It rained much of last night and this morning. I only had to put away the power cord and hose, and fit the towing mirrors, but would have been soaked if I had not kitted up in waterproof shoes and trousers, and worn my red Helly Hansen rain jacket.
We refuelled in Cobar then tackled the wet Barrier Hwy. Lots of water on the road caused us to travel slowly, especially when driving through floodways. After 50kms we stopped at a rest area for half an hour, hoping the rain would stop. The rain did ease and the road condition improved as we drove to Nyngan. The rain had not gone, so we decided to park up at the Nyngan Rest Area, where there is hard standing, taps, toilets, bins, and a dump site.
Yesterday we had an unfortunate encounter with a raptor. It was feeding on road kill with some crows, but must have had too big a feed as it was slow to take off and hit the Toyota windscreen. I doubt it was a happy ending, but it would be dangerous to try to stop as we could be rear ended.
We left the critters in the van and went looking for lunch. Most cafes were closed so we bought a cooked chook from Khan’s SUPA IGA, and gave Bluey and Tilly a treat.
We crossed the railway line via the 1897 overhead bridge next to the 1883 railway station which houses the i and a museum.
I was given help at the i where to find historic buildings in town as most are not on the main road. My favourite is the 1897 town hall and attached 1934 council chambers. The colour scheme is very clever. The false ionic columns that adorn the two buildings are slightly different.
The 1902 court house has an unusual ridge turret visible from the side street. It has features designed to cope with hot weather such as a double height court room, wide overhanging eaves, and surrounding verandas.
The original fire station houses a restored Garford fire fighting vehicle.
St Patrick’s Church is built of bricks with intricate timber roof supports. The metal topping on the brick fence appears to be from the Art Deco era, but the gates are a very different style. The rectory has an identical fence.
There are two Art Deco buildings on Pangee St, but I could not find any information about the history of either of these buildings. The Commonwealth Bank building has extensive Art Deco style ornamentation, while the R.P. Larkin building has minimal ornamentation on the exterior, but has a distinctive Art Deco style ground floor shop front. The window frames are brass and the panels either side of the name are lead light.
Buildings this side of the railway line are in poor condition. The Nyngan Hotel has been renovated and is decorated with this mural. A partially demolished building still has these attractive tiles on the outside wall.
The red sky at night hopefully indicates a fine day tomorrow.
Committed Travellers 