People are Friendly in the Outback. (Darl'n)

9th October 2026 - 22nd October 2026

After leaving the Warrumbungles, we arrived in Gilgandra and checked into the quirky Barneys Caravan Park and Akropolos Motel, conveniently located within walking distance of the town centre.

The Bogong moths here are in full swing. The toilets have a mozzie zapper, and every time you go in there it's buzzing away with the distinct aroma of cooked moths. (Smells a bit like Almonds.) We're also having a battle with them in the van; they just appear out of nowhere in the evening, flapping around.

Gilgandra is famous as the starting point of the Cooee March. On 10 October 1915, 35 men set off from here on a recruitment drive for World War I, picking up more recruits along the way. By the time they reached Sydney on 12 November 1915, their numbers had swelled to 263.

Earlier in the day, we spotted a TC MG parked outside the Railway Hotel and stopped for a chat with the owner, who was enjoying a cold beer.

We finished the day with a fantastic meal at the local Thai restaurant to celebrate Ken's birthday, followed by a few drinks at the RSL where we ran into the MG owner again for another good old chat.

Gilgandra War Memorial.

Neville

Moths hiding in the chair.

MG TC

Plaque marking the start of the March.

On Sunday we left Gilgranda toward Wellington Caves. It's a hot, sunny day. We pulled into Dubbo for some supplies and spent some time exploring the CBD, ducking into a couple of pubs for a refreshing drink and the latest Bathurst update.

We are staying at the Wellington Caves caravan park for the next few days, a lovely shady park with grassy sites. We settled in and relaxed for the rest of the day. Later in the afternoon, we popped into the township of Wellington to have a look around.

Dubbo Town Hall.

A Dubbo local with class.

It's still very warm. We walked up to the visitor centre, paid for an extra night and booked ourselves in for the Caves Tour tomorrow.

We then did the Fossil Trail. It's a small walk with 400-million-year-old fossils on the limestone rocks. There are 10 stops on the way round showing the different types of Corals, snails, and molluscs that were on the seabed when this area was covered by the sea.

In the afternoon, we went back into Wellington and walked around the township. There are plenty of old buildings here.

Old Bank

Main St

Shell Fossil

Coral fossil.

Eastern Rosella.

It started raining overnight and continued all day. The first rain in a month, and it's cooled down to the low twenties now.

A great day to do the Cathedral Cave tour. These limestone caves are the home of Australian paleontology.
Fossil bones of both a diprotodon and a giant kangaroo were found in the caves, and they are still finding fossilised bones today.
The Cathedral Cave has a beautiful crystallised rock formation and an underground water source they call the well.

After the cave tour, we drove out to Burrendong Dam. Since there wasn't a day visitor area, we didn't stay long and instead headed over to the Burrendong Botanic Garden and Arboretum for a self-drive tour through their diverse plant collections.

Nice weather if you're a Duck.

Diprotodon.

Megalania scale model.

Cathedral Cave.

Before leaving Wellington Caves we visited the Toyama Osawano Japanese Gardens, the gardens were constructed in 1999, the funding was a gift donated by the Osawano town council.

We are now on our way to Parkes. We stopped in a little place called Yeoval which is the birth place and childhood home of Banjo Patterson. Some of the buildings in town have bicycles mounted on walls and in gardens as a tribute to Mulga Bills Bicycle.

Our last stop before Parkes was The Dish (Parkes Radio Telescope), built during the 1950's and opened in 1961.

Wellington Caves Japanese Garden.

Wellington Caves Japanese Garden. Goldfish.

Yeoval main st.

Yeoval Ghost sign

The two faces of Henry Moore.

Banjo Patterson Picnic shelter.

The Dish.

Skinny old house in Parks.

Parky.

Today we spent time at the HARS Aviation Museum. They have a great collection of helicopters and planes. Many from WWII & Vietnam. You can climb up into most of them and even sit in some of the cockpits.

It started to rain in the afternoon, so we relaxed back at the van before heading off for some tea at the pub.

Parks Post Office.

Crop duster.

Parkes Courthouse.

This morning we walked to the information centre, which has the Elvis Museum, a replica of the house where Henry Parkes lived in England and the History of Parkes Museum. Our walk took us via the old Bushmans mine site where the only reminder of the mining days is an old Chimmney. After collecting some pamphlets and getting some good information from the centre, we went into the History Museum. We spent a good hour or so in there.

There is a local swap meet, car show and shine in town on Saturday. The old cars met at a local park this evening and did a cruise along the main street of Parkes. We spent an hour sitting outside the local pub watching them go up and back down the street.

Another old steam engine in a park.

View from the chimney.

Bushmans Mine, Engine house chimney.

Old Jalopys.

Tractor steered with reins.

Cereal boxes from the past.

Phones.

Tommy Emmanuel's toy car collection.

Steam rollers.

The tractor shed.

Shame about the colour.

Gotta love a Skyline.

A man with class.

We drove to the Swap Meet and Car Show and Shine this morning. The swap meet was small but well laid out. There was a good display of cars to walk around, with many of the local clubs having their historic cars on display.

After lunch, we walked to the Historical Monument. This is Parkes War Memorial; there is a remembrance walk around the monument, and it has great views across Parkes and the surrounding district.

We then continued our walk to the local Parkes Brewery, which is located in the industrial site; we had a nice afternoon chatting to the Brewer and one of the locals.

The VW crew

I think he missed the shine bit.

Period traveling rig.

My vote for best in show.

Saucy

Classic.

The survivor row.

The Panel Vans were well represented.

The Parkes Monument.

And again.

Posh old house.

We left Parkes and headed to Condobolin. It's a nice country town, a lot bigger than we expected.

We set up camp at Blue Gum Bend Lake, a free camp. It's a lovely setting about 3 km from town, with a walking and cycling path not only around the lake but also into town as well.

In the afternoon, we rode into town and had a look around, stopped in at the local RSL for a refreshment, and then returned to camp, watched the sun set over the lake while our pork roasted over the campfire

Easy track to town.

Ready for summer.

Sunset over Blue Gum Bend Lake.

Sunday roast.

Today we rode into town and followed the cycling path out to the Utes in the paddock; it's set out at the Information Centre on the way into Codobolin. They are all Holden utes positioned by year of manufacture. Outback artists have painted each one with an Australian theme. We were surprised that there weren't any Fords as they invented the Ute.

From there, we rode to the town lookout, which offered great views across the town and district.

Goanna.

Ute of Arms.

Clean running backed by Ned.

The Stockman.

Ute- opia.

Circle work.

Wiradjuri Uth services.

Lots of Art Deco buildings in these parts.

Condobolin from the lookout.

Leaving Condobolin this morning, we headed along Lachlan Valley Way, following the sculpture trail to Forbes. The sculptures made the drive really interesting; some were along the Lachlan River, others were closer to the road. It took us 3 hours to cover the 100km to Forbes.

In the morning, there were what we thought were Bugs all over the Van and Car tyres. Turns out it was only their empty shells.

Bug shells on all the tyres in the morning.

Wandering.

Within - Without.

Heart of Country.

Between the Silence and the Heartbeat. (Linda for scale.)

Lachlan River.

Bird in hand.

Sonata.

Brumbies Run.

Road Kill.

amazing.

Tower.

Varanus (Goanna)

The Hunter.

Today we took the bikes out for a ride around Forbes. They have an excellent walking and cycling trail along Forbes Lake, stretching over 10km. Leaving the cycle trail, we visited the old Forbes train station, then rode to the cemetery and visited the graves of Ben Hall, Kate Kelly (Ned Kelly sister) & Rebecca Shields, a great-grandniece of Captain Cook.