We left Ian and Cathie’s farm this morning again in showers, which we seemed to encounter all the day. Not much rain but just enough to be annoying for us but not enough yet to enable all the farms to prosper.

After returning through Collie, we travelled along the road to Warren. This is a town that I often visited up until the age of about 15 when we moved to another district. It has been devastated by the severe lack of irrigation water in recent years. Some years ago, I visited Warren in what was probably the peak of the irrigated crop era and it was vibrant. Today, sadly, there are many shops and buildings empty. As we walked along the street, I tried to remember back about 46 years, when we lived in the area, and tell Prue what was in the building as we passed. Some have either changed or been demolished while some remain the same.

We walked along, after parking the Bravo and Karavan near the Police Station, until we came to a business that has endured all times, Lovett and Green-Solicitors. Inside the office we found one of the principals, Frere, and his wife, Sue. It was really lovely to catch them both as it is a very long time since we have all seen each other. Frere, Sue and I have known each other for almost ever and Prue and Sue were at secondary school together. Frere had to leave to do some work in Nyngan in their office.

The remaining three of us then went to the Nursery Cafe in Warren where you can get really nice food and most importantly good coffee. We chatted and recalled names and events from the past. Sue and I went to the same Pony Club, Cathundral, all those years ago along with our siblings.

After lunch we made our way to the village of Nevertire. I did one year in the primary school, which is now closed. Memories came back about the various businesses that were there and now there are very few with the Pub seemingly to be the biggest survivor. As it was a bit wet, we decided not to go to visit the farm I lived on as it would entail travelling on unsealed roads.

So we decided to travel now on the Mitchell Highway to Nyngan. Nyngan is infamous for the terrible flood in 1990 that devastated the town. The flood levee bank was breached and the town inundated by the flood water from the Bogan River. Other than a few signs reminding people of that terrible event, there is not any other sign.

We located ourselves in the Nyngan River Caravan Park beside the Bogan River. A very clean and tidy location with numerous tourists here for at least overnight.