Day 1 Home to Parkes NSW
Welcome to the first leg of our NSW Loop trip.
The day started well… actually no it did not. After a good start, meaning we were out of bed before 8am and we had pre packed quite a lot of our supplies we thought we were doing well. It goes to show we should definitely not count chickens before they hatch when we are planning a getaway.
At 10am the trailer was hitched to the car, everything was tucked away in its travelling position when we went to top up the water tank. Insert key, turn, remove water filler cap and watch the internal pieces of the cap fall on to the driveway. Irrepairable. So began the search for a replacement cap.
We tried a number of the big camping supply stores in town. We thought we had it sorted when we found a Lockable Water Filler at BCF only to get home and find it would not fit. Two hours, one returned product and $57 later and finally we could leave. We found the part we needed at Canberra Caravan and 4×4 Centre, the staff member we dealt with was brilliant, and knew exactly what we needed when we explained the issue.
We headed out towards Cowra in a fairly uneventful way aside from the GPS telling us to turn left onto a rather dodgy looking lane long before we thought it necessary. We ignored that and continued on the sealed road happily commenting on the scenery and starting to relax into the road trip vibes. Again we were getting ahead of ourselves as we heard that loud sharp snicking sound on the windscreen that indicates you probably just got a stone chip.
Annoying and potentially leading to needing a new windscreen. 🙄
Due to the late start we arrived with just enough time to set up in the fading light before searching out a pub for a drink and dinner. Thai food at Cambridge Hotel was cheap and tasty and the gin and Tonic helped tone down the pain in my back from an injury obtained when packing up.
We took a walk around the town centre to kill some time as 7.30 is a bit early for bedtime for us 😆 in the end we were in bed before 9pm and hoping it wouldn’t get too cold overnight. For the record, we did get cold overnight, even with the extra blankets I had packed we were feeling the chill. I decided at that point that wearing a beanie to bed might not be a bad idea.
Next morning we were up and packed early so we could get the windscreen chip repaired. The repairer fit us in quickly and got to work, so we took a stroll around town in the daylight to see some of the city sights. Parkes is an easy city to navigate, and is probably best known for “The Dish”a giant radio telescope that played a part in the 1969 Moon landings, and Elvis. Yes he of the pelvis and the sideburns, thank you very much. Our time in Parkes was short, and there was a lot we did not see, but if you want to know more look at the Visit NSW website.
Even with the early start once we retreived the car with a beautifully repaired windscreen crack we were along way from where we needed to be. Next stop Lightning Ridge. 470 km, or five hours in the car.