A day in the life of lazy travellers and a hot and lazy dog.
The temperature today continued to reach the low thirties, with a hot wind, dust and plenty of flies. And a stupor set in, even Piper was not interested in chasing the tennis ball.
Once breakfast was over, dishes done and a morning drive up to the antique toilet dump was completed, we set off for our morning coffee at the local cafe.
Now for those people who visit Melrose and love the cafe, you will think we are unappreciative people. The coffee is excellent, the cakes also, plus lovely staff, but when you are a senior person, to have to sit on high stools or tree trunks the experience takes away the pleasure of drinking good coffee. Obviously we are not trendy. And yes, we could sit inside, but having a dog means we sit outside. Perhaps we were just in a grumpy mood today.
After drawing out some money from the cash machine across the road, and it was a bank machine so no charges, we set off to visit the museum.
Interestingly we rarely use cash, but due to using washing machines in caravan parks, plus the very expensive laundromat in Melrose, I need a ready supply of $1 and $2 coins. I am quite liking the feeling of having cash in my bag.
The museum was very interesting, and the putting it together was obviously the result of a very dedicated team of people.
The little town was established in about 1840, mainly because there needed to be a police station here due to the unruliness of many of the settlers living around the area.
There were groups of Aboriginal people living in the area as well. They were the Nukunu people. The people were from different kinship groups but sadly the early settlers did not differentiate and forced them out of the area. The different groups started to live together and lost most of their identities and traditions. Thankfully some of the traditions can still be remembered, plus the languages, although the people mainly live towards the coast now. There is a room dedicated to the Nukumu people which is very interesting.
The courtroom. Piper growled at the model of the policeman.
It was very hot, and Piper stretched out on the floor of courtroom.
A model of a trooper.
Life was extremely hard for the settlers in the area. Except for a few good harvest years, most wheat crops failed due to droughts, too much rain which caused mould on the wheat, late frosts, and plagues of mice, rabbits, and locusts. People walked away from their small holdings. It was heart breaking to read the stories.
The first cells still remain in the grounds.
After reading all the stories of the indigenous peoples and the settlers it was time to head back to the caravan for lunch. And a well earned rest.
I was not trying to save money by using the expensive laundromat in Melrose. In fact I thought it might be the right time to try out my washing bag gadget which I bought on a whim a couple of years ago. The idea is that a few articles of clothes are put in the bag, with water and detergent, then the top is folded over. After three minutes of agitating the bag with your hands, the clothes are washed clean. Then tip the water out, and fill with clean water, drain, and hang the clothes out. Simple. The problem lies with the wringing out of the clothes, which I am hopeless at, so unless the day is very hot, or windy, the clothes will not dry. But as the day was hot and windy all was well. Also I had nothing else to do with my afternoon except read a book.
I took Piper into the sheep pen, last used for the annual show on the 6th October, as I thought she could run around in a lovely fenced area. She was not impressed. The grass was too prickly. Even the piles of sheep poo did not interest her. She is definitely not a country girl.
A cool change has come through, and it may rain tonight.
While we have not had to wear our fly nets on our heads we are perfecting our Aussie wave. The pesky bush flies know that summer is around the corner.
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