We had a lovely breakfast this morning at Bills Beans in East Orange with friends Craig and Kerry before driving out to explore more of what this region has to offer. Our destination was the historic township of Millthorpe.

To be honest it was a little disappointing. Don’t get me wrong it’s a pretty place with a lot of character, some interesting shops and an old railway station. It’s still worthy of a visit – especially for breakfast, lunch or a coffee at the Old Mill Cafe. And if you have a wander around keep your eyes open – you might spot the odd, and I mean odd, Emu or two.

Carcoar

Of more interest is the little town of Carcoar with its crumbling, rustic charm, wide roads, brick and timber buildings and museums.

A great place for photographers and those looking for a little nostalgia at the Capitol Theatre or stop for the night at the Royal Hotel especially with their ‘Reasonable Tariff’.

Without our car we decided to explore town a little further today after we discovered there was a Farmers Market this morning, which meant, of course, food – especially breakfast and a fresh coffee, just what we needed. It’s always good to support the local economy when, in the case of the Central West, they have had such a bad year with very little rain and it’s looking like this was going to be tough one too.

Several of Orange’s local wineries were present as were bakers, vegetable growers and sweet treats a plenty. Wandering among the stalls with a steaming latte we followed that delicious smell of frying bacon, which led us to a well attended BBQ stall and grabbed an egg roll for our breakfast – delicious!
Cook Park

Walking back through town we made our way to Cook Park, a place full of surprises. A captured German cannon from WW1 stood at the park’s entrance opposite an older, smooth bore cannon that originally sat on guard at Kirribilli in Sydney Harbour.

Hanging from the trees were Fruit Bats creating a racket over an otherwise very peaceful corner of Orange. And close by was a small lake stocked with huge Koi fish while autumn leaves were falling all around us.

And then a something completely unexpected, an immaculately presented conservatory full of brilliantly coloured flowering Bergonias. Built by Blowes, a past Mayor of Orange, to house a growing collection of these showy blooms. The conservatory building was in such a good state of repair that it looked brand new and without a single sign of vandalism. In how many large towns or cities would this have survived? It was a pleasure to see so many amazing flowers in one place in such perfect condition.

Beer o’clock

Both tired from walking, we made our way back to our caravan and relaxed in the sun for a while enjoying a locally made pear cider.

Dinner with friends

This evening was spent with one of my previous work colleagues from Sydney and his sister at the Royal Hotel in Orange. It was great to catch-up over a meal and a beer or two with such great company – so much so we arranged to meet for breakfast early tomorrow morning at another local favourite – Bills Cafe.

Land Rover in Orange have now booked-in our car for Monday to start investigating the issue. In the meantime we’re getting the opportunity to investigate Orange and the surrounding towns.

First call of the day was a visit to our local coffee shop – Factory Espresso and for the first time I got to try a Portuguese tart fresh from the oven – wow! So much better when they are still warm and crispy.

It was just warm enough to sit outdoors but a cool breeze this morning meant a hoodie was called for. Viewing the breakfast menu we realised a further visit will be required.

Bring on the Colour

With autumn upon us we drove over to Lake Canobolas for a good walk having seen several photographs showing the surrounding trees in all their autumnal glory. We were, however, perhaps a week or two too early to see them at their best and were left wondering how much the lack of rain had affected them leaving the leaves looking dehydrated. The lake itself clearly demonstrated just how dry it had been leaving large areas of the lakebed exposed.

Mount Canobolas

Bedecked with radio towers and overlooking Orange sits Mount Canobolas – the highest point between Sydney and Perth. We followed the narrow, winding road to the top hoping for a good vantage point to photograph the surrounding hills and townships. Sadly it had become a little hazy and, yet again, trees blocking much of the view. With less haze it would have been a good opportunity to use the drone to photograph above the trees, but with the large number of radio and TV towers along the peak it wouldn’t have been the safest or wisest place to fly. I can just imagine how interesting a viewpoint this would be after a fresh winter’s snowfall and a clear blue sky, but the road to the top could well be a challenge.

We walked over to the Orange Land Rover Service Centre this morning to follow-up on a call earlier today and to explain what has been happening with the car when towing our caravan. We were a bit concerned to learn it could take until Tuesday before the issue could be investigated – not quite what we were earlier being led to believe but understandable with other vehicles already booked-in for a service. That said, we were equally concerned to learn we were not the first, or second tow-in today.

The deep blue sky and fresh country air at least was something to enjoy as was the very distinct autumn colours with leaves now starting to fall. We were told that autumn is a month late following a hot, dry spell with little rain. It should make for some good photographs over the next week or so as we wait for our car to be fixed.

A wander into town found us at the Bakehouse for a much needed coffee and breakfast, or rather brunch – another eatery highly recommended by us.

Also worth a visit is the Information Centre just behind Robertson Park. Not only for guides and activities in the area but also for its display on the history of Orange and artefacts from each of the agricultural eras from past to present.

White Goods in Orange?

We had no idea Electrolux had a manufacturing facility here in Orange and that it had been in operation since 1942. Originally a munitions factory during the Second World War it later produced many forms of white goods until just fridges remained in production right up to the plants closure in 2016. No surprise that production was moved to south-east Asia and its cheap labour.

Central Orange is an unusual place with many of the stores that have long since disappeared from Sydney’s streets. It also appears to cater well for those with a medical disposition – why so many chemists, and hair dressers too? It was a pleasure to see an immaculately presented traditional bookstore with such a good range of reads, very much a rarity these days. I always feel so guilty looking around, though, as pretty much every book I now read is an eBook. Why is the never an eBook section in these stores?

A slow wander along the back streets led us to another great find – Factory Espresso on Kite Street. We were dragged-in by the waft of freshly roasting coffee and it tasted good too.

Hopefully we’ll get to hear more about the car tomorrow but at least there are places we can explore while we’re waiting for some positive news. In the meantime we’ll just enjoy another outback sunset and a visit to the local pub.

After a very cold night with a heavy frost and little sleep worrying about the car we were contacted this morning by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to start an action plan to get us, the car and caravan over to Orange – the location of the nearest JLR dealership. We also received a call from the Regional Service Manager to offer what assistance he could, which was a nice touch.

After many hours we finally got a plan together; a hire car would get us to Orange, a tow truck would take the caravan to our pre-booked site and the car would then be dropped at Tony Leahey’s JLR service centre in Orange, coincidentally just a few minutes walk from the caravan site. Grant, the tow driver was superb and was soon following us to Orange, though it was a deeply depressing sight to see our new car being towed on the first day of our Big Lap around Australia. It didn’t bode well.

At least today we got to setup the van in daylight… just, and watch a typical central New South Wales sunset. Not to mention the dark skies and all those stars! How many city dwellers have ever experienced clear night skies like these? There was only one thing left to do today and that was to wander down to the local pub for a drink and enjoy our first proper meal for two days. If anyone happens this way we can happily recommend the Ophir pub, their friendly staff and the huge meals they serve.

Hopefully, still wondering if we have been supplied a lemon, we’ll sleep more easily tonight.