On the road, part IV

Friday 23rd, Carnarvon Gorge to St George
We set out through paddocks of cattle towards civilisation. We had morning tea at Injune, a rather small town that claims to be the southern gateway to Carnarvon. You know a town has no attractions of its own when it claims to be the gateway to somewhere. When Mum mentioned that we had come from Carnarvon, the woman at the shop said that she had never been there, but wanted to some time. Mind you, she had also never been to Roma, the largest town around (7000 people, 100 km to the south), so she really should get out more. We went to Roma directly, where we found mobile phone reception for the first time since Biloela or somewhere in the vicinity. In the afternoon we continued south, ending up at St George. Here we found a nice caravan park (not quite as nice as that at Carnarvon, but still pretty good), and had a barbecue before yet another game of Scrabble. The night was rather cold: I believe there was some frost about.

Saturday 24th, St George to Dubbo
On this day I discovered that New South Wales isn't actually all that big. I was expecting a long day's trip to Dubbo, but it wasn't really. We had morning tea at what claimed to be the town of Hebel, but was in fact more like the intersection of Hebel. Hebel is a bordertown between New South Wales and Queensland. Lunch was in Coonamble, where we saw a man, a dog and a crow, all with limps. We decided we shouldn't spend too long there! We continued to Dubbo. We went to Mass at a lovely parish there, and on the recommendation of a parishioner (even when she's a total stranger, Mum talks to people after Mass) went to the Bowling Club for their buffet dinner. There was seafood, Chinese food (by which I mean the food that passes for Chinese in rural Australia), roast (although I didn't have any), dessert, and a few other things. It seemed like something Patrick would greatly appreciate as the embodiment of regional New South Wales culture. They were only showing the rugby on a small screen, so we went back to our caravan park, where we still watched it on a small screen but at least had somewhere comfortable to sit.

Sunday 25th, Dubbo to Yass
We headed off through more familiar territory to Cowra. We know many people in my home town, and caught up with Philippa, one of our closest family friends (when Tom was born, it was she who Dad called in the early hours of the morning to look after us until we woke and were ready to go and visit Mum and our little brother). She was happy to see us and pleased to tell us how she has been, and also good news about her sons' current activities. After a lovely time feeling we were at home already, we set off for the last little bit to actually get there. We arrived home for a late lunch, ready to relax after quite a trip.

I haven't exactly stayed put since then, but stories of my other trips will have to wait until I'm back in Cambridge.