Sydney to Hillston, 27 October

We left my house in Darlington, Sydney, at 8.05am after Andrew arrived from Wollongong and Samuel travelled from Manly (seeing the sunrise over the Heads during his ferry trip) and we spent an hour packing and arranging the car.

Our transport is a Toyota Hilux with 4-person cabin and large boot/storage space. In the cabin, three people, in the back a fold-up table, four chairs, three suitcases, five boxes of specialist equipment, sleeping bags, pillows, blow up mattresses, spare water and petrol, cups of tea and biscuits...and a partridge in a pear tree (OK, except for that last item).

We left Sydney going against peak hour by the M4, through the Blue Mountains, to a shopping stop in the Bathurst to pick up important items we had forgotten or neglected by including a 2 TB hard drive, DVD discs, an ethernet cord and music for the trip. Next stop West Wyalong - a centre for cereal and eucalyptus oil production. There we had a very late lunch at the Paragon Cafe which served a nice cup of tea.

Two towns we passed through-Carcoar, outside Blayney, and Weethalle outside West Wyalong-were noticeable for their empty spaces and their appearance as small villages apparently affected by the "sponge city" phenomonen. (Note to self: Must remember to read more about this impact in regional Australia.)

At this point, driving in western New South Wales, it was hard to believe just how green everything was. From Bathurst to West Wyalong the canola was in flower vibrant yellow, around West Wyalong the foot high wheat looked luscious, spring wildflowers were in full bloom, and the attractive but noxious purple of Paterson's Curse carpeted our journey.

Turning right at Rankin's Spring we headed toward Hillston. Towards sunset we encountered our first stretch of red dirt road. While driving along the longest stretch of untarred road he ever driven, Andrew was also keeping his eyes open for kangaroos at sunset, the worst time of day-at least 16 were spotted.

Samuel saw his first kangaroos - in the wild bounding across the dirt track in front of us - and watched the sun, that he had seen rise at Sydney Heads that morning, set 700 kilometres west of Sydney on the edge of the Outback. (This was soon to be followed by his first Oz beer at Hillston's Tatersall's Hotel - a schooner of Carlton Draught.)

We called it a night after a 10 hour drive at the crossroads town of Hillston and wound up staying in the least salubrious of the two town pubs, The Club House Hotel. But had an enormous 8-inch long steak-described as the "medium" sized-at the pub at the other end of the main street, Tattersalls Hotel.

At our pub accommodation Samuel hopefully enquired about WiFi and Internet service and was told 'no'. I am just relieved that, although all the hotel rooms share the one toilet, at least it works.