8th September
On the way out of Dubbo, we visited a Japanese Garden and a separate Biodiversity Garden at Elizabeth Park. The latter is a project demonstrating all the native vegetation of the area and I took photos for Michele. I found it fascinating. Irene drove south on the Mitchell Highway to Wellington, where, instead of visiting the caves, we had morning tea at a well established, but now rather tatty Japanese Garden opposite the entrance to the caves. The water courses were slimy, the hedges unclipped, and the black ducks have really taken over - what a shame. At the turnoff to Wellington we had noticed an artistic landmark which we examined efore driving on. It was (to quote Kath and Kim ) unusual! Indeed I thought it looked like a metal domed frame being used by triffids to gain height. Not the most pleasing sculpture I have seen.
From Wellington, I drove south to Molong, a very pretty town we would like to have explored. There I turned off (missing Orange altogether) towards Canowindra (pronounced Canoundra) where we ate a sandwich in a park. The afternoon stint at the wheel was Irene's, and she took us on into Cowra to our deluxe cabin by the river. At the nearby Information Centre we watched a great multimedia presentation about the Cowra Breakout, then walking on up through the main drag, we rang the World Peace Bell - a terrific feeling, bought a bottle of merlot and wandered back to our cosy nest. This had been the coolest day so far, with light showers; we found it quite a contrast to the previous 35's to 37's!