20180304 NSW Coolar to Yeoval N.S.W

20180304 Stopping at Coolah for supplies pass Gulgong then stopping at Wellington, another town we’ve been through and didn’t realise.  It’s coming in from a new direction that’s confusing us but then that wouldn’t be hard.

The town of Coolah one of a number of town claiming to be
"Beyond the Black Stump"

They say there are a least four places that all claim they are either “the black stump” or are “beyond the black stump” but Coolah is adamant it is the home of the real “black stump”. The Kamilaroi people called the area “weetalibah wallangan” meaning “place where the fire went out and left a black stump.



The Black Stump Hotel 

A flyby shoot of a leaning shed on the wide open planes.

Rhino at Wellington

Join the adventure spot the Rhino snap and win, simply take a selfie with the rhino, upload it to social media and use the hashtag #THERHINOADVENTURE, 

for your chance at regular giveaways.

Stopping for lunch when the old tractor drove passed, she was a bit rickety going up the road but in great condition.

There’s a storm heading our way so we rushed to get out before it hits, next and hopefully the last stop today is Yeoval, I’m over racing to miss bad weather which has been heading our way but so far so good.

Yeoval is surrounded by rich agriculture land and known for its fine production of wool, wheat, orchards, canola beef cattle and fat lambs.  It is famed for its connection with ‘Banjo Paterson’ who spent his first seven years on the family property, ‘Buckinbah’. 

Yeoval is at the crossroads between Dubbo, Wellington and Parks in New South Wales

Here’s a bit of an amusing tail for you, well I thought so: The town was changed from Buckinbah to Yeoval in 1882 and the theory is that a shepherd was moving his sheep through town when the sheep started to run. The shepherd’s daughter was sent ahead to block the bob and as she ran her father called out “Go Val” which somehow became “Yeoval”, 🤣🤣

The Royal Hotel 

Our first stop in the town but again it was Sunday and the only place opened, Des was tempted to have a beer but was worried there may be police about even thow he was told they knock off at 7ish but that didn’t stop me, I had one of the best rums ever, I could actually taste the rum 🍷.  The staff are very friendly and you can camp at the back with showers provided, we were told the meals are good but we didn’t try.

Wall mural at the Royal Hotel

We were told the show grounds was a lovely camp spot and when we drove in we thought how do you get lovely out of this, it’s as dry as, but the amenities were fabulous, just beware of the whining woman with too much time on her hands tho.

The lovely camp grounds but at $15 per van per night with power we were happy.

There are three new spacious showers and very clean a BBQ area and table and chairs.

“UTES IN THE PADDOCK”

Between Parks and Condoboein 90 min west of here very close to the geographic centre of NSW is the unusual Art Project , here you will find Holden Utes in many configuration created and painted by well-known Australian artist, then Bruce sent me some photos that made me even more determined, can we go Des can we go, hopefully on our way home.

The sculpture of Henry Moore is six metres high and weighs six tonnes, it is reputed to be one of the largest public art work in Australia.  It is made out of bronze by Drago Marin Cherian, who said he felt his mentor Henry Moore was “larger than life” and wanted to reflect that with the size of the sculpture. It was donated by the famous racing family – the Waterhouses.

Drago being a “typical bohemian artist” loved his wine and woman, not good with money, offered the NSW government in 1995 an elaborate “Millenia Nexus” monument to celebrate the Sydney 2000 Olympics to be built on a 16 ha abandoned brick pit next to the game site consisting of a rainforest, walkway and a dozen sculptures all dominated by a 1,000 m tower of solar-generated lasers.  Drago borrowed $47,500 and signed over all his artistic work to Robbie Waterhouse as a guarantee.  Anyway it all went to shit, Waterhouse took possession of his art and was about to sell to the scrap yard for $10,000 when Alf Cantrell (who owned & operated the Banjo Paterson Museum) pointed out to Waterhouse that the bronze sculpture was probably worth $1 million, if gifted to Yeoval he could claim $1 million tax break from the Australian Tax office.  So it wasn’t donated out of the goodness of his heart it was to rip off the tax payers and that’s how our government handles our money, interesting.

The Big Hat

The sculpture of Banjo Paterson hat is the product of the imagination of a Real Estate in Orange and is on loan to Yeoval.

Eagle Majestic

Animals on Bikes is a travel game created by local communities to draw people from the major road from Orange to Dubbo and to create a fascinating quieter drives for families heading to Dubbo Zoo.  What a great idea, spot all the different animals on bikes plus you can download a map to follow the trail, I found one so far and that was a fluke. 

The main street of Yeoval consist of a caff and maybe the hardware, but that’s small country towns for you.

There is a shop in their but unfortunately it's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.  Well check out the streets we're the only ones here it's just like a ghost town.

Well so far so good we are both still in one piece and no injuries.