Sun, 1st Oct, 2023 Jodie & Bryon’s place, Orange to Rest Area near Macquarie River, Bathurst, NSW

Lost an hour overnight with the change to daylight saving. So 6am and now 7am so time to get up for breakfast! 10 degrees, clear sky.

Packed up and joined Jodie and Bryon for breakfast. Said goodbye and headed out of town.

The wind has picked up blowing the leaves off the trees. Thin clouds coming across.

Through Lucknow (est 1851), another gold mine town. Passed an old poppet head. Still lots to explore in this region.

Better road at last as we head to Bathurst though still a lot of roadworks holding up the traffic. Up and down the hills then down the range to Bathurst. Lovely and green.

Into Bathurst which we have explored well in previous visits.

Drove around to check out a tow hitch for Dave & Wendy. Met a lovely couple, Colin & Colleen who offered their driveway for us to park up on if we can’t find a spot for tonight before we head into the track campground. Bought the hitch and will post it off on Tues back to Cairns - tomorrow is a public holiday.

Back into town for a few groceries for the next week. Over the Macquarie River for lunch at Berry Park.

It is so windy now that all the leaves are being blown off the trees into us as we sat at the picnic table with our lunch. We checked out the back area of the park where a couple of campers have set up. We have parked here before but they have blocked off the grass area so it is just parking on the bitumen now.

Drove up to Phyllis & Pete's place. So lovely to see them both again and looking well. Caught up on all the news. It was 9 years ago that we met them in Sofala when we first hit the road and we have stayed in touch ever since. Chatted the afternoon and ate lots of yummies. They suggested we try the open ground near the BMX track by the river which would be quieter than the back of Berry Park.

We said farewell then headed down the road. Great view from here across to Mt Panorama and the painted rocks on the side below Skyline.

Two other vans were parked up so we chose a spot and set up.

The wind is still very strong and the clouds are building. Still forecasting 7 to 25mm of rain for Wednesday and some more on Thursday which will be a shame. They had a very wet week before the race last year so we are hoping it won’t repeat this year. Sat & Sun appear to be fine but the temps are cold, 4 to 18 degrees which won’t be nice for our early morning starts.

Hot afternoon as the clouds build. Still 28 degrees at 6.30pm as the sun starts to disappear behind a thick cloud.