The Dubbo Chronicles ... 2nd Road Trip

Last week I was away again on another work trip, travelling round various new emergency departments and gathering feedback from them about their designs (what works well, what they wouldn't do again, and why). We start the schematic phase our plans for the new department next month, so it was important we concluded all our R&D this month. Which has meant that I have got to see more of the state on my 1400km round trip.

It was a sunny morning when we set off from Dubbo, north towards Tamworth.

As we headed north the miles and miles of arid land started to green up a little...

 Above: View just outside Coolah.

Below: View around about Premer.

When we arrived in Tamworth we discovered it happened to be the Tamworth Country Music Festival week. So after a few hours at the ED there, we headed into town to grab a bite to eat and look around...

The awards for the festival include the Golden Guitar Award, hence the large golden guitar. It is somewhat obligatory to have one's photo taken next to the big guitar, so we did...

After an early night we set off at 7am for our next destination, Port Macquarie, on the east coast...

The scenery started off fairly similar to that of most of the western NSW area, but then little by little gave way to greener pastures and forest...

 Above and Below: Views soon after leaving Tamworth.

Below: Views as we started to enter the Cottan-Bimbang National Park.

There was a steady climb up hill as we went through the forest, which was full of ferns and eucalypts, including some quite old ones...

There were signs along the way warning drivers to beware of Kangaroos, Koalas and even Wombats.

Through the forest we started out descent to the plains of the east coast...

It was a lot greener on this side of the mountain range...

After arriving in the early afternoon and spending a couple of hours at the ED there, we took a break and I managed to go to the beach for the first time in 3 years I've been here...

Although there were a couple of beaches with marauding children and loud families (being school holidays), there were also several which were strangely devoid of people, even though the adjacent bays were heaving. 

This is Rocky Beach, just above Flynn's beach...

I took a coastal walk along all of the beaches...

 

The walk took me past Sea Acres Rainforest National Park...

Which is where I came across this strange bird on a track, which I've since found out is an Australian Brush Turkey...

Eventually I made it past Miner's beach up to tacking point light house...

The lighthouse is Australias 3rd oldest.

Tacking point was named by Matthew Flinders on his circumnavigation of Australia in 1802. 

Above: The original lighthouse plans.

I climbed down the hill on to the rocks to get closer to the crashing surf...

Having finished by coastal walk I headed inland and was surprised to find a field full of camels! Not what I was expecting, but evidently camel rides are quite popular.

The next morning we set of to Sydney to visit a further two EDs there.

It was a fine sunny morning, but the trip was long and the scenery unchanging. The road unfortunately does not follow the coast, due to the coves and peninsulas, and so it was the freeway all the way down to Hornsby.

Concluding our business for that day we checked into the hotel. What a view...

Above and below: The view from my bedroom window by day and by night.

The following day, after visiting our last ED we headed back west to Dubbo. It took us 6 hours, and as we drew closer to home it was clear a storm was setting in. We made it home before it started pelpting down with rain, and I managed to get some dramatic stormy pics as we drove...

Above and Below: Views near Lake Windamere.

 Above "Lone Tree 1"

Below: Stormy Hill

 Above: "Love Tree 2"

Above: "Rain on the horizon".

This coming week we are off on an overnight trip to Wagga Wagga, to see the new ED there, which has only been open for 2 weeks. It's great to learn from one's mistakes, but its even better to learn from those of others. Hopefully we can avoid many pitfalls in our new development by doing the rounds. 

A picture paints a thousand words...

Well, it's been a while. Thank you to all our dear followers who emailed, texted or tweeted to find out what we've been up to and why we have not posted anything for a month now. Do not fear, all is OK, but it's been a busy time at work and at WBP, moving things a long. 

I have just come back from a few days at home this week. Last weekend was Peter's farewell from the cathedral and they put on a series of leaving dos. His last official day is tomorrow before he 'retires' to manage WBP full time, and we have come up with a list as long as his arm of things he has to do before spring arrives. We managed to make a good start of things last weekend (photos to follow).

The weekend before last I was down in Sydney for the first time since I moved to Australia (I had been down twice for rushed daytime business meetings, but not socially). So I decided, given I had a rare 2 days off in a row, to go to visit my aunt Pam and uncle David.

They had arranged a lovely time for me. I got to see my cousin play for Manly United Football Club (at the height of the hype of the world cup); and I also got to do some shopping. 

Pam and I took a drive around the inner suburbs visiting plenty of antique shops. The one I fell in love with was called Austiques in Glebe. It was run by an expat Julie, from Lancashire, and her husband Ron. They were absolutely lovely and I ended up buying 5 oil paintings for Willowbrook, the tallest one over 7 feet tall (seen behind me in the photo below).

Above: the lovely Julie and me, at Austiques in Glebe. Behind us are a couple of the paintings I bought.

Below: Some of Julie's other lovely wares...

She had an amazing array of clocks, French porcelain, continental furniture and art. Here are the paintings we purchased. Below: Unsigned English oil painting of Galleons, 19th C.

Above and Below: Unsigned Italian Landscapes (modern), but in the style of 17th C landscape artists such as Claude Lorrain. I think they will look lovely in the Blenheim suite and will fit the bill for decorating a Georgian period house as if recherchéd on a grand tour.

Below: The tall 18th C styled oil of a classical scene, likely Rome, showing a bishop and courtiers amongst an architectural capricio...

Above and Below: Details from the painting.

Below: A pair of Nubian candelabrae. I almost bought them, but it is going to be difficult enough getting the paintings to NZ let alone these.

Above: The final painting we bought, a copy of Melchior de Hondecoeter's 17th century painting "Peacock and a Peahen on a Plinth, with Ducks and Other Birds in a Park". There have been many variations on this painting since the original. This one most closely resembles our painting...

other variations include...

a version with the monkeys and fruit on the lower right hand corner...

others have more birds, architectural capricios and farmyard animals...

There was also a collection of bear themed furniture, which on the whole I didn't fancy, but I somehow thought this bench with a carved back including a bear showing his belly was quite amusing...

It would go well in a hunting lodge with a large black forest cuckoo clock and perhaps this other hunting themed furniture there...

After a day of antique shopping, suburb cruising and a few drinks we had the most amazing 7 course degustation meal at an asian fusion restaurant in Pott's Point called Jimmy Lik's...

Above: David and Pam, at Jimmy Lik's.

We then went to a bar in Darlinghurst Rd called Eau de Vie and had a few more interesting cocktails before clambering into the back of a cab and hightailing back to bed.