Sunshine, where are you?

It seemed to take us ages to pack up the camper trailer. It wasn't that it was difficult, its just that we seem to have so much stuff to pack – and what goes in first and what is wanted out first are decisions that have to be made – and agreed on by both of us! As it was we managed to get things wrong! I had forgotten that rain had been forecast for this evening and I foolishly tucked the laptop under the mattress and put the sleep attire under the pillows and then we folded the camper tent down on them. Big mistake! When rain started to spit at 2.30 we found a place to pull off the road and we undid the tent and Colin crawled in to retrieve the laptop – but he couldn't reach our pj's. We packed the tent up tight again and almost as soon as we were on the road the rain started in earnest – and this story is being written in the comfort of a motel room!(which is why I wanted the laptop and pj's!) But I am starting the story of our day at the end.
We enjoyed our regular but simple breakfast – Colin has cereals and I have toast and home made marmalade – and I made a couple of sandwiches for our roadside lunch and filled a thermos with hot water
I slept well – but I can sleep on a barbed wire fence! Colin however complained bitterly about the bed being lumpy and uncomfortable – He should be OK tonight! Reminder … blow the bed up completely before using. That was the problem!
A few pictures from our drive today – they all seem to be around the one town. Nyngan. We stopped there briefly and I took the opportunity to run about with my point and shoot!

The first picture was just along the road somewhere between here and there – I spotted the train coming and although I did have time to drive across the crossing before it reached the road I decided to stop and wait – it was too good a photo opportunity! I shooed Colin out of the vehicle to use his camera and I used mine from behind the steering wheel! This is a crossing without warning lights (or barriers) so drivers have to look up the line to see if a train is coming.

A wall mural in the little town of Nyngan where we used their bathroom facilities caught my attention.

Bright and colourful and attractive.

I climbed onto the foot bridge over the railway line beside the old station and took a shot of the buildings I could see in the town when I looked back.

The last photo for today was taken as we drove out of Nyngan. Colin had taken the wheel to give me a break when I yelled for him to stop. Fortunately there was no-one behind us because he did come to a rather sudden stop! The sight of camels at the side of the road was just too good to not take a photo! One of the Visions topics for photos this month is “signs” and here were camels beside colourful signs - perfect for our topic!

The rain started to pelt down around three in the afternoon so we decided that we would book into a motel for the night. And this is where we are right now. We are at Cobar which once had the largest copper mine in Australia. Copper lost its value after WW1 and Cobar shrank from a population of over ten thousand to less than one thousand after the mines closed.
The entry to the town is very different – huge slag heaps stretch beside the road. Left overs from the mining times.
AJ