Let’s start today’s post with a sing-a-long, shall we?
The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish … all the way to Cowra.
Yep, it’s raining today. Just to be clear, it wasn’t ”better start building an ark” type of rain … just that constant light rain that makes everything wet. And boggy. And muddy. And complicated.
We woke to the sound of rain on the roof of Percy and you know what that means? It means that we are going to have to negotiate the small inland lake that is AKA the Junee Golf Club Camping area and carpark.
Our planning skills leave a little bit to be desired. We were told that the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery is worth seeing and so we wanted to have a look. But unfortunately today (Tuesday) is the first time that the Art Gallery opening times align with our availability.
Actually that is not strictly true. It has been open at other times, but that is where our planning has been lacking. We have never managed to be in the right place at the right time. But today is the day, even if it means that we need to retrace our steps just a little.
Now just to clarify an important point: we are not just some redneck Philistines that sing along to Country and Western Spotify playlists. We are educated and sophisticated people who appreciate the finer artistic exhibits in an art gallery.
I think.
For those of you who are geographically challenged, Wagga Wagga is south of Junee, but today we are heading to Cowra which is north of Junee. See the problem?
We did all of the usual stuff (ablutions, breakfast, coffee) and then we packed down Percy. Wound up the legs, latched the windows, and disconnected the water. Locked all of the things that needed locking. Stowed all of the things that needed stowing. Latched all of the things that needed latching. Put away all of the loose things that could become a missile under the wrong circumstances.
I’m sure you get the idea. Percy was ready to roll … when we get back from Wagga Wagga.
We left the Junee Golf Club to the sound that now epitomises the JGC – the sound of mud being flung off Elsie’s tyres and hitting the inside of the wheel arches as we drive down the road.
We did a quick run down to Wagga Wagga via the Olympic Highway (not the alternative route that Dolly likes sending us along), leaving by 9.00am so that we were in Wagga Wagga in time to get fuel and be at the art gallery ready for opening time at 10.00am.
Why get fuel in Wagga Wagga? At 25c/litre cheaper than anywhere else around where we are or where we are going, it was worth the extra stop. And because Elsie was thirsty. Very thirsty.
We parked in a 1 hour parking zone outside the art gallery and learned that there is both an art gallery and a glass gallery … hmmm … so we asked the nice young lady for advice: “With limited time, do we see the art gallery or glass gallery?”
The art gallery is achievable in one hour, and it was the recommended option.
So off we went.
The art gallery is a lot of paintings, sketches, old photographs and textured paper done by an aboriginal artist.
Interesting, but I’m not sure I really understand it. It didn’t speak to me. It didn’t move me.
We did a quick zip around and found ourselves in the glass gallery, so we had a look there too.
All very clever and interesting, and better than I could do. I’m not sure that I would be prepared to put any fruit into any of those glass bowls … but maybe they are not designed for fruit. What would I know, anyway?
It seems that we were able to see both the art gallery, and the glass gallery, AND make a comfort stop and be ready to head back to Junee by 10.35am. Did you see the two photos above of MBW standing next to one Art Gallery sign and me standing next to another? Did you see the timestamps? One was us going in, and the other us coming out.
And then I had an unpleasant realisation. Maybe we are redneck Philistines after all? Two exhibitions and a tinkle inside 35 minutes.
Absolutely no risk of getting a parking ticket for overstaying the 1 hour parking limit.
They have some very pretty grounds and gardens at the art gallery, which I imagine would be very nice lit up at night.
Back into Elsie and a quick drive through Wagga Wagga, and we were ready to head back to Junee to hook up Percy and get on our way.
Going out of Wagga Wagga we crossed the Murrumbidgee River – something I think I learned about in year 5 (1972?) but I’m sure that I have never seen.
Dolly insisted on taking us the ”alternative route” back to Junee in order to save a couple of minutes, so we played another round of ”dodge the potholes” and I think we did OK. No blown tyres and no damaged suspension, which is always a bonus.
Back to the Junee Golf Club to hook up Percy and be on our way to Cowra.
The road from Junee towards Cowra was wet and treacherous, making for a relatively unpleasant day of driving.
The more observant among you will have noticed that I forgot to put the towing mirrors onto Elsie before we left, and that thought only occurred to me about 15 minutes after we hit the road. Fortunately there was a rest stop at a cosy little place called Illabo (population 144, although I find that hard to believe because we didn’t see a single one of them …) and that problem was rectified.
It was tough going today. We seemed to spend the day hauling Percy up steep hills, yet that seems improbable because Cowra’s elevation is only 30m above Junee’s (310m Vs 280m).
We also saw a contender for NSW’s silliest name for a township: Wombat NSW (population 225, which makes sense. Who could say ”I like in Wombat” with a straight face?)
But it rained, and it rained, and then it rained some more.
Too much rain for the intermittent wipers, but not enough to declare an emergency. An emergency would mean we could justify pulling out the emergency Pringles from the centre console armrest.
Bugger 🙁
Enough rain that the roads were wet and slippery, and every passing truck showered us with spray. Mind you, we were throwing up plenty of spray of our own.
I’ve mentioned in previous posts the broken red Anderson plug that controls Percy’s ESC. I fixed it. I thought it was still broken, but it just needed a new fuse as well as a new plug.
Seeing that cheery green light (= ESC powered up and working) is a happy thought, but it’s a bit like life insurance. You need to have it, but you hope to never make a claim because … well, just because. Because something bad will have happened.
We got to a fuel stop/truck stop at Cootamundra and stopped for a bite of lunch and a hot caffeinated beverage, and we were on our way again …
… and really not much to say after that.
We got into the Cowra Showgrounds at around 3.00pm and it was still raining. Reviews on Wikicamps said that it is a bit boggy. Pfft. A “bit boggy” my eye.
This place makes the Junee Golf Club mudflats look like a desert.
We did a quick drive around town to get some milk and locate the Japanese Gardens, which we want to look at tomorrow, weather permitting. I did jump out of Elsie and get a picture of Cowra just in case the weather is worse tomorrow and Cowra disappears underwater, but the weatherman says rain easing. We will see about that.
Leftovers again tonight and it’s my favourite sweet dry curry that I made a couple of weeks ago and froze just for this trip. Yum.
It’s almost 5.30pm as I’m finishing this post. I’m listening to the rain falling (more heavily) on Percy’s roof. MBW is playing catch-up on MasterChef and I need to get back to my latest Nelson DeMille.
Shame I didn’t bring some goggles and a snorkel … I think I’m going to have to swim over to the amenities block for my nice long hot shower tonight.
Bugger again.
Still, it could be worse. I could be at work.
Ciao
#RoadTripNSW2023.