Thursday 22nd September

Today dawned a lot brighter and allowed us to appreciate our site beside Lake Wyangan just outside Griffith. 



As it was the Public Holiday to honour the Queen there were no shops or attractions open so we took a drive to Leeton. My original plan for today was birdwatching in Lake Cargellico so I just transferred the idea to The Fivebough Wetlands outside Leeton. The wetlands are a RAMSAR site covering about 342 hectares. There are various ponds connected by pathways through the cumbungi with 4 birdhides. There are a sprinkling of sculptures including these brolga...and I did see real brolga as well but they were too far away for my camera.

I would recommend a visit here for any of my birding friends but not in the summer!

Our second night at the Lake was much more pleasant than the first.



Friday 23 September

We were pleasantly surprised to find that Griffith is a thriving busy town without the usual main street full of empty shops. I put this down to the abundance of family owned businesses which are up to third generation owners. One such is the delicious Bertoldo Bakery which we visited before our departure.

Our lunch stop was in Darlington Point. Sadly we couldn't do the Riverside walk as it was somewhat shortened by high water levels. The boat pontoon was also adrift.

As we crossed the Hay Plain we saw 2 things we've never expected to see....rain and greenery all the way to Hay.


By the time we arrived in Hay and caught up with the family it was time to stroll down to Hay Glow, a mini Lantern Parade to celebrate the holidays. We used to live opposite this park but in our day it was fully enclosed and bushy with emus and peacocks. These days it is a community gathering point for this type of thing as well as fishing comps.


Saturday 24th September.

While exploring the main street (and getting a coffee shot) this morning I found a little Gallery that had an exhibition of Endangered Birds of the Riverina, focussing on Mallee Fowl, Bittern and Plains Wanderer. There were an interesting variety of techniques and styles on show. The woman running it, and her mother, were very helpful pointing me in the direction of some reasonable bird watching areas. Like everywhere at the moment many are not accessible because of excess water.


There are also some quirky sculptures around the main street.

The top one is titled Mrs McGrath and her sheep. In the 1930s she used her pet sheep to herd mobs of up to 10 000 sheep over the bridge. Quite a feat.
I spent the afternoon with my nephew and his family watching the AFL Grand final....quite a disappointing game which Geelong certainly deserved to win.
Saturday nights party to celebrate my sister Bevs 70th went off very well. Still waiting on photos from others as I didn't take any.

Sunday 25th

With 15 relatives at Bevs house and another 15 at various venues around Hay, Sunday was spent catching up and farewells all day. 
About 16 km out of town on the road to Booligal there is a viewing spot to catch the sunset. I have seen some amazing photos from there but despite the day being clear by the time we arrived there was cloud all the way to the horizon. The mosquitoes were the biggest and most numerous I have ever seen, hence Michael's choice of headgear and the sunset was very underwhelming,but I did get to tick off the Zebra Finch on my bird list.
.

The distance you can see is amazing as we could clearly see the red light on the top of the Hay PO 16kms away.

Monday 26th September
By 10am all visitors had departed leaving just us with 2 of my sister's for a quieter day of washing and tidying. We all had the beginnings of head colds which worsened as the week progressed.
In the afternoon I took my binoculars for a walk around Bushy Bend . This sculpture, Lang's Crossing, is at the beginning of the walk and represents the 3 levels of river crossings. Bullock tracks on the bottom level, the punt in the centre with the bridge span on top.


I had to switch paths as I encountered various obstacles...water, fallen trees


Over the last 4 years Bev has worked a miracle in her garden and with all the rain it is looking fantastic. The birds loved this spectacular gum....and it turns out tonight should have been the night to go to the sunset viewing platform!









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