Wednesday 2 March 2022
After a sound sleep I woke soon after 6am and had a shower and breakfast in relaxed timing.
On board the buses again for a quick visit to the Temora Station Museum then on to visit the Bundawarrah Centre (aka Temora Museum). Wow! A large expanse, indoor and outdoor exhibits of absolutely everything including stamps, ambulances, buildings and clothing and lots, lots more.
We returned to the train for lunch and left Temora travelling east to Stockingbingal then north to Parkes and Orange. We hit misly rain about level with Grenfell and damp ground after that. I love the Central West countryside with its yellow-brown grassy paddocks, sheep and scattered trees. While travelling we had a bit of fun taking photos from the portholes at the end of the corridor.
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| photo by Annemarie |
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| photo by Judy |
Lunch was a lovely ham salad with proper ham off the bone and tiramisu. During our travels of the afternoon I sorted my bags to make sure I could fit everything in for my last day tomorrow.
The rest of the afternoon was spent chatting to various people as they came past my cabin or came to visit me. Although our tiny cabins are akin to solitary confinement and 'human tetris' is required to get dressed or pack and unpack, we have decided it is preferable to the larger twin cabins as we have such a lovely camaraderie along the corridor. Doors are rarely shut because the space is so confined so lots of informal chat happens. Judy, Annemarie and I have found common ground on many fronts.
The real rain started again between Parkes and Orange and we've heard we a heading into devastating rain in Sydney. The sky turned rather ominous on the way into Orange with low black clouds and a bright rainbow out one side and a brilliant orange sunset out the other. The wet windows and darkening skies made photography difficult.
By the time we pulled into Orange we were enjoying dinner. My tender scotch fillet and strawberry cake were delicious.
Thursday 3 March
The sound of everyone's alarms and the shunting of the train at 6am meant it was time to get up, shower and enjoy the coffee brought to me by Julie.
The day dawned to blue sky and whispy clouds but forecasts with 9 different weather warnings for Sydney and 100% chance of rain means we'll run into it all soon. This happened just before Lithgow.
At Mt. Victoria we stopped and boarded buses to be taken on a tour of the Blue Mountains. However, at the few viewing stops we had, the mist and rain were so heavy that no views were to be had. We stopped at Govett's Leap and Echo Point (where we enjoyed a coffee and scroll) but then just drove straight to Leura. I enjoyed our few hours of wandering through the shops and finding lunch, mostly with Annemarie and Judy. We even found a patchwork shop. By the time we boarded the bus again we were all drenched as it had rained quite heavily most of the time with just a few breaks.
After a circuitous tour around Leura we headed back to Katoomba station and boarded the train again. Most of the City Rail trains were cancelled but we were able to travel straight down to Central station very quickly and arrived earlier than expected. Then the fun started!
Unfortunately the train staff forgot to open the carriage doors for people in the second half of the train. This meant we were all queued through seven carriages trying to manipulate our bags across carriage joins and doors that swung into one another! This put a real dampener on the trip right at the end, especially when we eventually reached the platform to find all the staff laughing and saying their farewells to one another. Unfortunately our lovely Julie had been at the far end of the queue and could not do anything about our issues. Although it was a mere inconvenience for me, there were others who were much more mobility challenged and for them it must have been a nightmare.
As Judy had given me a Cabcharge to get home (suburban trains were greatly reduced with many cancellations) I was very pleased to be at home safe and dry very quickly. The taxi driver I had lives quite close to me and knew exactly where I lived and how to get there quickly.
In all a lovely holiday with not too many inconveniences and many friends made. Thank you Judy for your calm and fun leadership and Julie for your wonderful service while we were on the train.
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