Yesterday, we left Lesley near Purlewaugh for a relatively short run for the day. One thing we have found is that mobile phone coverage is quite sparse especially away from both towns and highways.
Our first stop was for a coffee in the Jolly Cauli in Coonabarabran. Unfortunately it was only reasonable. We collected a few items in the town and then set off on the Oxley/Newell Highway.
Some 45 kilometres from Coonabarabran we visited relatives of Prue on their farm. We had a nice morning tea and a lovely catch up with Mike and Jill and three of their sons.Eventually we left and continued on the highway to Gilgandra.
In Gilgandra we had lunch and coffee in the Rock Cake Bakery. All was quite good. It seemed to be a very busy place with not only local customers but also tourists and truck drivers.
On Sunday morning while we were driving, we heard on the car radio that the Pharmacy had been gutted by fire in Gilgandra. This small town only has one Pharmacy which services the whole community including the Nursing Home. It has temporarily opened in the Community Centre, nearby. It is believed that a deliberate fire was lit and it also damaged a legal office and hairdressing salon on either side.
I up loaded the contents of the blog for the previous day in Gilgandra before we left.
We proceeded on the Oxley Highway towards the village of Collie where we turned to the east onto the Dubbo Road to go to our friends, Ian and Cathie, on their farm for the evening. They had arranged to go back to the Collie Pub in the evening so that we could have dinner with some other old friends that we had not seen for a very long time, Mark and Valda. Mark and I grew up together and we were at each other’s weddings, a long time ago. It was so nice to chat over a nice dinner and drinks in the very pleasant pub. Eventually, we all returned to our homes or Karavan.
So ended another great day of catching up with people. The only drawback for us was that it is apparent that the rain is following us from the coast! Light rain has happened most days since we left the coast. It is really needed in these areas as they have experienced many years of dry weather and little return on their cropping. Hopefully, the rain will slow and stay a few days behind.