Travels with a Tick Magnet: Not a hat but a bowler

Bird of the Day: Several contenders but the lifer, Plum-headed Finch, first spotted by Frances, wins out over Yellow-throated Miners and Spotted Bowerbirds . In terms of greatest number the hordes of Apostlebirds narrowly defeat the many Black Kites (12 on one former 'roo) outside Nyngan.

Plant of the day: Cotton fields! They don't have to be native.

Scene of the Day: Working mine at Cobar

Art of the day: Mural at coffeeshop in Trangie

Typically Australian thing of the day:: Railway line paralleling the road.

Maximum Temperature: 14 Minimum temperature 10

Distance traveled with camper 353 without camper 10

We packed up the camper and headed off to revisit some of the sites from my hitchhiking trip (vintage 1971) from Sydney to Peterborough in South Australia. The back story to this is irrelevant but I decided to travel via Broken Hill and thus:

left Sydney at about 8am;
came through Dubbo (about mid-afternoon) and
ended up 2 miles West of Cobar about midnight, and slept under a tree.

Things were a bit different then.

The first town West of Dubbo was Narromine where the big item is this statue to Glenn McGrath, a fast bowler for Australia who grew up in that town.

Near the statue is the cenotaph: add one to the town count.

This is cotton country and this was stored outside a gin just East of Trangie (I think).

The Services Club is in the main street and by featuring this artillery rates IMHO as a memorial (but see below).

They had plenty of pubs, some displaying their policy on dealing with drunk people - suggesting there is a high need for such a policy. There were several people anxiously awaiting the opening of the hostelries (at about 10am on a Sunday) adding further strength to that opinion. There was also a coffee shop - not open - which was decorated with pleasant murals rather than the policy on time wasting by cappuccino drinkers.

This vintage fire engine was used when the town was not serviced by the RFS. Its more recent history is serving as mascot for the local car club.

Now that's a War Memorial.

So is this in the much smaller settlement of Nevertire a few kilometres West.

We found that the own of Warren was only a few kilometres of the highway, and was not really likely to form part of any other expedition so felt we should go and check it out. They had a War Memorial ...

.. and are surrounded by cotton fields. Now we are quite used to seeing emus in the West, but this is the first time I have ever seen them (about a dozen) in a cotton field!

Warren also had a wetland which was rather disappointing until I realised that the 'aberrant sparrows' were in fact Plum-headed Finches. This is a species I have been expecting to find every time we went West of Yass, but this was the lifer!

The War memorial in Nyngan was fairly standard, but this mural, a little further down the street seemed rather more interesting.

On my earlier trip this town was interesting as it was the end of one of the hairiest lifts I have ever got. The driver was quite OK to start with, but took one stubby and changed into a maniac who insisted on telling me - aged about 24 - all his problems while driving at an alarming speed. He dropped me off at the Y-intersection West of town (I thought about 2km away in '71, but now seems on the edge of the houses) where one road goes to Bourke and the other to Broken Hill. When it's dark and you're hitching it seems very remote!

Yep, we were in cattle country!