SoRMuiJAi: Day 2 - The Zoo, Parkes, Forbes and Orange

Its an early morning for us which involved a lot of crashing into things because we need more sleep. We eventually managed to get ourselves into a decent state to checkout. We park the car in the driveway, blocking the entry and exit for half of the people staying there so we can dump all our luggage into the car. We then reversed our way through the whole parking lot so we didn't have to walk the 20m to reception. I was going to stay in the car, but knowing Will, I needed to be there with a camera to capture any "Will & Grace" moments we have.

We jump back into the car and drive to the main street where we grab a quick breakkie before Will has to do his rounds for work.

Creamy chicken and mushroom pie

Unlike normal people, I can eat anything for breakfast, including curries, noodles and fried rice. Pies definitely make it onto my breakfast list, and the country people know how to make a mean pie!!! This was divine, and a great start to the day. I just needed another one...or two.

So get this. I go in and order a cappuccino, only to be served in a giant take away cup. Will walks in and asks for a cappuccino and gets served this:

I guess ordering crossiants for breakfast indicates you're more high class and need a mug, rather than a bogan like me having pies for breakkie ;)

Crossiant with Jam

Vistors asking me for directions, what's the chances??

Will leaves me on the main street so I can do some shopping. Within 5mins of him leaving, I make my first purchase of 2 pairs of earrings from a sweet little old lady. Except I was so eager to buy things, I didn't wait for their shop to open. They had literally opened the gate and turned on the light when I crashed my way into the shop. They didn't even get a chance to move their things out to the shopfront, let alone have change for me! I continue with my rounds of shopping and ended up buying a new top before Will comes back 20mins later to pick me up. Will starts screaming how the hell did I manage to buy something in the time he left me alone. Men, they just don't understand!

We hop back into the car and head off to Dubbo Zoo with camera in hand. Oh, and I didn't mention that during yesterday's drive that we saw something we just HAD to get a photo of. Doing a U-turn at 110km/hr is not exactly a great move, especially if your point and shoot is too slow to take a photo of the target. We do ANOTHER U-Turn and missed the photo opportunity again. So Will does a 3rd U-turn and comes to a screeching halt at a petrol station, I fall out of the car and run to the boot to grab all of my DSLR gear and jump back into the car before we drive off to try and take another photo. This time we do manage to get a photo, but we're heading in the wrong direction and had to do a 4th U-turn to get back on track. Meanwhile, a bunch of people were standing there watching us stupid country folks do the biggest wheelies they've ever seen. So because of that, we had an agreement. I don't sit in the car unless I've got the DSLR in my hands.

We pull up the zoo entrance and I immediately start taking photos of everyone and everything just for the sake of it. This was our first time to Dubbo Zoo, and I didn't realise how huge it was! You have to drive around the place, ride a bike, or hike 6.5km.

Some people opting the healthy choice

We chose the driving option. First stop, Camels.

We have a real obsession with Camels ever since Will told me about Camel rides in Turkey we were going to do together. I had to go through the painful story of my Year 1 excursion to Taronga Zoo in my pretty pink and white polka dotted dress where I visited the camel. Next thing you know, I felt a tug on my dress, I turned around and the stupid camel had eaten the little handbag that is sewn onto my dress! To make it worse, the camel spat it back out! Then my teacher picks up this slimey chewed up bag, shoves it into a plastic bag and told me to take it home.

When we went to Taronga Zoo last year, I was determined to hunt the camel down, only to be told they had moved to Dubbo Zoo! We drive around the zoo until we find the camel exhibition and start taking photos like mad.

We did a few other exhibits, but basically it was hot, we were tired, we eventually started doing what we call "drive by shooting". Will drives past the exhibit, slows down/stops, I keep my finger on the trigger and take 10 shots and off we go again. We started judging animals as to whether they were worthy for us to stop and get out, drive by shooting only, or not even worth the effort for drive by shooting.

Deers

Golf buggy - $69 hire

Giraffe

Standing next to the world's shortest giraffe....

Rhino butt

As we drove up to the tortoise exhibition, I start screaming "OMG!! THERE IT IS!!!" whilst pointing frantically at the tortoise in the park. Will starts to park like a maniac when I go "Oh don't rush, its not like its going anywhere anyway". As we got out, I realised it was a statue! Good one! No wonder it wasn't going anywhere! hehe here's the real thing:

Tortoise

Yes, this one is real

The animals we definitely had to stop for was the Kangaroos, Koalas and Emus. Definitely the Emus. It was the one exhibit we were most looking forward to. I can't explain why we have such an obsession with emus, simply because no one but us (aka Will and Grace crazies) will ever understand. And if we try to explain it, we're gonna get locked up in the looney bin.

Emu

We do a lap of the zoo and decided to have a quick break and snack on Will's Mummies delicious food. We get back into the car and leave the zoo. When we get to the exit, Will spots a Winery sign and screams "WINE!!!!!" and then practically swerves onto the other side of the road. Luckily, in the country there isn't as much traffic as in Sydney. 5mins later, we pull into Red Earth Estate. Another 5mins later, I'm semi sloshed and armed with a heap of wine. We stumble back to the car where I had to do some last minute "drive by shooting" before we headed towards Parkes.

Loaded up and happy!

I pulled out my special CDs which contained Debbie from 2DayFM and Little Britain, the radio show to keep us entertained until we got to Parkes. We also did a quick pit stop at The Dish that featured in The Dish. Again, more drive by shooting, but this was because they had huge signs of "NO CAMERAS! NO MOBILE PHONES! ALL MOBILE PHONES MUST BE SWITCHED OFF!".

The Dish

I loved the drive along the countryside. We could not have picked a more perfect time to do this trip. Its spring and we've had recent rain. It was sunny but not too hot, meaning all the wild flowers were in bloom. It reminded me so much of driving through Tuscany and just seeing fields and fields of sunflowers. Well, there's no sunflowers, but the view could not have been more perfect. I think if I came any other time of the year now, I would be so disappointed.

The purple weed flowers are called Patterson's Curse

We stop at Parkes information centre as we were told that there is a winery in town. We walk in and ask if there's a winery, and the response we get is "Oh yes, we've got heaps of wineries around here. Actually, theres only one left". WTF????

We somehow manage to get information out of them, we plug the address into the Navman and off we go. We eventually get directed to a dirt patch with a scary looking road and a hell of a speed hump. We sat outside for a few minutes thinking whether we should go in, and if we do, will the car survive the trip???

We take a deep breath and go in anyway. Luckily we did, because this turned out to be one of the nicer wineries we went to. The Sand Hills wineries is a small operation, and the lady running the place was really nice to take us around and show us the equipment and gave us a little history lesson as well.

SMJ is a happy girl!

Apparently she also has heaps of kangaroos on her farm, but she couldn't spot any for us.But she did take us around the farm and show us wild asparagus, which was a real highlight for me as I've always wanted to grow asparagus!

Do you see it?

We head back to the car and load the boot up with the wine I just bought, and she was kind enough to give us a box so I could store all the other wines! We head back into town to grab lunch at their local pub:

Rissoles with gravy and chips

Roast Lamb with chips

Will then goes off to do his work thing whilst I shop. 45mins later, I've bought more tops to Will's amazement. We jump back into the car and we're off to Forbes. The road to Forbes is basically a desserted road. We barely saw any traffic the whole time we're driving, which was good for one thing. One very...strange...thing. Taking photos with a dead Kangaroo. I know its gross, but when I commented that its the first time I've seen a dead Kangaroo on the road, Will starts screaming that I need a photo with one. But when you're going at 110km/hr with cars infront and behind you, it makes it hard to stop.

So we're driving, and from a distance, I could see a dead roo on the side of the road. We come to a screeching halt and do a U-turn, not a problem since this was a desserted road without a car in sight. We get out of the car and run up to take a photo with the roo. As Will takes my photo, a truck comes rumbling from a distance. I scream "TRUCK!!!!!!!!!!!" and we bolt towards the car and jump back in. It must be the guilt kicking in, or the fact we look like sickos taking photos with a dead roo, that's the only explaination I can think of for running. We drive off again when Will screams that he didn't get a photo, and that we need to find him a roo as well. Plus, I looked way to happy in the photo. And no, I'm not posting the photo up!

We eventually get to Forbes without spotting any other roos. Will does his work thing, I hit the bottle shop and walk around. Feeling bad that I didn't find anything to buy when Will left me alone, I went to a Bakery instead to grab a drink. Just to say I bought something. Yes, I'm a woman obsessed. Once done, we headed to our last stop for the night, Orange.

We check into the motel, and the place was gorgeous! So spacious with fluffy bedding, big bathroom, huge TV with DVD player, good size fridge where I immediately shoved our Red Earth wine into.

We shower and relax for a bit. I get up to get ready for dinner when Will goes "Hey, chuck me those brochures?". So I did. I grabbed the brochures, run full tilt across the room screaming my warrior war cry whilst waving the stack of books over my head. I do a flying leap towards Will who was lying in bed, ready to pound him in with the books. He starts screaming, I start laughing before collapsing into a heap before I get to his bed. We have a full on laughing fit for about 5mins before we recover. That was much needed stress relief.

We drive around town looking for somewhere to eat. We spot a Greek restaurant, asked each other if we trusted a Greek restaurant in the country before jumping back into the car. We pull into a restaurant called Fare Dinkim.

Barrmundi with chips

I'm always hestitant about ordering seafood from towns that are far from the sea, but this fish was beautiful. Firm but flakey and so fresh!

Chicken, tomato and avocado pasta

Usual suspects - Will and Grace

I keep forgetting how huge the size of food is in the country. We were thinking of ordering dessert, but we were too full after the mains. We head back to the motel where we crack open a bottle of wine and get completely sloshed watching Little Britain.