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NARRANDERA
Narrandera is a known for it's grain & sheep. The surrounding country is flat with long straight roads that go on and on. See photos below. The good thing about New South Wales is it's parking stops along the highway. Other States don't seem to do this. They should take note. Some are like a little oasis in the desert. See photo below. Canal irrigation is big in these parts as you can see from the picture below, all the way from the Murray River and now the Murrumbidgee River. Not so sure that should be allowed. Surely these rivers can't continue to supply so many farms.
There wasn't much of interest to me in Narrandera. They have a Koala forrest that we drove through and didn't see one Koala. There is an old railway bridge that is built of hard wood and iron. There is a unique fountain in town that is ceramic, made by Royal Doulton. Unfortunately I missed seeing that as I worked from the Caravan Park on Friday.
We stayed at Narrandera Caravan Park just out of town. It's a small, quiet park on the highway, but the truck traffic didn't really bother us. There is a big Servo across the road if you need quick supplies. The park has a pool which another bigger park in town on the river doesn't so I was happy about that. For $35 a night, it was sufficient for us. The internet is fast which was a bonus, however the ants also were fast. It was painful trying to keep them out of the van. Paul, that runs the place was very chatty, however he chastised me for saying that we are Grey Nomads with no fixed address. Said that if we say that, a lot of caravan parks will turn us away. Huh? I don't understand why. What's wrong with Grey Nomads? We keep their economy running. Anyway, guess I'll just have to make up my address in future. That could be fun.
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Anyway, as you are imagining, Narrandera wasn't really interesting to me. The lady in the Information Centre was very helpful. Oh and there is a Big Thing in the Information Centre - the Big Guitar. Not as good as the famous one outside the Information Centre in Tamworth though. Next door is a free Aviation Museum with a beautifully restored Tiger Moth. World War II pilots received there instruction here. And of course the Silo Art Water Tower on the hill overlooking Narrandera.
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| Old Bridge |
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| Narrandera Information Centre |
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| Big Guitar |
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| Tiger Moth Museum |
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| Narrandera Caravan Park |
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| Parking Stops |
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| Irrigation Canals |
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| Mirage |
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LEETON
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I quite liked the look of Leeton with it's big date palm lined streets. The town itself looked surprisingly large. It is also well known for it's art deco buildings. I tried to capture the old Roxy Movie Theatre with it's neon sign as we drove. Not a real good photo, but you can see that it looks pretty cool. The guy at the Information Centre was very helpful so that is well worth a visit. There is a small statue outside commemorating the old cannery that used to be here. Leeton is known for it's cotton industry. There was a display in the Information Centre.
My hilight in Leeton was the Lillypilly Estate Winery just out of town. Lillypilly has won a ton of medals as we could see all around the cellar. Sam was a fantastic host. His pours we very generous, maybe a little too generous. We didn't go through all of the wines, although Sam would have given us a taste of them all. We would have been legless lol. I found the reds to be very nice with their Shiraz as my favourite because of it's lingering peppery notes. We also got free crackers & cheese. Definately a 5 Star visit.
I've also chucked in a couple of Leeton outback roads to nowhere. Tookie certainly liked the straight, smooth roads as you can see below.
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BARELLAN
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It was a toss up what to show for my opening pic for this little town, Barrellan.
I chose the quaint old buildings with famous art depicting Clydesdales pulling a Cobb & Co Coach. In fact I later found out that they have a Good Old Days Festival every October here. Looks like a lot of fun. 😀
Barrellen is also the town where our Australian Tennis Star Yvonne Goolagong grew up. Right in the middle of town is a Big Thing. The Big Tennis Racquet & Ball. This is a pretty good looking Big Thing. We had our picnic in the park here and hubby played Peek-a-Boo with Tookie to distract him from biting he phone. Check out the evil eye look from Tookie below when he knows he is being watched looking at the phone.
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I read that Barrellan has it's own hoppy beer. Now that is something we both wanted to try so we all walked across the road to the big Commercial Pub. It was an enjoyable stop here. We got talking to a local who loved Tookie. Tookie got one of his chips and they were best friends. The bar lady was a backpacker from England who is enjoying here time in Australia. She finds the outback towns really interesting and more enjoyable than the big smoke in Sydney. They also had an array of dollar notes on the ceiling, something that has taken off at a lot of outback pubs. Funily enough, Tennis was playing on pub TV in the background.
Yes, Barrellan was a great little stop.
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| The Stare Down |
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MAP
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VIDEO - TOOKIE PLAYS PEEK-A-BOO
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