Dubbo and Moree

This combined family of six kids and a couple have become Amber’s best buddies and she is loving table tennis, the jumping pillow, riding their bikes together and shooting the breeze.

This morning one of the kids called to Amber at 7am, but she didn’t stir until about 8. Once her friends headed off to the Zoo, Amber and I jumped on our bikes and pedalled the Tracker Reilly circuit around the Macquarie River. What a lovely track this was and right outside the caravan park.

Next we headed into town. First stop the new Royal Flying Doctor Service interpretive centre which was unfortunately closed on Mondays. Then the craft centre which reminded us of the Buderim Craft Cottage and not the hub of creative activities we found at the Bendigo Pottery.

Next we found This blog covers two days: the first was spent in Dubbo, mostly in the company of our new friends. a water park and a beautiful Japanese Botanical Gardens with huge carp, stepping stones, a teahouse and pergola. Lovely!

By now it was time to go to the Old Dubbo Gaol and it was just as wonderful as I remembered. We were in time for the ‘escape’ re-enactment and met up with our new friends there, which made it even more fun. They invited us out for dinner so, back at camp we cleaned up and wandered to the bowls club next door. This impromptu party ended up growing with two other families joining us and I really enjoyed their company. What a lovely evening!

On to today... we were on the road by 9.30am. Amber was understandably sad to say goodbye, but games in the car got her out of a slump. A few stops, and five hours later, we arrived at Moree and checked into Gwydir Carapark: the only camp spot in Moree with its own series of hot springs.

The rest of the afternoon and evening has been spent soaking. One pool is 39 degrees (the temperature the water comes out of the ground) and the other four pools go down from there as water is pumped from one to the other. As Ii write, Amber is in the middle of a game of Marco Polo with four other kids in the large, coolest pool and a couple of grandparents are keeping an eye on her.

Tomorrow we head to the Gold Coast. This is our last night under canvas before heading home. What an amazing adventure this has been!