20240909 NSW Baan Baa

20240909 We left Narrabri looking for Gin’s Leap rest area that’s apparently is on the highway and I have no doubt there will be lots of traffic noise. OMG! We just passed a fox sitting on the edge of the road that looked like a lost puppy, or it had a full belly from pigging out on the dead carcass or maybe it was just watching the traffic go by. The road from Narrabri is a smooth drive, so far, as we search for a place to camp, when we spotted a road to the left so Des turned off and there in the middle of nowhere stood an old pub in the town of Baan Baa. We asked if we could say the night, sure the young barmaid said, the meals looked delicious, they had my favourite crumbed lamb chops so thats me sorted for dinner. I walked the town and got some photos before retiring to the van for a nap while listening to the laughter coming from the Pub so later in the afternoon we cracked a beer, drank it then off to the pub we went.

Des found his place at the bar.

On opening the door to the pub and sat down then ordered a drink, no rum and dry or Merlo so I opted for a ginger beer, with that sorted I look at the crew in the pub and said, “what’s with all the cats, haven’t you guy’s learnt how to run them over, Ooo we’ve tied they said. The cat lady across the road lets them roam free and they are breeding like rabbits, the street was crawling with them. 

The night just got better when a little bird decided to join us, well talk about laugh, everyone in the pub tried their hardest to free this bird back to the outside world, but to no avail. We sat and watched while the whole bar peed themselves laughing, one guy had a long cobweb cleaner and was swinging it around trying to help it find the door, even throwing it like a spear. Another took his jacket off and tried to throw it over the bird, eventually the bird landed on the bar, I think from sheer exhaustion then Des came to the rescue and picked the little fellow up and freed him back to the outside world. Who would have thought a little bird could be so entertaining, to a mob of piss heads in the little town of Baan Baa.

No town is complete without a memorial to our diggers.

The grain terminal just across the road from the pub

The cat ladies house across the road from the Pub.

I’m sure this would have been a great little cottage in its day.

We’ve come across many abandoned homes in these little towns, it’s like people just get up and leave.

One of the sites we passed on the way to Gunnedah.

In Cobb and Co coach days, it was known as 'The Rock' and now it goes by 'Gin's Leap'. The widely accepted origins of the current name follow the tragic death of a pair of ill-fated young Aboriginal lovers, a modern day Romeo and Juliet.

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