When the Cheshire emerges...

The second half of my journey began in Mildura after leaving Adelaide. Going through Renmark on the way was nice, having visited there two years ago for some work experience.

Right on the Victoria/NSW border, Mildura is a great base for surrounding areas. It also had a lot to offer for itself, not least a great major eating strip. Definitely one up on Dubbo there. To be fair, it services up to 60,000 within a close proximity.

Within Mildura and close surrounds I visited Orange World where I learnt about the wonderful produce that comes out of the Sunraysia region, the Stanley Wines factory in an attempt to see the Big Goon Box, and took notice of the cool art deco influence on their architecture.

I must mention that the hospitality I received here was great... and that they have a really good Sportsgirl. Oh how I miss that shop.

I could say this is the best fresh OJ I've ever had - and I will. Fabulous.



The Orange World experience then consists of a tractor ride through part of the orchard.

What used to be the Big Goon Box. You can imagine the Stanley logo and the pourer bit stuck on the bottom. No vomiting homages here. Devastated.

This is the ninth post of the On the road to nowhere series. Missed the last one? Catch up!

I mentioned in previous posts that I had recently been on a road trip, and now I'm finally ready to tell you about it!

The map's up again because it offers perspective. Two weeks, 3,000 kilometres.

First stop was Cobar, just for a couple of hours as I made my way to White Cliffs. Cobar's a three-hour drive from Dubbo and a strong mining town, particularly with copper.

There's not too much to say for not having stayed too long, except that I had a steak and mushroom pie from a good bakery (and felt real country-like), and did about half the Heritage Walking Trail where I saw a massive fig tree.


No mistaking where I'd driven in to.

The Great Cobar Copper Mine. Massive.

The Great Western Hotel, said to have the longest iron lace verandah in the Southern Hemisphere.

They like their beer. The Big Beer Can.

Like I said, they like their beer.

I embarked on a two-week road trip in the second half of September, the major purpose being for a trip home to Adelaide to attend my friend's wedding.

I dubbed it my On the road to nowhere trip because on the map, it's literally an (anti-clockwise) loop - leading me to no definite location.

Let's paint a picture. From Nyngan (2 hours from Dubbo) to Giles Corner (about 1 hour 15 mins north of Adelaide), the Barrier Highway is the major thoroughfare. It's mostly quite flat, but with a decade of drought behind it now looks fairly green. Plenty of Paterson's Curse lines the road's edge, and with blue skies manages to be picture perfect. On this trip, I of course did the entire highway route.

Before getting into the locations in detail, here's a photo essay of how the first half of my road trip looked purely along the Barrier Highway.

So we come to Sunday. The trip home. I had moved out of my room on Saturday night to accommodate for family friends who were passing through to Melbourne; Tigger's looking at me probably knowing I shouldn't be in Mel's bed. Felt sad as I left the house, it had a real homely feel and I'd enjoyed my stay. Glad they kept the food from the care package I brought up, otherwise Mum would've killed me!

The road trip with Mel ended up being an awesome day. Took our time for a safer trip, Mel had promised we'd go through Penola so we stopped to see Mary Mackillop's school. We'd gotten there during mass (being a Sunday morning) and as such was the only time the tour wasn't open. Pity, but I did get a few photos through the window. This is the chick they want to consider a saint. She taught in country SA. That's unreal. Penola's lovely, I got coconut roughs from the sweet shop that I can feel rotting my teeth and we encountered a headless bride that moved and talked. It was almost lifesize; she was holding her head by the hair and if you pushed the button on her hand she moved from side to side saying some weirrrrd shit. "I just wanted this day to be... perfect *sobs*". It was so loud, and in a secluded part of the store it was the creeeepiest thing in the world. Wish I took a photo...

Passed a lovely cottage just outside Padthaway, Mel had always wanted to have a look. We turned back and went in the estate. It was for Padthaway Wines and we ended up spending an hour in their cellar on a wine tasting journey. The woman was amazingly knowledgable and we learnt a lot. Not to mention that the wine was incredibly good. They sell their stuff at the Ed's cellar so think there will be a trip there in the near future.

Weird guy in Tailem Bend's Subway that spilt Coke all over the door was the only other major thing. Lotta singing, lotta chips and almond bread consumed and some hours later we were back. Still feel weird being home. Although I was excited to see that my tickets for My Sister's Keeper had come in the mail. And as I was alerted to by Mel I've never been away from my family this long. Good to see familiar faces. Missed everyone. Found myself back at Macca's with the girls just before (minus Nav who's left for Singapore. Major sadness.) and it almost feels like I never left. Just feel I had a lot of stories to tell and something to show for it. Great experience, so so happy I went down there for my internship. Would gladly go again. Hope Erin has a good week for hers this week! Feel a bit worldly having travelled a bit more than normal in 2009. Although that only stretches across two states I've learnt different things on every trip and it helps me grow. The trip to the Mount most certainly did.