2026-05-17
Since we've eaten all the bacon, breakfast was porridge with dates, apricots and nuts (almonds for me, walnuts for Lea), after which I rigged up the washing line, and Lea did some laundry while I wandered down to the park to look for birds. I was rewarded with about half a dozen Red-Rumped Parrots.
We then locked up the van and went to the Old Dubbo Gaol just across the river from the caravan park. This is a relatively small complex that began as a "lockup" in 1847 and ended with the Gaol's closure in 1966. Much of the remaining buildings were constructed in the mid-late 1800's. See the timeline here. There is a small performance/visitor participation session and a guided escapes tour to extend your stay beyond the few buildings there. We stayed about 2 hours and that was plenty of time to see the site, read the information panels and do the tour/show.
In the exercise yard, there was a sign showing the official exercise moves for prisoners
I found these two though, particularly amusing though - Disco anyone?
We went back to the van for lunch, partly because we still had sandwich ingredients, and partly because it was Sunday and nothing was open. The remainder of the walnut cheese was used up, and I had to open the next block of cheese I packed - Champagne & Pink Peppercorn Cheddar (Maggie Beer brand in case you need to find some).
And since the Zoo tickets are valid for two consecutive days, we decided to head there for the afternoon. Our first encounter was with the Meerkats, who has four sentries on duty and are very good at striking the stereotypical meerkat pose.
We then proceeded along by various pens, seeing various animals. A small selection of them are below.
About 2/5ths of the way around it was getting close to closing time, so we headed for the exit, but did have to stop when we noticed a Tassie Devil out in the open during the day.
All in all, a pretty good day of toodling around looking at things. Tomorrow is more Zoo, but is also meant to be wet, so we'll see how we go.