Roma to Sydney

24 Nov – A leisurely start to the day as we have decided to stay another day in Roma. We biked around the town on a series of cycleways before it got too hot. Some interesting sights including a big bottle tree. Spent some time in the afternoon in the small camp pool and ended up in the air-con watching the Supercars at Newcastle. Outside for drinks with an electrical storm and a couple of drops of rain.

25 Nov – On the road early for a 195kms drive to the next town, St George. We were now on the Great Inland Way. The country had changed and was dry and barren. We spent much of the time dodging dead kangaroos driving from one side of the road to the other. Just to mix things up, there were quite a few live ones deciding if they would dash across the road. We have no roo bars and hitting one would be a disaster. At St George we found a camp (with a pool) and had a quiet afternoon. There were thousands of galahs in the trees beside us and at drinks time the camp manager used a stock whip to scare them away. A huge electrical storm developed followed by 15 minutes of heavy rain.

26 Nov – The country became more barren and desert-like for our 235kms drive to Lightning Ridge. More roo dodging and we even had an emu try to outrun “Andy”.  The road surface was also rough until we crossed the border from Queensland into NSW. The road then improved. Lightning Ridge is known for the mining of black opals. We swam in the camp pool until a staff member advised us that a dust storm was on the way and it would get unpleasant outside. The dust was not too bad but we were glad to be inside with the air-con.

27 Nov – I take back what I said about NSW roads being better. The south was very rough. We stopped at the Coonamble Showgrounds for lunch. I had not been happy with some bushes in the front suspension which we had checked in Townsville and had got worst with the bumpy roads. We phoned ahead to Dubbo and jacked up for them to be looked at so headed on for another 150kms to Dubbo. The suspension place ordered the bushes and they will be installed tomorrow. We checked into a camp for 2 nights. A cooler day!

28 Nov – The suspension fix place rang and booked us in for 2:00pm. We rode our bikes following the banks of the McQuarrie River into the town which is about Ashburton size. Walked the main street and looked into the Old Gaol. It took the suspension place 1 hour to fit the bushes which seems to have had limited effect.

29 Nov – We left Dubbo and drove 150kms to the city of Orange. The country was very pleasant but dry, rolling farmland. There was a smoke haze however, as there is one bush fire north of us. The suspension was considerably better. We booked into a camp and after lunch rode our bikes to the information centre and went into a modern museum where there was a display of photos of 1920’s criminals. Fascinating!  A walk down the main street where Val bought a dress and back on the bikes to the camp. The temperature is much cooler and there is a cold front coming.

30 Nov – Only a short drive to Bathurst where we wanted to drive around the motor racing circuit at Mt Panorama. The circuit is deemed to be a public road when no events are on. Bad news! We drove into the carpark and there was a meeting in progress. It turned out to be a national time trial day where cars of all types try to better their times to progress thru their various classes. The good news was the day was free and we could walk anywhere thru the complex. We watched from above the pits for some time before hopping back into “Andy” and driving to the top of Mt Panorama, where the twisty circuit crosses the top of the mountain. We watched from various points including the “Dipper “, “Skyline” and the “Esses”. There were plenty of very fast cars trying their best and some very brave drivers! At around 3:30pm we drove back into the town of Bathurst, surprisingly close to the circuit, and camped in the show grounds.

1 Dec – Before leaving Bathurst we drove thru the main street. Dubbo, Orange and Bathurst are historic inland cities and although being different sizes, are very similar with some lovely old buildings. We drove 60kms to our final stop before heading home tomorrow. We chose Lithgow as we can catch a train to Sydney. The afternoon was spent with laundry and cleaning. As we had finished all our food, we walked 1km to some take-away restaurants and ended up getting a classic chicken roast from Red Rooster. Later we heated it up in our microwave and it was surprisingly great.

2 Dec – A very cold morning! We signed up for our storage and packed everything up. A taxi to the Lithgow train station and a 3-hour trip to the Sydney International Airport. It was a great trip thru the Blue Mountains and Katoomba and into the smokey city of Sydney. A nice meal and a glass of red wine before our flight home. It has been a great trip thru the NSW and Queensland hinterland.