Ballina Bliss

2020 has been one heck of a rollercoaster ride for everyone. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen our lives turned upside down in more ways than one.  Garry and I have fared better than most.  Our business ultimately boomed during the year. Sales grew an extraordinary 74% as house-bound parents strived to keep their children entertained and bring a little joy in the midst of chaos.

However, the growth took its toll. We found ourselves working long hours, weekends and public holidays in an effort to keep on top of day-to-day tasks. We also took advance of the unique economic conditions to hire new staff and relocate the business into some superb new premises. These strategic investments all took their own toll on our sanity.

As Christmas approached, we were both in desperate need of a real down-time vacation. As a result, decided to book a two-week Summer break on the New South Wales north coast. In the COVID era, domestic travel is fraught with its own risks and challenges. As intermittent virus outbreaks continue to occur, State Governments are opening and shutting their borders with little warning. This invariably complicates the planning of every vacation.

To keep things stress free, Garry and I decided to limit ourselves to travelling within the state. We ultimately decided to book seven-nights at the Ramada Resort in Ballina after a coveted roof-top corner suite suddenly became available. We've stayed here twice before and have always said we'd return. Then, to complete the return home, we worked our way back down the coast, breaking the journey with three scenic stops overnight.

We started our road trip early on Boxing Day. A 7am departure saw us miss the worst of Sydney’s holiday traffic. We then broke up the drive to Ballina with an overnight stop in Port Macquarie.  This small regional city proved to be an unexpected highlight with its stunning harbour and coastal scenery, retail and dining options. The town is also famous for its Koala Hospital where injured animals are nursed back to health.

Further north, our journey was made easier thanks to the recent opening of a final section of “missing” dual carriageway on the Pacific Highway. You can now travel between Sydney and Brisbane without the notorious traffic bottlenecks and accident zones the highway has long been know for.  There are now just two remaining sections where traffic doesn't flow uninterrupted; Hexham/Raymond Terrace near Newcastle and Coffs Harbour.  However, construction is about to start on a by-pass around Coffs Harbour and funding has been approved for the missing Hexham link.

Garry and I spent seven glorious days in Ballina enjoying the uninterrupted river and coastal views from our penthouse suite. During our stay, we were entertained by soaring pelicans, dolphins plying the river, a green sea turtle and dive-bombing gulls. We did absolutely nothing and yet the days seem to fly.

Mudgee

Mudgee has got to be one of New South Wales’ best-kept secrets. This vibrant country town nestled in the foothills of the Goulburn River National Park proved to be an unexpected highlight on our recent inland road trip. Garry and I spent two nights here enjoying many of its popular attractions.

The town’s first highlight was our accommodation. We booked ourselves into a boutique B&B hotel called Hanger House. This modern building sits on the edge of the local airport’s runway. It features a dramatic curving roofline that encompasses a working aircraft hangar and five luxuriously appointed bedroom suites. It’s probably the only hotel we’ve ever stayed at where you fly in and park your plane inside the building.

We later learned from the owners that the hotel was originally built to house a flying school. However, this venture failed before it was launched. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. It was refreshing to sit on the balcony of our room, the Constellation Suite, and look out over the runway threshold and surrounding farmland.

The bulk of our stay was spent doing a private, full-day, wine tour of the Mudgee region with a small outfit called Country Escape Tours. I had no idea the area was filled with so many established wineries before planning our road trip. We sampled some impressive wines, including a sparkling wine called The Lucky Find. This unexpected find is aptly named. We felt it was equal to anything produced by a top French champagne house. 

We also dined one evening at the highly-rated Pipeclay Pumphouse. This fine dining restaurant located in the Robert Stein Vineyard & Winery served up an impressive meal. Our table looked out over a picturesque reed-fringed dam running along one side of the building. It was easily the best meal we experienced on our entire road trip.

The final night of our road trip saw us make our way over the Blue Mountains via Lake Windamere to Medlow Bath. Here we stopped overnight at the recently restored Hydro Majestic Hotel. We enjoyed a high tea in the main lounge shortly after checking in. This proved a fitting end to our inland travel adventure. I doubt we’d have planned such a thoroughly enjoyable holiday had the borders not been closed between New South Wales and neighbouring states. Perhaps the pandemic has a silver lining after all?

Western Plains Zoo

We’ve made a return visit to Dubbo’s Western Plains Zoo. Garry and I last visited in March 2005. At the time we took advantage of some cheap Qantas airfares, flew to Dubbo, and hired a car. I recall that our itinerary included a comprehensive visit to the Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran. The complex was hosting an open day that gave us a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at several observatories including the massive Anglo-Australian Telescope.

This time around, our visit to Dubbo was all about the Zoo. For starters, we booked accommodation in the Zoo’s Savannah Cottages located on the edge of its African grasslands exhibit. The cottages are set on a hill outside the boundaries of the Zoo so it wasn’t quite the immersive experience we’d hoped it would be. There is a lodge within the grounds that you can stay at, but it operates more like a hotel. Garry and I wanted something a little more self-contained, so we opted for one of the free-standing apartment-style cottages.

We booked two nights in Dubbo. The first evening ended up devoted to business. We spent the afternoon interviewing for a warehouse manager role our 3PL provider wanted to fill. By the time we were done, we’d spent more than four hours hosting a video call and subsequent debrief session. The shortlisted candidate we met didn’t impress us, so we felt we’d wasted half a day of annual leave.

The following day was spent almost entirely based at the Zoo. We drove from exhibit to exhibit, taking our time to soak up the scenery, spot the animals and enjoy their antics. Highlights included watching the giraffes and rhinos feed, getting up close and personal with the meerkats, and being entertained by the hyper-active otter families.

We then spent our final morning in town revisiting a few of our favourite animal exhibits at the Zoo before making our way to Mudgee via the historic gold-mining town of Gulgong. I’d never heard of this town before researching our road trip. 

Gulgong is the childhood home of bush poet Henry Lawson. Its narrow, winding streets are lined with dozens and dozens of beautifully preserved heritage-listed buildings. We spent an hour or so wandering through this 19th Century time capsule of town. I later read that around 130 buildings in Gulgone are listed on the National Trust’s register.

Finally, a quick shout-out to the famous Nyngan helicopter.  This unique display outside the defunct railway station in the centre of town memorializes dramatic rescues conducted by the Australian Air Force during record-breaking floods in April 1990.  At the height of the floods, more than 2,500 stranded residents had to be evacuated by helicopter from the railway station, the highest and only unflooded place in town. For us, the station was a handy pitstop on the long - and unbelievably straight - road between Bourke and Dubbo.

Out the back of Bourke

I can finally say that I’ve literally “been out the back of Bourke”. This classic Australian colloquialism typically refers to extremely remote locations. The term is very apt. I can testify that getting to Bourke is quite a journey. It took four days driving from Port Macquarie for Garry and I to finally reach this far-flung town.

 

I booked us into the Bourke Bridge Inn, a boutique hotel offering some smartly appointed semi-detached rooms in North Bourke. The nearby namesake bridge is the only crossing on the Darling River for more than 100km. The hotel sits on the edge of North Bourke overlooking the river and its original trestle-clad lift bridge that’s no longer in use.

 

Bourke proved a real highlight of our inland road trip. The town has a surprising number of tourist attractions including the impressive Back O' Bourke Information & Exhibition Centre. The centre houses a series of exhibits that bring to life the Outback and its history. We spent a couple of hours here discovering stories of early exploration, bush poets, local bush rangers, the grazing industry, outback legends, and conflicts.

We also went cruising the Darling River on the PV Jandra Paddleboat. The boat conveniently departed from a wharf upstream from our hotel. As a result, we got to see our hotel glide by while experiencing the historic lift bridge from a skipper’s vantage point. Cruising through the outback with a cold drink to hand was an incredibly relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

In its heyday, Bourke was a thriving inland port handling wool bound for world markets via the Darling River. At one time it was the world’s largest inland port. Three wharves originally stood where a current replica now stands. We spent a leisurely afternoon exploring this impressive multiple-level wooden structure and the neighbouring river park.

In a shed on the edge of the park, we came across a restored Crossley Engine on display and were lucky enough to see it in operation. This an excellent example of an early water-cooled four-stroke diesel-type engine that superseded the steam era. This particular engine was initially used from 1923 to 1938 in the Sydney Power House to generate electricity for Australia’s largest city.

However, this wasn’t the most extraordinary historical sight of significance we visited. On our way into Bourke, we stopped in Brewarrina to look at its Aboriginal fish traps. These traps consist of river stones arranged to form small channels along a 500-metre tiered section of the Barwon River. They direct fish into small areas from which they’re readily plucked.

The age of the fish traps is currently unknown. However, some historians speculate that they may be the oldest human construction in the world. Locals claim that the traps are at least 40,000 years old and thus the oldest surviving human-made structure in the world.

Lightning Ridge

I’ve always wanted to see Lightning Ridge. The town’s iconic status as an Outback frontier is almost mythical. It’s one of Australia’s best-known opal mining regions, alongside Cooper Pedy and White Cliffs. However, unlike its famous subterranean peers, Lightning Ridge is built entirely above ground. Apparently, the area’s geography isn’t suitable for excavating large, stable caverns.

As part of our recent COVID-restricted vacation, Garry and I stopped for two nights in this eccentric outback town. We filled our time with all manner of local attractions. Perhaps the most innovative of these was the car door tours. These are four self-driving tours for exploring the sights of Lightning Ridge. Each is marked by a coloured car door (green, blue, yellow, and red) from wrecked vehicles, erected roadside, and painted with numbers corresponding to sights marked on an accompanying handout.

We tried every tour route and made the most of their various stops along the way. Highlights included a self guided tour through the Walk In Mine (a discontinued Black Opal mine), Bevan’s Cactus Nursery, and a wander around the rather eclectic, Amigo's Castle.

However, the most photogenic highlight has to be the Corrugated Iron Church we visited on the Yellow Car Door tour. This rustic structure was built in 2000 as a film set for the movie "Goddess of 1967". The movie tells the story of a wealthy young Japanese man who comes to Australia to buy a Citroen (The Goddess). He ends up going on an outback tour reliving a dark past with his travelling companion.

We also visited a second mine near the local airport. The Big Opal mine is accessed via 130 steps descending a spiral staircase. Once underground a guide map leads you through rough hued rock tunnels dotted with nocks and crannies and rusting artefacts. If you look carefully, you can even see a couple of opal seams snaking along the walls and ceiling.

They say a visit to Lightning Ridge isn’t complete without a dip in the steaming waters of the local Artesian Bore Baths. It’s an extraordinary experience. The hot water in the baths comes from the local artesian bore supplying the township’s water. The water is naturally heated deep underground resulting in a constant bathing temperature between 40 to 50 degrees Celsius all year round. 

We gingerly eased ourselves into steaming water for a relaxing soak. Although, within 15 minutes or so  we both found the heat too much to bear. Our artesian experience almost didn’t happen. A few days earlier, we realised we’d forgotten to pack any swimmers. However, our momentary crisis was averted by a quick dash to K-Mart Tamworth to buy a discounted pair.

Our trip to Lightning Ridge also gave us an opportunity to see firsthand the work of John Murray, a popular local artist. He paints stunning, and often quirky, images of the Australian Outback. We currently have one of his prints on display in the boardroom of our new office.  It attracts plenty of accolades from visitors. Around Lightning Ridge, we saw several murals painted by John Murray including a rather humorous example depicting a flock of emus raiding lingerie on a clothesline.  

We made one final stop during our time in Lightning Ridge.  On our way out of town, we stopped to admire a towering metallic sculpture affectionately known as Stanley the Emu.  It's made entirely from recycled materials including the body of Volkswagon Bettle.

UPDATE: 18 December 2020

Lightning Ridge locals report that the corrugated iron church was destroyed in a freak storm this week. The structure was built largely from MDF and other temporary materials so its collapse was bound to happen at some point. It looks like Garry and I were lucky enough to see it before it was gone.

On the road to Lightning Ridge

The road to Lightning Ridge is long – or at the very least – our recent drive into the outback certainly was. We left Tamworth mid-morning after a brief drive up to the Oxley Scenic Lookout overlooking Tamworth, followed by a quick stop at the city’s iconic Golden Guitar. The view from the outlook was well worth the stop. Tamworth is bigger than you think (click on the panorama below and you’ll see what I mean).

Our drive inland took us first to Gunnedah. Here we stopped briefly at Porcupine Lookout to enjoy a picturesque view over the township. We then turned north and made our way to Narrabri and the CISIRO’s Paul Wild Observatory. This facility houses the Australia Telescope Compact Array, the perfect backdrop for a Hollywood science fiction blockbuster. 

 
The array is a radio telescope consisting of six identical 22-metre diameter dishes. Five of these can be moved along a 3km railway track while the sixth antenna is permanently fixed 3 km beyond the end of the track. A perpendicular spur tracks north for almost half a kilometre. Depending on the array’s final configuration, astronomers can set up an observation base line up to six kilometres long, or focus it over as little as 15 metres.

Our visit was timed perfectly. All of the mobile dishes were configured in close proximity making for some dramatic images. We spent an hour exploring the CSIRO’s informative visitor’s centre, and wandering the array trackway, before enjoying a late picnic lunch in the shadow of the array itself.

After lunch, we took to the road again and continued driving towards Lightning Ridge. We were surprised to see how lush and green the interior looks after its recent drought-busting rain. Our final hour of driving was a little hair-raising as our arrival in Lightning Ridge occurred 30 minutes after sunset. Australia’s native fauna is particularly active at dusk. As a result, driving on country roads in the early evening is rather risky. I’m pleased to report that we arrived safely without incident.