A cold night in Hay, down to  minus 2.3 degrees. The car was frosted so I moved it into the sun to thaw. it was still 2 degrees in the shade at 10am when we left town.

Ice crystals on the windows

Ice patterns on the windscreen

Superb blue wrens were active in the trees around the motel in the morning.

The Murrumbidgee River at Hay. This was a major stock crossing before modern transportation.

We had been looking for yellow rosellas the past few days. A couple presented themselves on wires close to the river.

Hay Court House

The Mid-Western Highway outside Hay – give-way to livestock.

Mustering the traditional way.

Hay outside Hay

Open plains with barely a tree in sight outside Hay

Open plains give way to white pine forests

 

Hills appear near Rankin Springs

We pass into the Shire of Bland – I think they should talk themselves up a bit more.

We arrive in Rankin Springs and discover the creative pieces at Wally’s Junk Art Gallery

More of Wally’s work

Lunch was a bit slow at The Bluebird Cafe so we pushed on for West Wyalong.

Grain silos near Rankin Springs

On the way, we arrived at a tiny village called Weethalle with wheat silos and the Bland Shire served up something extraordinary – huge murals on the silos. They were painted in June this year and were of exceptional quality.

Wattle understory as we near West Wyalong

Most towns we have seen in this part of the world had very wide streets. West Wyalong was the exception.

Forbes has some impressive buildings such as the Town Hall.

Forbes Post Office

Pastures beside the Newell Highway

The Parkes radio-telescope is visible from the highway.

CSIRO’s Parkes Telescope is a 64 metre parabolic dish used for radio-astronomy. It was an integral part of communications in the Apollo 11 mission as portayed in the popular movie, The Dish. It is an impressive sight up close.

We were fortunate to see its motors re-position the dish.

There is a visitor centre with displays. Mirrors are used to educate visitors about the shape of lenses and parabolic surfaces. This mirror show how much our travelling group has trimmed down during our road trip.

We visit Peak Hill Cemetery for some family history and drive late in the day into Dubbo for the night. Emu count today: 4         Wedge-tailed eagle count today: 1