Weeeee'''rrrrree Baaccckkk,

Well hi to all from Barry and Deb as we head off on another jaunt. 

We left home on Sunday morning and we will be going to Parkes, for the Elvis Festival, and then on to Tamworth for the music festival. 

When we left Hamilton on Sunday morning you could tell it was going to be a stinking hot day.  It was heading towards the high 30's but of course we pressed on regardless.

We headed on through Dunkeld and then across through Ararat.  It was only about 10.30 in the morning but already 30C.  After Ararat we headed through Avoca before stopping in the town of Maryborough for a break.  By the time we had our coffee, and regulation little girls room break, it was already 35C. 

From here on we took it pretty easy but the Jeep never missed a beat.  Our first stop was at Rochester, just north of Bendigo, and it was a well earned rest.  The temperature gauge in the car was showing 39C and I have no doubt it was correct. 

We pulled into the Rochester Caravan Park and found the door to the office locked and nobody answering the phone.  How awesome is that.  We were just going to choose a site when the re incarnation of Harold Steptoe approached us.  He told me he was just about to have a few beers, owing to the heat, yeh sure, but he directed us towards our site.

Inside the van it was about 45C and it took a concerted effort by the air conditioning to bring it to a reasonable temperature.  After a couple of hours it was at a comfortable level. 

The van park is pretty run down, with lots of permanents, but it was only for an overnight stay.

Deb alerted me to the long term inhabitants of the toilet/shower block.  How brave she is.  They were bloody huge, black, hairy, bulbous spiders.  I could not get a photo to share with you as there is no way I could focus the lens.  You will not believe this, but I am sure I saw that one of the locals had thrown a saddle on one of them and was riding it around the park.  True story!!!!!!!!!!

After a relatively sleepless night, waiting for the giant spiders to consume the van, it was back on the road.  It was still about 30 when we left, but the further north we got it actually cooled down a bit.  We even had quite a bit of rain as we approached Tocumwal, making it very hot and steamy.  Of course, during one of the showers we had an issue with one of the caravan mirrors and I had to get out in the rain to fix it.  40c one day and raining the next. 

In keeping with my normal habit of taking photos of big things, I had to take another one of the BIG MURRAY COD, in the shopping area of Tocumwal.

    

From there it was a fairly easy drive to Narrandera where we were stopping for the night.  We propped at the Narrandera Showgrounds for the night.  To say the accommodation was rustic, would be an exaggeration.  The only company we had for the night was a group of about 15 kangaroos hopping in our vicinity.

 

After arriving at Narrandera we decided to go for a walk to the shopping area.  It was only about 1.5 k's and we needed to stretch our legs.  You would not believe it, we were probably about 250 metres from the van and it started raining.  Unbelievable, 30C and raining.  How sticky and horrid the rest of that walk was. 

After a very quiet night we were up bright and early and headed off towards Forbes.  We drove through West Wyalong, a good size town, before arriving at Forbes.  This caravan park is like the Hyatt compared to the last couple of nights.  We have a very spacious site, with green grass and a swimming pool.  As the forecast is for 43C on Friday, I think I might even grace it with my presence. 

We have checked out the information centre and, of course, had to buy an Elvis Festival Booklet.  Forbes is about 30k's from Parkes and there is a bus that will be running between the 2 towns.  The schedule is really poor though, and on a couple of the days you have the choice of spending 3 hours at the festival or 12 hours.  We have been told that parking of your own vehicle in Parkes during the festival is almost non existent, but we might just have to try on one of the days.  I have always been pretty lucky at finding car parks. 

Anyway that is all for now.  My next blog should be able to enlighten you on the Elvis Festival, with hopefully heaps of photos for your enjoyment. 

Viva Las Forbes

Barry and Deb.