Note to self

The station attendant was startled by the flash!

Carry cash!  At home we rely heavily on EFTPOS, so make a conscious effort to remember to have  "real money" with us when traveling into more regional areas.

We had collected Erin from the zoo around 4:00pm.  As fuel wasn't an issue then, we didn't stop again at Dubbo but continued on - conscious that Nick would have to work later that night.  By the time we reached Merriwa (pop. approx 1,000) at 8:00pm, Elmer was desperately in need of a drink!

The town was in darkness and we at first thought this small petrol station was closed too, which was somewhat concerning!  A fellow came out though and fortunately advised he couldn't take EFTPOS before he started filling our tanks.  (As we were only 230ish km from home, we weren't expecting a cash-only service).  We were directed to another servo up the road but it was shut.  Luckily we found an ATM, withdrew some cash and returned to fill the main tank.

We finally arrived home at around 10:00pm (after stopping for Hungry Jack's near Cessnock).  Nick managed a far too brief one-hour nap before heading up to Newcastle for a midnight start.   

Barrel of dreams

It is fairly typical that we photographed the welcome sign - on the way home!  These agitators, more usually seen attached to cement trucks, were a common sight at Lightning Ridge - though generally not as well painted!

We only stayed a few minutes because we were keen to get moving. It was a long road home - even longer than the trip up as this time we were making a 60 kilometre detour to collect Erin from Western Plains Zoo (at Dubbo) en route.

Heading home

Given neither of us was feeling 100% (nor had we slept well), the pack-up was achieved fairly smoothly.

Vaughan assisted to deflate the airbeds, then wandered off - at least he didn't hamper our efforts!

You can see Simon and Rachael's fantastic trailer in shot - with their up-ladder, cubby house bed.  They traveled with kayaks - and a coffee machine!

We were quite impressed by Simon's handiwork.

Sunrise ...

Our tent is made from a polyester material and therefore the morning light filters inside with very little blocking.

We were up early every morning but even beat the "alarm clock bird" on our last day!

Lorne lunatics?!

Our camp is behind the buildings you can just see.

Nick and Vaughan went exploring while I had an afternoon nap (trying to sleep off a lurgi).  They returned to camp, keen to show me what they had found - the missing Lunatic Hill overburden!

The two of them had ridden across the paddocks on bikes, which was an impressive undertaking.  I wasn't up to bike-riding though, so we all returned in Elmer to marvel at the man-made "mountain" and sit for a while overlooking Lorne Station.  Vaughan embellished his earlier mutant lizard rock drawings, before we all headed down again.

Missed a bit(e)!

A very blonde (and cranky) shingleback!

These guys look slow (and often are) but when cranky, they move a lot faster - just ask Nick! 

Vaughan has been instructed not to catch shinglebacks  by the tail as they can swing round and bite.  He caught this one first, muttering to himself about not touching the tail.  The lizard was quite agitated though and understandably Vaughan put it back down fairly quickly.  Nick then had a turn at capturing but didn't follow his own advice, so  was bitten - hard!  He said it felt like his fingers had been slammed in a vice.  And yes, there was blood!

I missed getting a photo (or footage) of the actual bite - sadly!

More water!

Simon and Rachael had told us about more flood waters just outside of town, so we went for a look when taking Elmer for a test drive.

We turned down Onyx Street and soon found all the water.