and then encounters with lots of mole crickets in the car park.
The next day, we again missed a turn off and ended coming back via Toowoomba. Only listening to Ruth Rendell's "The Veiled One" kept us sane.
Brisbane was greeting the rainy season when we got back. The jacarandas are growing leaves and the poinsiannas have broken out. I was really glad to get out of a car and bget backed to dyeing and sewing.
I managed to get a lot of work done at home on the quilt I am making. (Photos to come) I've also started some of the designs for the cd covers I am making for the BIA market in Southbank. (Photos to come). Plus, I am using some of the tie-dyed fabrics I have made to make fish mobiles. (Photos to come). Plus, the t shirts I dyed turned out well . (Photos to come). At the BIA, I dyed some silk scarves and was really pleased with the results:
I also liked the cotton I dyed for quilting. Think I'll try that folding technique again.
PS:
On the whole, our food experiences in rural NSW were pretty uninspiring. Why do people think it is hard to cook good, quick meals cheaply? Here are some of our efforts since we have been home:
Prawn, snow pea and mushroom curry, mango chutney and brown rice).
Bento box of grilled vegetables and marinated beef, snow peas and pickled ginger and inari.
This blog seems to be turning into a food and travel blog, not an art one!
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