30 May to 1 June – Cowra – We planned a 200km drive east to the town of Cowra, leaving the Riverina and entering the Western NSW District. Google Maps offered three routes, and we took the shortest, but I doubt it was the best. The road surface varied from bad to terrible, mobile connection was very sparse and things of interest were few. The only town of significance along the way was Grenfell, a former gold mining centre and having a lovely streetscape along its main road.

We set up in the Cowra Showgrounds, which supplied power and water, toilets and showers, for only $30 a night.  There were a reasonable number of people there, some semi-permanent, and some tourists like us. We were next to a friendly couple from Geelong who were heading to Queensland.

There are a few attractions in Cowra. There was a major internment camp here during WWII which housed Italian, Indonesian and Japanese internees. The Italians were very popular around the district as farm workers. However, the Japanese were mostly sailors from ships that had been sunk and were considered a security risk. In 1944, a dispute boiled over and 1000 Japanese staged a breakout, resulting in around 230 being killed, and 5 Australian guards losing their lives. For many years after the war, the incident was kept from the public, but is now the source of a significant bond between Cowra and Japan. There is a large and very beautiful Japanese Garden on the hills near where the camp stood, and a cemetery that houses all those who perished. The gardens are a lovely place to do a slow wander, admiring the beautiful blend of nature and formality that characterises Japanese gardens.

Underneath the Lachlan River Bridge, near the old crossing, the local high school students have created some wonderful aboriginal themed murals on the bridge supports. It creates a great display and keeps the graffiti down at the same time.

At the Information Centre, a wonderful display has been set up featuring a holographic young woman from 1944 who tells the story of the breakout, and how her boyfriend was interred in Singapore’s Changi prison at the time. It is incredibly realistic and moving. The show runs continuously in a loop and is free.

We drove out to the site of the internment camp to take in a bit more of the history. The incident remains an important part of what Cowra is today.

Cowra is also home to the Lachlan Valley  Heritage Railway, something that attracted us. It runs tours on the fourth weekend of the month so it was ideal. The Cowra line has been closed since 1982 but the LVHR has run various steam locos on sections of the old line. Currently, the two locos are undergoing extensive overhauls and they are hoping to eventually start up an overnight trip to Woodstock, a trip of about 25km. Currently, the trips are restricted to using some old Diesel railcars from 1927 to do a short journey down to the Lachlan River bridge and back. It was great fun, with a couple of volunteers giving terrific insight into how the rail used to run. The train used was featured in a Home and Away segment where there was a big train crash in a tunnel. The volunteers assisted with the shoot, running the train up and down the lines as needed, although the tunnel used was elsewhere.

Back at the station, we had a marvellous Devonshire tea in a beautiful 100 year old dining car that used to do the Sydney to Albury run. This was also used in the Home and Away scenes. Then it was off to the old rail depot that the heritage society uses as a museum and work are for restoration projects. A feature was an old sleeper carriage, used on the Sydney Canberra and housed many politicians of the day. The timber work and cabinetry was outstanding and even the leather work was in good condition. Each compartment had two bunks, a wash-up area and wardrobe. We inspected the two locos that are being worked on but there is obviously a long way to go. I am always in awe of the people who volunteer so much tie and work so hard on rail preservation work. It is preserving history, because it is the railways that allowed the country to open up and supported so many aspects of life up until the 1970s. Sadly, we have lost something with their decline.

2-6 June – Canowindra – We awoke to terrible conditions, strong winds and heavy rain throughout the night. The showground campground was awash, although, thankfully, our van was saved from being in a lake like some were. We had done most of the work towards moving the previous night but even so, it was so bad we went back to bed for a while until things eased.

We drove north to Canowindra, a short drive of 35km. It would not have wanted to be longer, with the wind building all the time. Our intention was to go to the campgrounds, but they were awash, like Cowra, so we headed back to the little caravan park near the bridge over the Belabula River. It only holds ten vans or so but is well laid out, clean and has large concrete pads, much better than grass when the weather is bad. We managed to get a dry time to set up. After lunch, the radar showed a lengthy dry time so we walked into the main part of town. The historic main street has some lovely old buildings, although many are in a state of disrepair. There was a good variety of shops, but the majority were closed. A local walking along the street told us that most closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Even so, we enjoyed the walk.  The fine weather did not last long, and much of the afternoon was spent huddled inside.

Canowindra has a solid history with the famous bushrangers on NSW. On several occasions in 1863, a gang which included Ben Hall and John Gilbert, held the town hostage, including the constable, in one of the hotels. The residents were free to choose refreshments of their choosing. The  troopers were unable to intervene because the Belabula River was in flood and they were on the wrong side.

A much publicized attraction in Canowindra is the Age of Fishes Museum, which displays a lot of the fossils from a nearby site which contains a huge amount of fossils from Devonian times. The museum is well done, especially for children and as an educational feature. We enjoyed an hour going through learning about the amazing fish of 360 million years ago.

Our plan was to use Canowindra as a hub to explore around the region, Forbes, Parkes, Grenfell and Eugowra, all former gold mining towns and the haunts of bushrangers such as Ben Hall and Captain Midnight. The agricultural hub of Orange would be another destination to the east.

Parkes – Parkes is famous as the site of the “Dish”, a large radio astronomy observatory which featured in the movie of the same name. It is a medium sized town of around 10,000 people and seemed to have most things one needs for life. The whole town appears to be obsessed with Elvis, because there are statues and pictures everywhere. It started back in 1992 when a couple running a restaurant held and “Elvis’ Birthday” party on January 8th and it turned into an annual event. It now is a week of celebrations  and attracts 25,000 people, with Elvis tributes, an Elvis themed special train from Sydney and one huge party. It is one of those place you are sure to run into Elvis.

Forbes – Not far south of Parkes is Forbes, a former gold mining centre and hub of a strong agricultural industry. Around here, every second truck is carrying livestock and most vehicles seem to be utes. The architecture in Forbes is far grander than Parkes, probably because of the mining money, but the now the town has that “just hanging on” look, with lots of property for sale and empty shops. Parts of the Central West have only just emerged from a prolonged drought and that might be the reason for the appearance of a town struggling.

Eugowra – A small town between Forbes and Canowindra. It is famous as the site of a daring robbery by Frank Gardiner and Ben Hall when they heisted 77kg of gold from a Cobb and Co stagecoach from Forbes. In todays terms, that is more than $15 million. We stopped at a very popular hamburger van in the main street and treated ourselves to a rare “bad burger and chips.” It was delicious.

Orange – As a city of over 40,000, we had low expectations but were very pleasantly surprised. The drive across from Canowindra was around 65kms but much of the potentially great view was obscured by a widespread misting rain and fog. Fortunatley, all that evaporated as we reached Orange itself. The central CBD was busy and vibrant, despite the cold weather with the temperatures for the day in the 2 to 8 range. The drive into the city from Canowindra was along very beautiful tree lines streets with beautiful federation style and 1930s cottages on big urban blocks and lovely gardens. It was more like a drive into a similar sized town somewhere in England. The traffic was very heavy in the CBD, but we did manage to find parking behind the shops on the main street and spent a leisurely time strolling the streets, finding a charging cable to replace one that was misbehaving and picking up a few rolls for lunch.  We stopped at a beautiful park called Cook Park to have lunch. It had the biggest sequoia tree that I have ever seen and gives a bit of insight into what the giants must be like in their native California. The drive back was even worse conditions, with persistent rain for most of the way.

Grenfell – The King’s Birthday long weekend is the time for the annual Henry Lawson Festival in Grenfell, about 65km SW of us. By the Saturday, the weather had finally dried up, with mostly blue skies, although still very cold in the morning with 2 degrees overnight. The crowds were reported as being big so we thought the traffic might build, but we had a very easy drive and even found a good parking spot close to all the action in the main street. The first thing we encountered as we turned towards the street was a Cobb and Co stagecoach with two heavy horses. Later, we took a ride in the coach, around a block of streets. I was surprised at the fast clip that the two horses managed. The ride was reasonable comfortable, although the roads would not have been anything like those encountered in the 1860s.

Statues, pictures and caricatures of Henry Lawson were in abundance around the town, including a large head plonked in the middle of a round-about. It was a mix of honouring the past and taking the piss, which was pretty much on par for the whole festival. I don’t think anyone took things too seriously, but it was a good opportunity for a street full of stall, some good food choices, a local art competition and a photography display. The street parade was fun, with some very beautiful old cars on display. The main activity for most people was greeting others that they “hadn’t seen for ages” and having big group hugs. That means the festival was doing its job of bringing people together. We loved it.

Tomorrow, we leave the Central West Region of NSW to move north. Despite the weather, we have enjoyed our time, and have been glad we chose to set up a base camp and explore around without the caravan. We must do more this way in the future because we get to experience more.