SFT Tour - Day 12 - Elvis, Cars and History

Our last day in Parkes was coffee and museums.

Not surprising, Henry Parkes, five times Premier of NSW, creator of public education in NSW and chief agitator for Federalism, is the big cheese in these parts. Originally known as Currajong because of the Kurrajong trees that were prevalent in the area and then Bushman's or Bushman's Lead, received a visit from Henry Parkes in 1873 and were so impressed by the new Premier that they changed the name of the town!

In town proper, we wandered up and down Clarinda St - named for Sir Henry Parkes first wife - seeking out the public art trail, which was an interesting experience. In most cases, it was either photographs or reproduced artwork on square panels (about 450mm square) but in some cases it was a statue or a sculpture. Some of them were hard to find - such as the large piece of art depicting a female astronaut, which at nearly 3 metres high should have been easy to find but it took a lot of looking and creative thinking to interpret the brochure. Of course, in one case there was a sculpture which was there without being on the brouchure. The the three and a bit metre, bright orange astonaut was kind of hard to miss in Cook Park but wasn't on the handout. I have my own theory. Orange Spaceman is actually a newer version of Gort who stands their motionless until you say "Klaatu barista mocha" and then he takes you to the best cafe in town.

Worked for us. We had our best coffee of the tour at Deja Brew and had to look twice when a Bruce Willis look alike turned up.

The Henry Parkes Centre occupied all of the sight seeing part of the rest of the day.

Sue getting all shook up

The first of three museums was the Elvis Museum. I wasn't looking forward to this experience, not because I don't like Elvis Presley but more because I just don't understand the phenomenon. In the end, just like Michael Jackson later on, he died an imensely successful but sad man who felt he had played one gig too many. The truth is probably very different than that and at 42, he still had much to offer but he seemed unable to bridge the transition between the young Elvis and create a mature Elvis. His fans never seemed to be able to escape the folklore and let him change. There is much of that in the manner in which they flock to Parkes for the festival created in his name by a couple of fans who also happened to own a pub they had called Graceland. The museum items and the story told around them highlights this loneliness. There are some prime original exhibits - clothing, album covers, contracts - and a good audio visual featuring Glen A Baker. You can't help feeling that King wasn't well served by many of those around him.

The second museum were the vehicles of the Parkes Antique Motor Museum. Chevies and Buicks and Oldsmobiles were among the cars from the USA and there were Austins and other British cars and a good selection of BSA and Harley Davidson bikes. For mine, the preposterously three-wheel Reliant Robin was the stand out as a clear indication that even designers sometimes take too long over a liquid lunch. A wonderful collection and beautifully maintained by members.

The third museum, is the nearly 8 hectares of grounds and buildings that make up the Henry Parkes Museum. Run by the Parkes Historical Society - just a group of people who love where they live and love history - its clear how lovingly it is maintained. Like many local museums, it suffers from having too many items which are the same and not really that important. There are several highlghts: the bird's egg collection, which is both large and well organised; the wall of memoriabillia dedicated to the Emmanuel Family, who lived in Parkes from 1967 and particularly the late Phil Emmanuel; the old school building; and a carriage from the Silver City Comet, a train which ran from Parkes to Broken Hill. The only negative are the sheds full of farm equipment and vehicles. Not sure who, apart from farmers, would ever look at them. We were particularly impressed with the older gentleman who was our front of house man. He had a great sense of humour and gave us a fabulous overview when we walked in.

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The afternoon was about reading books and conversation. You just love those days when the pace is of.

Homeward bound tomorrow.

SFT Tour - Day 11 - Old Planes & The Dish

In the cockpit on the Convair

What a difference a 100km makes. Our first night in Parkes was a mild night, although to be honest, the air con in the van makes life a lot easier.

First up this morning, we went the Parkes Aviation Museum and this proved to be a surprise. I've been to a few of these, including the wonderful collection in Darwin, with its B-52 and Spitfire and F-111 ... and the list goes on. Parkes is organised by a group of volunteer, who not only share a love of aircraft but also a love of tinkering and fixing. For a minimum charge, you are introduced to the hulks of a Wessex helicopter, a Huey Cobra attack helicopter and Lockheed Electra - the same type of aircraft that Emlia Earhart was flying when she was lost to the world. There's also a cutdown Convair, which like many of the part aircraft on display in the hangar, has been opened up an full access is provided. I even sat in the pilot's seat! All this is rather good for the enthusiast but these are clearly old planes.

The Orion

Its once you go outside that things get really exciting. In the one, crowed space, a Neptune, a Caribou and an Orian all sit inviting you to visit. The Neptune does currently admit patrons but in the Caribou and Orion, you have full access. The Caribou has been out of service for quitte a while and since it was spartan in the first place, the webbing seats and overhead winch cable gave it a rough appearance. Sue had just about seen enough and when she saw the ex-Qantas motorised stairs leading into the Orion, she baulked and started to wander off. I climbed the stairs and soon called her back. Delivered to Parkes by the RAAF when decomissioned in 2018, this search and also destroy vehicle had been at the forefront of the RAAF's anti-submarine capacity since 1979. In fact, this very aircraft had participated in the search of Malaysian Airlines 370. Its an amazing beast. To the rear is a fully kitted galley, including kitchen space, fixed table and chairs and bunks. Forward of the read hatch are the sonar buoys and their launch ports. Further forward are computer screens which were monitored by at least aircrew. Then ahead of them a tactical station and a navigation station. Finally, at the pointy end, pilot and co-pilot sit high up and in front of panels of gauges and switches and levers and pedals and even steering wheels.

It still seems a complete aircraft and yet here you are, walking through it, able to sit in all but the pilots' seats and touch every dial.

Tucked away behind is another Neptune, out of the reach of the public and with half a dozen eager volunteer working on it.

Very high on the wow factory.

We returned to the front desk and had a chat to the two old fellas collecting money and as we could have predicted, they had stories to tell.

Leaving the airport, the GPS took us via an alternate route to the Parkes radio telescope. For alternate read from the opposite direction and for the last six or seven kilometres, over a dirt road that included the sign "Weather Only". We got there.

Its an imposing beast is the telescope and when we arrived, it was maneuvering into a new position. Having visted her at least three times, I've never seen it on the move. Inside, the displays were interesting and the theatre show featured a 3D presentation of things to do with Space and radio telescopes. There is a static display which explains the role of the Dish in telecasting the Apollo XI moonwalk. There was also an explanation of the factual liberties the movie The Dish (2000) took. 

We had a late morning tea at an underwhelming cafe and then soaked up all the information available and took lots of photos. The wind had picked up and for a long while the Dish was parked in its straight up position to protect it from the wind when it exceeds 35km/hr. Built in 1961, it has been the model for many other dishes and array which NASA has built. There is an amazing 1,000 tonnes in the moving part above the control tower and its accuracy is astounding. When pointed at an object in space, its accuracy is the quivalent of the width of a finger seen 150km away. It is a hard working piece of equipment, working on 24 hours a day and is observing the cosmos about 85% of the time. A further 5% is lost to high winds and there is about 10% down time scheduled to maintenance and testing.

Years ago, when the children were young, we did a tour of the tower below the dish - not the control room - but no such tours take place now. No doubt security is the major issue.

Click here for today's photos

Back in town - the normal way - we drove up Memorial Hill to the Parkes War Memorial. This isn'tyour average statue in the town square. High up on the top of the hill, a huge square column rises more than 30 metres above the ground. Clad in white paint and with the names of all of the conflicts Australians have been involved, its like no war memorial we have ever seen. The memorial exposes a view over Parkes and to cap it off, it has a beacon atop its height which shines out in all directions at night.

Another day in Parkes tomorrow in the last stages of this two week two.

Jetty Tour Day 30 - Goolgowi to Dubbo

Just a driving day. Nothing special.

The only moment of sightseeing interest came at the very small, mostly dead Weethalle, where two wheat silos have been painted by the Melbourne artist Hessko. Lovely work.

Morning tea in West Wyalong in a Geek Cafe. Lots of furniture reminiscent of Big Bang Theory but extra good coffee. Next door lots of model cars and nerdy stuff was on sale. We purchased a couple of pull-back cars for grandchildren.

Lunch at Parkes, right beside the steam locomotive which has been there for more than 40 years. A team of volunteers was giving it a tidy up paint job today. Lovely adjoining park with lots of space, a big lake and a fountain in the middle.

Finally arrived at Dubbo although with day light saving finishing, we made an early start. We missed the turn in to our park because of road works. When we did get in, the place was teaming with Queenslanders and their voluminous hordes of children. We had an uphill, quite small site which I naturally backed the van at first attempt. Getting so good at it I wish I didn't have to stop.

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Dinner at the Dubbo Club tonight. Nice Sunday roast for me and pizza for Sue. Beer for me, red wine for Sue.

Dull, dull, dull.

Another day in Dubbo before home.