Through my Lens – Orange, Bathurst and Canowindra

After finding a motel to sleep at on the edge of the Blue Mountains the night before, we set off the next morning to visit some of the GG’s relatives in Orange. The GG’s mother was born and raised for part of her life in this area before moving to Queensland with the family and many of her relatives are still living around the Orange area. We dropped in on the GG’s cousin and then made plans to go out for brunch in town. However before doing that I toured the garden taking photos. Coming from a sub-tropical climate I don’t get to see a lot of the beautiful flowers like those in Carole’s garden.
After a lovely brunch at a cafe in the local shopping centre, we hit the road again for the town of Bathurst. Approximately 200kms from Sydney, Bathurst is the oldest inland settlement in Australia. It is also hosts the Bathurst 1000 each year. Motor racing enthusiasts from all over Australia flock to Bathurst on the first weekend of October every year and either stay in town or camp around the edge of the track to view the annual event. The race itself is held on the Sunday however qualifying takes place in the two days prior to the race, making this a great few days for fans.
The course itself is run on actual roads that are used each day by those living on the mountain. The mountain residents include a winery and several Bed and Breakfast accommodations along with those enjoying a quiet rural lifestyle for the other 362 of the year.
On the day that we arrived in Bathurst, final preparations for the race were taking place. We drove the track but had to stick to the speed limit of 60km p/h all the way around due to the fact that at this point in time it was still a public road governed by the laws of the land. Many of my photos were taken from the car so their quality isn’t that great (due to the fact that our windscreen was also the final resting place for quite a number of insects 😦 and no amount of window washing was getting rid of them).
The photo above shows the setting up of ‘Pit Lane’. You can see the lines marked on the road for the starting grid.
After leaving the track, we went into Bathurst itself. It really is a big country town and the residents are honest and good country people. Some of the top V8 drivers were signing autographs in the main street but we didn’t stop around long enough to join the queues for an autograph seeing as our goal was to reach Cowra by the end of the day.

Once on the road again, I was astounded at how beautiful the Canola fields in surrounding farmland were. The contrast between the fields and the wildflowers growing on the roadside was often breathtaking. Once again, photos were taken from a moving car.
Arriving in Canowindra, we found the Age of Fishes Museum so we stopped to stretch our legs for a bit. After a chance discovery in 1955 of an extensive fossil bed containing the remains of thousands of freshwater fish, more excavation took place and the museum was opened to showcase the archaeological finds. The Age of Fishes Museum contains an interactive display for children and also many fossil exhibits. There is an admission cost to access the museum however the gift shop and some of the smaller exhibits were free to browse.
As usual, I will put the rest of the photos into a gallery for you. Next week, we visit the Japanese Gardens in Cowra 🙂

Thanks for joining me on this particular road trip. 🙂
Have a blessed day.