Warning!  Lots of photos 

We ended up staying at Ponto Falls for 3 nights and there was a couple of people having a camp fire down where the rocks were.

This was the view while I was doing the dishes :)

Definitely a place to keep in mind people!  It's only about 45kms south of Dubbo on the way to Wellington.

We went to Lake Burrendong to catch up with Ben, it is just east of Wellington and is actually a dam.  There was a big fishing competition on over the Anzac weekend so we got up early on Saturday morning to watch them all head off for the morning session.  They were sent off at 10 second intervals at 7am so we had to be down there early to get a look.

Ben showed me how to use the panorama option on the phone so I was able to get this shot of the dam/lake.

Ben went to the Dawn Service at the War Memorial in the morning and then arrived at the lake just before lunch.   We went for a look at the dam wall for a better view of the lake.

I really have no idea what they were dribbling about here!

Ben decided to have a play with the camera and take a night shot.  Think we might need to get a tripod at some stage so I can have more of a play :)

These shots were taken as the boats were getting ready to start the morning session.

The iphone camera seems to have distorted this shot.

Ben's verdict is that 'if you're not using a tractor to put a stump on the fire, it's not a big enough fire'!!

Bun was pretty impressed with the fishing boats!  I think that looking at the seats they have, our dinghys just don't cut it!!!

We went to the Wellington Show on Saturday for a look, typical little country show :)

The drug sniffer dog was used on the children!  Not sure what that says about the local population hahaha

I think the police dogs were used in a demonstration so the locals remembered that they had to behave :)

For some reason, this 'art installation' reminded me of Craig Holtham!  :))

And some mornings have been cold enough for someone to rug up while he waits for the day to warm up!  However the last week has been pretty good with temps between 24 and 28.

This was an old Store in Mendooran.

In the BCF store in Dubbo, would you trust these two??

Ben went back to Canberra on Sunday morning and we went back to Dubbo for a night, to catch up on washing and fill up on clean water.  The water at the Lake comes straight out of the dam and looks like well-brewed tea!

On Monday morning we set off towards Quambone fully intending to have a quick look and pass through.  Knowing that it was Jack's 'local', Bun decided one beer wouldn't hurt.  As you can see in the photo below, he settled in for the afternoon.  When he was on beer No. 4, he started playing 'Snap' with the Norwegian bartender.  He did okay with Snap but once she started dealing Blackjack, it all went downhill from there.  Still it made for an entertaining afternoon.   Needless to say, we only went around the corner to the 'Primitive Campground' to set up for the night :)

For those friends who know the story, I thought this cloud looked like a troll's hair!!

We went along a couple of really dusty dirt roads yesterday on the way to Lightening Ridge and even got stopped by a farmer who asked us to ring 000 and report a fire for him!
It was all happening out here hahaha!

We stayed at Lorne Station (bush camping) for the night, it's about 5kms out of Lightening Ridge.

We went for a wander around the town this morning and found ourselves in the most amazing art gallery.  It was originally the local squash courts but is now owned and run by John Murray.

After much deliberation (well minor stressing about the cost) we decided to purchase the set of three canvasses as seen below.  We got to meet John and hear the story behind the painting which was the icing on the cake.  As Bun told him, we've been waiting and looking for 15 years (since we built the house) to find the right thing for the lounge room wall!  So it will be shipped home into Kate's hot little mitts and she can't wait to 'look after it' for us until we get back.  It will be awesome!!!

This afternoon we did a self-drive tour around the township and the diggings.  There are some really unusual dwellings!!  The people outside town have no power supply or water, they need to pay for water to be carted out to them.  Considering the temperatures they get here in the summer, I wouldn't want to be out there.

We stopped to watch the cotton pickers working alongside the road and Bun took these photos as the bale was being pushed out the back.  I thought it looked like it was giving birth :)

This is Stanley, the 18metre tall emu.  You can just see me standing at the bottom.  His official opening is on Saturday and it sounds like the whole town of Lightening Ridge will be in attendance.  

These native citrus trees are just growing beside the road here and Bun was interested to see the unusual flower on them.

Sunset (yes, more of them!), this time from the lookout above Lightening Ridge at the site of the first dig back in 1902/3.

Tomorrow we plan to go through Hebel and then to St George and stay overnight. After that, we are going to Killawarra, where we were in October.  It will be good to see Jaimie, Andrew and their girls again.

Josh and Kara have moved into their new rental, still in Para Hills.  Callie and Steven are now living in Valley View, with Steven due to start work on Monday and Callie is applying for jobs.

Ben is likely to be going to Indonesia again in May for a couple of weeks.

I think that's about it for now

Cheers