Wandering NSW

Hellio
Here I am giving the tablet another go. My pre paid wi fi ran out!
 I parted company with Rob and Carol, and Graeme and Hazel, on Monday,( i think)! I h
keaded east, and they south. I went as far as Nyah, a pretty freeU Camp, along the Murray. Conditions were good, as far as access goes to the riveSor. It is flowing quite strongly, but not overly high. When i pulled in there were arouen 30 odd vans parked, around the place, both caravans and motorhomes, also the occasionakil tent! The spot, is behind the Nyah harness racing track, with a large "parkland area', amongst shady river gums. there are toilets and hot showers available across the track, also drinking water. and the most essential! a dump point! The present occupiers where i parked, were a group of 3 motorhomers and 2 caravans, with room for me nearby. Happy hour was underway, and I was invited to join, as soon as I got set up. Very pleasant couples, the motorhomers were a variety of vehicles, but all were towing small cars. It certainly makes life easier. I spent 3 nights there, and gradually they drifted off, being replaced daily by new neighbours!
I headed further east, retracing my tracks, through Swan Hill and Kerang, before heading notrth to Deniliquin. This is nice town, where a big raly had bee n held, just after i left Tasmania, in 2011. Somehow, i had kept missing it. I parked at mIUa "carotel" within walking distance of the centre of town, and across the road, diagonally, from the RSL Club, ( very important!). I was back to using caravan parks, as it was very cold at nights! I could only stop 2 nights as there was a big geneaology conference on over the weekend, and the town was booked out!  I did a long walk into town, lovely old buildings, and pubs and shop frontages, and found the visitors info centre,housed in the Peppin -House/museum. A good display of early history of merino pedigree, wool history and breeding rams, look like the ones on the australian shilling, also WW2 airforce bases from around the area.
I was pretty gobsmacked, as I drove north away from the Murray, at the extent of the irrigation, systems in place over here. Miles away from the river and you are driving along and over, these huge channels/canals, carrying water inland to farming properties. We are growing rice, down herE! This is inland Australiah, not south east asia, with big annual rainfalls. No wonder SA is screaming for mor water to be let down the river. I consider myself fairly well educated, about my country, but I am really amazed. I certainly can't see why we in WA cannot do a proper job of moving the Ord river water south with channels, even with high evaporation, there must be lots of water loss from these channels, in the summer. Well thats my political rant, for this month!
So i headed further north to Jerilderie, once again utilising a caravan park, met another solo widowed woman, she more recent than me, but we had lots in common, we spent apleasant couple of happy hours, and swapped addresses, and then we parted our ways, she for the south and me to turn easterly towards Wagga Wagga. I came across some lovely rolling hilly vountry, but higher, than what I would call hills in WA! Saw a magnificent "wedgetail"(I think) , eagle, sitting on a fence post, with his wings partly out. Fabulous site, but of course, the camera out of reach! It is certainly not as convenient, having the bigger, fancier, camera. It is not readily to hand, and also in a case, so not so quick, for these unexpected photo ops! I don't often see live, animals! Mostly it is roadkill!
I came across a small town, Lockhart, known as the verandah town, traffic everywhere. So I pulled over and parked, walked along to see what was happening. It was  a local, art/sculpture/music festival, over 3 days, the picnic races had been on Friday, this was saturday. The place was hopping, BIG DETOUR AROUND TOWN, THE MAIN DRAG, THE HIGHWAY, WAS CLOSED, STALLS, FOOD, AND THESE FASCINATING OUTBACKTYPE SCULPTURES, MADE FROM FARM "JUNK". Big prize money paid, they looked very good. also lots of "stuff" made from barbwire, other "parts" turned into light fittings, garden pots, really interesting! plus the prices were quite "high"end!