We then moved on to Coonabarabran- my first posting as a high school teacher, 20+ years ago. We did a drive-by of our old home, the school, the main street and the neighbourhood. We were struck by how much nothing had changed in the town, except that the Castlereagh was flowing. We had an afternoon at the pub with Tash and Kel, who worked at the school when I was there. We had such a lovely time, catching up. It was like I had seen them just the day before. We also did the touristy things- the Solar System drive, the telescope, the National Park. The countryside around Coona was all green and lovely, looking nothing like it did when we lived there, during the drought.
Our next location on our Eras Tour was Leeton, specifically camping out at Gogeldrie Weir, a place from my childhood. We were planning on staying a few days but it easily turned into a week. We had a lovely afternoon catching up with Aunty Tess, Uncle Tony and Caitlin, and did a quick tour of Narrandera. We also caught up with cousin Marg and Garry, their bird menagerie, the dogs, and their lovely gardens. Again- it was like we saw each other yesterday. Totally comfortable, fun and informative (I learned a bit more about farming in the area). We also checked out Altina Wildlife Park at Darlington Point, incongruously placed in a working farm in the middle of nowhere. It was excellent.
After a quick stay in Parkes to see The Dish, we decided last minute to travel via Canberra so Shan could catch up with a former work colleague. I had never been to Our Nation’s Capital before, so I was excited! We had a lovely dinner with Mansoor, Farzeen and daughter, Shifa (who had only slightly warmed to us by the time we were about to leave). Fabulous company and fabulous food, which fed us for the next few days after we took home the very many leftovers.
We did the touristy things seeing the War Memorial (devastating- death just goes on and on), Parliament House (beautiful), a weirdly eclectic collection at the National Museum, two restaurants, a farmers’ market and a distillery. Overall, Canberra impressed me- definitely not disappointed. Our Nation’s Capital will go on the list.
We then had the absolute pleasure of having dinner at cousin Ria and Ange’s place, being treated with home-made tomato sauce and pasta, tastes from my childhood at family events with the Italian side of the family. The boys compared RAMs, whilst Ria, Elise and I caught up with cousin info.
We had an absolutely brilliant time back in the old neighbourhood and it was just wonderful catching up with those that we could- there’s a lot of people we didn’t manage to see but we’ll do that next time. And of course- I forgot to take photos of people.
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