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.

Walcha to the sea

While the state’s borders remain closed indefinitely, we’ve nowhere to go. Garry and I decided it was the perfect time to visit a few of our own state’s iconic destinations. We also thought we'd take advantage of finally having capable staff in the office able to manage things whenever we're absent. We mapped out a last-minute road trip that ultimately took us up the coast as far as Port Macquarie, then inland to visit Garry’s childhood friend in Walcha and on to Tamworth.

We then headed north towards Lightning Ridge, and on to Bourke before returning to Sydney via Dubbo, Mudgee, and the Blue Mountains. I was excited to finally see such iconic places as Lightning Ridge and Bourke. Both towns didn’t disappoint. I’ll post more about our inland adventures in the days ahead. 

UPDATE: I've now added a series of links above for posts on each listed location. Read and enjoy!

For now, here are some highlights of our first few days on the road. We started our journey with two nights at Myall Lakes based in the Bombala Eco Cottages. We stayed here several years ago and loved the experience. Our return visit proved just as impressive.

It was then on to Port Macquarie via Forster where we made time to visit Port Macquarie’s famous Koala Hospital. From here we moved on to Walcha where Garry’s mate, Danny, took us to see the spectacular Apsley Falls. We were both surprised to discover that these falls cascade into a deep sharp-edged canyon. 

The first drop of the falls is about 65 metres, and the second, which is about 800 metres further on, plummets another 58 metres into the bottom of the gorge. I can see why these falls are considered among the most remarkable along the Eastern seaboard.  Although brief, our overnight stop in Walcha was precious. It was great to catch up again with Danny and Agnes and their kids after so many years.

Flying in the COVID era

Garry and I have enjoyed our first flight since the COVID-19 pandemic all but shut down the world's aviation sector.  I surprised Garry for his birthday with a seaplane flight to Berowra Waters for lunch at Berowra Waters Inn.  I've always wanted to dine at this iconic Australian culinary institution.  However, its relatively remote location made it challenging to organise an outing.

The restaurant is located on the banks of Berowra Creek (a tributary of the Hawkesbury River). It's only accessible by water. Guests arrive either by boat from nearby wharves or by seaplane from Sydney's seaplane base at Rose Bay. The original restaurant was established by Gay and Tony Bilson in 1975. Since then a number renown celebrity chefs have owned and operated the restaurant in its distinctive glass-fronted building. 

I booked our outing months ago.  As a result, I endured a few nerve-wracking days last week as wet and windy weather swept across Sydney.  However, I needn't have worried. Saturday dawned bright and clear with sunny and ambient conditions.

Our flight from Rose Bay included a brief figure of eight around the inner harbour before heading around North Head and up the Northern Beaches coastline. The view was simply sublime.  We landed a few hundred metres from the restaurant after an exhilarating descent that saw us wind our way through the valleys framing Berowra Creek.

Lunch was a decadent eight-course degustation menu that included plenty of local and native produce.  It was hard to pick a favourite course.  However, the Kangaroo Pastrami was a winner for me while Garry went for the Tooheys Old & Malt ice cream.  Both of us also enjoyed the restaurant's signature dish of Crab Custard and Miso.

Garry's birthday outing had one more unexpected surprise. On the way home the pilot invited him to sit in the co-pilot's seat and enjoy an unrivalled view of the Sydney region as we returned to Rose Bay.  Our first COVID-era flights were definitely well worth the wait!

The second wave

2020 is undoubtedly turning into a year none of us will ever forget. With three months remaining the flood of extraordinary news headlines continues unabated. Since I last posted about the global COVID-19 pandemic so much has happened here in Australia and internationally.

Less than three weeks after my last post on 6 June things took a nasty turn in Australia. In late June, the Victorian State Government announced a re-tightening of social distancing restrictions after an unexplained spike in community transmitted cases. It soon emerged that disease prevention protocols had failed within the state’s hotel quarantine program for returning international travellers. Hotel staff and security personnel at two hotels had contracted COVID-19 and subsequently taken it out in the broader community.

Infected people then began travelling interstate triggering new outbreak clusters in New South Wales and Queensland. In Victoria, the situation deteriorated rapidly. As the graph published here shows positive tests, hospitalisation and COVID-related deaths began climbing to levels previously unseen in Australia. While these statistics are still remarkably low by global standards, the pandemic has resulted in this nation's worst recession since the Great Depression.

In response to Victoria's second wave, the nation experienced another soul-numbing round of unprecedented headlines. First, international flights to Melbourne ceased and its hotel quarantine program was suspended. Australia's second-largest city was effectively cut off from the rest of the world.

Then, on 8 July, the Victorian and NSW interstate border closed for the first time in more than a century. Queensland subsequently closed its border with NSW just weeks after finally reopening for the first time in four months. This meant that those of us living in Sydney found ourselves constrained within our home state's borders for the first time in living memory.

On 7 July, after recording 191 new cases, the Victorian Government announced that metropolitan Melbourne would re-start lockdown restrictions for a minimum of six weeks. Four weeks later these restrictions were extended across the entire state of Victoria.

The state's lockdown restrictions were tightened again in August to include a night curfew in Melbourne. Non-essential businesses were forced to close and residents were largely confined to their homes. Those venturing out for exercise or grocery shopping were restricted to travelling within a zone that extended no more than 5km from their home. In Sydney, Victorian travellers arriving by air were also forced into compulsory quarantine for the first time.

The death toll in Victoria rose rapidly reaching 805 people as of yesterday. Positive infections passed 20,000 recorded cases. Prior to the second wave, Australia's national death toll has stalled at a remarkably low 104 people.

Restrictions finally began to ease in Victoria in late-September as new case numbers dropped into the low teens. Clusters that had broken out in NSW were also brought under control thanks to new restrictions and world-class contact tracing. As of today, NSW has reported eight consecutive days with zero community transmission. In Sydney, daily life is slowly starting to feel normal again.

International travel remains effectively banned in Australia. Residents cannot leave the country without a permit that’s often difficult to obtain and those who return are transferred into compulsory quarantine for 14 days at their own expense. The intake of international travellers is also capped at 4000 people per week.

These restrictions are expected to remain in place until at least March or April next year. As a result, Garry and I have made new plans for our Summer vacation. We'll be staying within our home state and travelling up the North Coast for two weeks on Boxing Day.

We’ve booked ourselves into a corner suite at the waterfront Ramada Hotel in Ballina for a week. We last stayed there in 2016 while on business and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We’ll then make our way back down to Sydney stopping for several days in a series of scenic spots. Our itinerary includes the picturesque waterfalls at Dorrigo National Park, Harrington and Port Stephens.

Internationally, the news remains grim. The USA, Europe and India saw positive cases rise again as initial lockdown restrictions were eased in June. In the UK daily cases now exceed those reported during the pandemics initial outbreak. In the USA more than 200,000 people have died and more than 7 million infected. Globally the death toll has soared past 1 million souls.

Then, just when we thought we’d seen the last of COVID's stunning headlines, the President of the United States and the First Lady were diagnosed with COVID-19 yesterday. The President’s infection comes less than a month before the US Presidential Election. Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, are now under quarantine for several weeks.

It’s almost impossible to overstate the impact this has on his re-election campaign. Trump was already behind in national polls and actively redirecting the daily narrative away from his handling of the pandemic. Now he and many of his key campaign operatives are unable to venture beyond their homes. October surprises really don't get any bigger than this.

In public, Trump has downplayed the pandemic's seriousness. He’s ignored social distancing measures on numerous occasions and disregarded guidelines from top health advisors. Once again, this persistent virus has demonstrated how incredibly virulent it really is. It’ll be interesting to see how this week’s events affect the election on 3 November.

Free at last

Something extraordinary is unfolding in the state of New South Wales (NSW). The State Government has been progressively easing social distancing restrictions since 15 May. It looks increasingly likely they've timed the unwinding of our lockdown remarkably well.

According to today's newspaper, NSW has recorded zero locally-acquired coronavirus infections for a tenth day; and no new imported cases in the past 24 hours. Since May 27, the only infections reported in the state have been associated with overseas travellers under hotel quarantine.

Currently, every person entering the state from overseas is immediately transferred into a Government-funded mandatory quarantine facility. These are normally specially designated hotels and serviced apartments around Sydney.

These facilities are closely monitored. We have one near our apartment. Outside the building's main lobby is a permanent police presence while private security guards monitor the perimeter of the grounds. At first, the quarantine restrictions seemed rather harsh. However, today's news highlights how effectively they've contained new outbreaks of COVID-19. Two months ago nobody dared imagined NSW might find itself completely virus-free by mid-June.

New Zealand is currently well ahead of Australia. It's recorded no new COVID-19 cases for more than 14 days. The last person known to have contracted the virus domestically from an unknown source was diagnosed on 29 April and remained in quarantine until 18 May. Currently, it only has one active and confirmed case being monitored, an anonymous woman in Auckland who returned with the illness from overseas.

Scientists hope to declare New Zealand virus-free by 25 June i.e. 28 days of no new locally transmitted infections. This timeframe is the equivalent of two standard infection cycles. Authorities are increasingly optimistic that a trans-Tasman travel bubble could soon follow. This would allow Australians and New Zealanders to travel freely between both nations and provide a much-needed boost for the tourism and hospitality sectors of both nations.

UPDATE: 8 June 
New Zealand's last remaining virus patient has officially recovered. This means there are no active cases in the country.

UPDATE: 12 June
After a clear run for more than two weeks, a locally-acquired infection was reported in NSW today.  It's still out there!