We left behind the delights of the Trundle Abba Festival preparations and carried on our journey toward Parkes. The road we were following was called The Bogan Way and stretched from Albert to Bogan Gate. For my English readers, bogan is a derogatory term used in Australia for a person who, shall we say does not aspire to finishing their education or having any kind of career and lives in a messy house lowering the tone of the neighbourhood, you get the picture. Bogan Gate itself is a lovely little town but we found a house in the middle with a front yard full of junk and surmised that must be where the bogan lives! 

As we rolled into Parkes the rain started to pour down, it was freezing too and the owner of the campsite boasted that the temperature was set to drop to 4 degrees overnight, we haven't experienced cold like this since we moved to Australia so had to head into town to buy fleeces. Suitably rugged up we set off to explore. Australian towns are very good at providing information centres and we have got into the habit of going there first so we don't miss anything. We had come to Parkes to see the famous radio telescope but discovered at the information centre that it is an Elvis town! Needless to say Parkes hosts an Elvis Festival but there was Elvis memorabilia everywhere. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better I discovered that this part of NSW has a trail of decorated rhinos, a bit like the elephant trail in London a few years ago and, you've guessed it, Parkes has an Elvis rhino! 

It was still lashing down with rain when we went to bed but the sun was out the following morning although it was very chilly again because Parkes is pretty high up. We set off to check out the radio telescope which was a delight. The telescope features in the film The Dish and was made famous because of its role in the Apollo missions. The Parkes telescope was the one communicating with the Apollo 11 moon landing at the moment when Neil Armstrong stepped on to the surface of the moon. The visitor centre was excellent and free to enter, there was a $6 fee to see three films about space exploration and telescopes which was well worth it. Then there were plenty of interactive displays and lots of information suitable for those of us who do not have a physics A level.

 The dish itself was sensational, so massive it was hard to imagine how it could turn if there was any wind about. We gazed at it for some time then bought a coffee and gazed at it some more, I cannot recommend this visit highly enough.