So to Forbes, situated on Lake Forbes, a natural lagoon on the Lachlan River in the Central Tablelands district. As I drive into the Town proper I am presented with a beautiful big Victoria Park that is circled with National Trust listed, majestic old buildings. These include the Courthouse and Police Station, a School of Arts, two fine old Churches, a magnificent Town Hall and a lovely Old Pub, all facing the Park which also is home to the War Memorial and Cenotaph. I sat in the Park for a while taking in what I thought to be a very Mediterranean City like atmosphere. A stroll through the Major Streets revealed many more treasures that were of course recorded for you the enjoy also.
A trip to the Railway Station come Inter City Bus Depot and Tourist Information Centre was again frustrating. Absolutely no informative material was available, there was once a Heritage Building, descriptive, pamphlet, apparently now out of print and the Attendant could not answer any of my questions either. If you want to know where to spend money there is heaps of stuff. There I am complaining again, I just want to learn something of the Town and it's History and consistently leave place no wiser.
The Gateway to Forbes
A walk around Victoria Park
Forbes has many delights
I drove straight through Parkes, the Home of Elvis and the Radio Telescope and nothing much else. Parkes is forgettable.
The last part of today's trip is to Trundle. via the hamlet of Bogon Gate, at the junction of the Hwy and the Bogon Way that leads to my destination. Bogon Gate is notable for a War Memorial sitting in the middle of the road next a Soldier's Hall. The strange thing about this was that there were only a couple of other Buildings and no real Town to speak of, it taking about 10 seconds to enter and leave the settlement. I thought it was worth a Photo.
I had been to Trundle before, many years ago for a lunch with friends who owned a large Property between here and Parkes. We dined at one of the two Pubs. Although it is 60 odd km away from my intended route this trip, I came to Trundle for only one reason, I have old friends who once lived here and still have family in residence and they will be chuffed to know that I was here. You may have heard of Trundle as it was the subject of a TV documentary (on the ABC I think) about a year ago when the Town advertised farmhouses for rent at the rate of $1 per week. The idea was to attract new blood to the Town. I don't think it worked. Trundle is a Town on it's last breath I think. The few shops are either empty or very run down. One attraction it does have is the Biggest Pub I have ever seen, the veranda must be 40 metres long!. Trouble is although it is still open it looks like it will fall down around it's patrons at any minute. The small Supermarket was next to useless as most of the shelves and all of the freezers were near to empty. I picked up a key from here for the Showground Camping area where I will stay for the night with power supplied for $15.
The HUGE Pub at Trundle
I'm here in the Showgrounds come Racetrack, on my own, a huge expanse of grass struggling to survive, that crackles underfoot. A few old dilapidated buildings; a Poultry shed, some small yards for showing Livestock and a couple of rickety lean- twos for shade and two or three Demountables for use as Toilets and Showers. It is still over 30 degrees and there are only four small trees in a group and with a bit of manoeuvring I manage to get the Hiace under some shade. Problem was, the Power Box was quite a distance away, A bit more moving around and I managed to get Power connected but only with the cord at full stretch. Anyone who may have seen me would have thought me to be crazy. It turned into one of those nights in the middle of nowhere in the pitch black with a kilometre to the nearest soul. At least I think I can trust the Townsfolk here.
Poor sad little Trundle!
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