Apologies for the lack of blogging but we have just returned from a three week, 2700km trip. The original idea was to meet our friends Tim and Virginia in Parkes then go on to one of our favourite spots, Willandra National Park with them for a few days. It suddenly dawned on us that we could make a much longer trip of it (we haven't really got our heads around this retirement lark) as we would be driving a long way so we may as well see some more places while we were out that far.
We left in glorious sunshine on 24th April and headed off along the Golden Highway through the mining areas in the Hunter Valley. It's a dangerous road this as it passes between army firing ranges flying red flags warning not to enter - possibility of death, then as soon as that danger was passed signs appeared on the roadside advising when the next mine blasting was to take place.
We breathed sighs of relief as we got through unscathed and took in the scenery. Beautiful, green countryside with rolling hills but every few kilometres a huge open cut mine created a blot on the otherwise perfect landscape. The view soon changed to manicured, emerald green horse pastures as we passed some of the best known racehorse training stables and studs in the country.
It was time to look for our first coffee stop and Denman fitted the bill perfectly, it is a smart town with plenty of cafes in amongst the hunting supplies and cattle food shops. Coffee over we drove off refreshed through a massive area of blackened trees and fields, it went on for about 45 minutes and we found out later it was caused by a huge bushfire in February that destroyed 17 properties which is a lot because the farms out here are huge so the houses are a very long way apart. 

Next town was Dunedoo. In stark contrast to Denman, Dunedoo looks like a town barely hanging on by its fingernails, it is boosted a little because people visit there because of the name but it really looked to be struggling. By now we were driving alongside a railway line dotted with grain silos every few kilometres and we spotted an occasional, very slow grain train.
We were heading for Ballimore which turned out to be a tiny, friendly little place where we could park the caravan free overnight opposite the pub in return for buying a drink. The locals were very keen to make us welcome and were happy to help when we asked where the nearest Anzac Day service would be the following morning. An elderly man gave us some very country directions to nearby Gollan, which nobody but a resident could possibly have followed so another chap said he would be passing on his way there in the morning and we could follow him.

 Anzac Day is a big deal here and almost everyone attends a dawn service, we were in luck though, the service we were being taken to was at 11am. Our guide turned up as promised and we followed him to a field in the middle of nowhere with a war memorial and a little community hall which had not changed much since Mabel and Garry were there in the old photo hanging up inside. The hall was buzzing with ladies laying out trays of cakes and giving out cups of tea, they would not accept a donation but insisted we tuck in. The service itself was attended by about 80 people from the surrounding farms (there was not even a village here) and we were invited to join them after for a barbecue! 
Tempting as the offer was we decided we ought to press on through Narromine and Dubbo to Albert and the Rabbit Trap Pub - we had been looking forward to this. It was a bit grim actually and the pub was the only thing there but we couldn't go past this stop.

 We got out pretty sharpish in the morning and pushed on to Trundle which was great on a number of levels. First it had the widest street I have ever seen and the hotel boasted the longest wooden balcony in New South Wales but, best of all they were gearing up for their annual Abba festival.

 It was incredible, the festival happens every year and goes on for several days featuring Bjorn Again, The Kransky Sisters and many more. While we were chortling at the Abba shop window displays we discovered that last year the festival brought half a million dollars to the town! It was a fantastic example of what a resourceful council can do to support the small businesses that might otherwise find it tough in a country town.