Wednesday 20th/Thursday 21st - Orange

Ok All week we have been excited about going to orange. Mostly Deb because she wanted to show us the 'backwards bike' but more on that later.
On Thursday We had an early start as we were due to leave the house by 8 so the usual things had to be done, packing, breakfast, saying goodbye to the dog and sherry. With 'Polly' (Debs Peugeot) all packed up we set off to Orange.
Ian being a professional rally driver wanted to show us some of the dirt roads in Australia. We had only a very short experience of dirt roads, we travelled about 4 kilometres on a dirt road when we went to the blue mountains back in September. Ian said there was a great track on the way to orange that goes past Genola caves. After a short while on tarmac we turned off and the road seemed to disappear, poor Polly knew what was ahead, mile after mile after mile of dirt track. Ian engaged the sport mode and we were off, after only a few meters Ian was already frustrated with Polly as the paddles on the steering wheel wouldn't let him change gear when he wanted and also the button that turns off the traction control doesn't do so, it wants you to be wrapped in cotton wool. Anyway I was up the front with Ian while Deb and Laura were in the back, Deb was calling the road layout from Google maps so Ian knew what was ahead. I suppose it was probably 45 minutes of driving and we arrived at the caves. Ian was already tired from driving, I was tired from passengering and holding on! Laura was feeling quezy and Deb was looking up the next stretch of road on the laptop. We saw some amazing scenery blur past and a stunning river at the bottom of the canyon which eventually we crossed and climbed the other side. After another 74 kilometres (46.2 miles) were covered we came to a tarmac road. This was like driving on silk after the rocky dirt road! We were now fairly deep into outback Australia and the busy roads of civilisation were disappearing with long winding roads of, well, not a lot really. Occasionally we would see a car or a bike or 2 enjoying the roads but that was about it. The roads were now fairly open so Deb didn't have to call them and could sit on her laptop working. A short while later and Ian paid the consequences with his enthusiastic driving. Laura needed a short rest at the side of the road thinking she was going to be sick but luckily wasn't! Anyway we swapped and Laura sat in the front and I sat in the back and we were off again, this time a little slower much to Pollys relief. We came to a relatively large town of Bathurst where for those of you that watch Motorsport will know holds a very very famous racing circuit. Mount Panorama. Every year it plays host to the Bathurst 1000, a 1000km supercar endurance race. 95% of Australia watch this race and its known as Bathurst day.

Ian had never driven around the circuit before and decided that it was about time he had. We wound through the town and followed the signs. The track itself is actually a public road that is closed for racing events, there are actually houses within the track and use the racing circuit as their driveway. Obviously as its a racing circuit and a public road there are many people that drive around it to explore. You can go wherever you want on the circuit to explore however there are ferocious speed restrictions, the speed limit was actually 40kph (25mph)!! we pooteled around until we started to climb only to find that the road was closed as they were resurfacing it! What a let down! We turned around and came back down to find some lunch. This was not as easy as first thought, we just wanted to find a small cafe but there wasn't one in sight! Being in a bit of a hurry as we had wasted so much time at bathurst we scrapped the lunch idea and carried on our road trip. I spotted a diner at the side of the road and we pulled in, we all ordered a toasted sandwich. This was a very old style Cafe and had lots of farming antiques and also produce for sale! They had 6 honey samples on offer of which I tried extensively and also an indoor bee hive. It wasn't actually indoors but in the wall of the building with a glass window as the wall so you could see the bees working away! 

It was fascinating but unfortunately the lure of more honey samples was too tempting... Laura and me found our way back to the table with the food yet to arrive, asking how long the food would be the useless waitress said around 25 minutes. I know full well it does not take 25 minutes to make a sandwich and we left. We blasted up to orange and found the farm where we would be staying for the night. The farm was exactly how I imagined it, it was a typical; Australian farm. The farm was around 1200 acres in size which is the biggest farm in this state. There are much bigger farms in western Australia but most of that is just desert. We were greeted by the farmers wife and 4 very friendly and way over excited dogs. We had a short explore and were shown our sleeping quarters. It was actually a very sweet new 3 bedroom annex and was beautiful. We dropped our bags and went in the main house where we were presented with fresh bread rolls and a huge selection of meats and salads, this was one of the best things of the day!
We were taken out for a 10 minute drive down the main road where the farmers were working on the other side of the farm building a new fence for the cattle. Laura was now the excited one as she finally met someone she classes as 'Australian'. A very rich accent and the mandatory Australian hat.
We then were taken into the local village to collect the kids from school. It was a very sweet village, a little like Ringmer but nicer. We arrived back home, again to very excited dogs and Laura had a nap to try and shift the aftermath of the dirt road. Early evening came around and we were presented with the backwards bike, named Dr. Wobble. It looked like any other push bike however this was no ordinary bike. We were given a demonstration and it was ridden with ease. Me having ridden push bikes and motorbikes fancied my chances and jumped on first. After closer examination the bike had an opposing gear on it, so when you turn the handlebars left the wheel goes right and vice versa. I peddled for all of 10 inches and had to put my feet down, this was hard. I did do better than Debra when she tried before she fell off before going anywhere. I tried and tried and tried until was out of breath. The farm is around 9000ft altitude so the air is thinner and the sun much more intense. 10 minutes of sunbathing and you will be burnt. I had enough of the bike and Ian had a go. Ian is very competitive with others and himself, if he has a challenge he will complete it. after 15 minutes he gave it to Laura as he too was knackered. We sat on the tailgate of the Peugeot out of the sun to watch Laura struggle. All 3 of us had failed. I had another go and took turns with Ian until we were called for dinner. Neither of us had managed to ride it more than a metre. We sat down with the family for a fantastic meal of roast chicken and peach crumble for pudding. Ian fairly swiftly went to bed after the day of driving while the rest of us stayed up to play a board game. I wont go too much into the board game as it was totally stupid, but very good fun none the less. I lost, but I expected that as board games aren't my speciality. We all headed for bed and had a good nights sleep. In the morning we were awoken by the cockerel as is the way on the farm. We had breakfast and then were taken on a tour of the farm in the mule. A mule is like a golf buggy on steroids with an area on the back for the dogs etc. The dogs knew the drill and jumped in the back however they were very very disappointed as normally they would go on the morning patrol however they had been replaced with a Myles and a Laura and left at home. We were showed around with Debra being very excited with a 1 day old calf. A few fields across and we were shown the sheep on the hill that overlooks the farm. 
The picture you see here is the farm in question, pretty much all you can see was the farm to give you an idea of size!!

We drove back to the farm greeted by sulking dogs. Ian and me broke into the barn and got out Dr. Wobble, we were not going to be defeated. I sort of got the hang of it eventually and managed to ride a short distance. This frustrated Ian greatly as he still couldn't do it. Photos were taken of the bike and Ian is planning on building one at home so he can do it. (He will always complete a challenge). Ian Laura and me took a drive back into orange leaving Debra with the farmers to do accounting things while we had an explore and also to find some morning tea at the bakery. Ian got some bananas to keep his energy levels up, Polly got some diesel to keep her energy levels up, and some air in her tyres to keep her tyres up. We got back not realising what the time was with an Angry Deb as she had to be in a meeting back at home in 4 hours. We said quick goodbyes and thank you and left. Thinking ahead Laura sat in the front. We blasted back to Bathurst where we did another lap of the track, this time it was open so we could a proper lap! We had a quick driver change and I had a lap of the circuit enjoying it thoroughly. Oh and not venturing above the 40kph limit... much...
Drivers changed back and we headed back home. There were evil looking black clouds on the horizon so Debra studied the possible routes home on her laptop to see what would be quickest as Australian roads get incredibly slippery when they are wet. A dirt road was selected and was coded in the sat-nav. Mr tom-tom didn't like this and said that there was no route possible. So Debra planned the route on the laptop and we just paid attention to where we were going. Soon enough the tarmac ended and we hit the dirt, the rain was drizzling now but our spirits were high, except Polly who was back in rally mode. The route Deb had selected was interesting shall we say and after 20kms there was a rather large sign stating that the road was unsuitable for road vehicles. We opened the gate and proceeded as the clock was very much not on our side. Debra was trying her best to call the roads but Ian misjudged a corner and cut it a little too much dropping poor Polly into a rocky ditch at quite considerable speed. The momentum kept us going with many lights on the dashboard telling him that 'he was driving too fast and to slow down' (in a French accent) the rain was coming down now and made the surface a little slippy. Eventually We came to another gate with a much smoother looking track the other side, we were through. I opened the gate and ian inspected the car. As it turns out A peugeot 4008 is surprisingly strong! The only injury Poly had was a cracked washer bottle a missing wheel liner. The front bumper had been pulled off the wheel arch but after some gently persuasion it snapped back into place. We proceeded home and finally hit the highway to discover that we had bent a part of the steering as it now didn't steer quite straight and then we met the black clouds we saw earlier. Fork lightening repeatedly blasted across the sky with torrential rain howling down. eventually we came out the other side and drove to the hotel where Debs meeting was. We looked at the clock and had 9 minutes to spare, just enough time for a change of clothes! Ian was very tired after that drive and I offered to drive the last 40 mins home. 
We arrived home safe and sound where it was still dry, Ian and me inspected the Peugeot in more detail and everything appeared to be ok. He said it didn't really matter anyway as it was going for a service in 3 days. God knows what the mechanics at Peugeot must think when they inspect that car! We relaxed in the living room watching those evil clouds close in, this brought some awesome lightening and incredibly loud thunder. Tara the dog is completely deaf however can still feel the vibrations and was rather confused with it! I tried and failed to get any decent photos of the lightening, I did get one which looked amazing but was so bright the photograph just looked white. otherwise it would have been good.. 
This concludes our trip to orange really I don't think there is anything else that happened. I hope you enjoy reading this as it took over 2 hours to write, which is valuable rally car working time!!

Love to all xx