After the excitement of Saturday’s sight-seeing adventure, I took things a little more slowly on Sunday. Though I thought about getting up early and going for a walk, I stayed in bed until about 9.00am. As daylight saving has commenced, I didn’t feel too guilty about sleeping in. Oh, and hey, I’m on holiday!

After a late morning breakfast at “Diggers” in Bourke, I returned to the apartment where I’ve been staying and had a brief lunchtime nap. It was a warm day with a soft breeze, which gently flowed through the big room where I’ve been staying. Later in the afternoon, I caught up with a mate and some of his family for quite a few beers at the pub.

I had a wonderful time in Bourke, and I’ve promised myself, and the people in Bourke I caught up with, that it won’t be another twenty years before I make a return visit.

And so today was a day spent mostly on the road.

The bus trip from Bourke back to Dubbo wasn’t as exciting as the trip there. In addition to the anticipation of visiting Bourke for the first time in twenty years, I was seated near an old colleague, and we talked most of the way.

The trip takes four and a half-hours, and it’s almost 400km of straight road across the plain. Although the vegetation doesn’t vary much, it’s still a pleasant trip. You look out the window, you read, you nod off for a few minutes.

And the bus is fairly cheap. My full price fair was $120 return. “I can do it for $2.50” my now retired colleague told me with a laugh.

Sue picked me up at the railway station in Dubbo, and within minutes we were on our way to the next stop on our journey, Parkes.

Parkes is famous a number of different things, including the CSIRO telescope which played an important role in the 1969 moon landing, being named after Sir Henry Parkes, “the father of federation” and for “Elvis Festival”, held annually in January.

There’s a fair bit of Elvis-related public art in the town.

It’s a fairly quiet day / night in Parkes, with most shops, cafes and restaurants closed due to the public holiday.