My Bright Field

We drove over to Bathurst from Kandos yesterday to take a long drive in an air conditioned car and then go to the movies as a way to beat the 40C+ heat.  It's nice to see a little bit of green in the grass over that way.  And it's great to see clouds forming in the sky on a regular basis at the moment. I have become a keen skywatcher of recent months.  When we are out at Kandos I head to my dining room window at Rose Orchard Haus to check out the vista. The sun is now tracking back to the north, having reached its most southerly point to the left of that tree at the end of December. And for several nights earlier this week the sky was wonderfully pink and blue. I love a crescent moon.  It's is now much higher in the sky at sunset so not possible to get a shot like that now. Despite the implied promise the storm clouds didn't reach us this week.  As you can see some local farms were getting good falls which is great.  We all need wh...

Like most people living near native forests we have been kept on our toes this summer wondering if the horrible widespread fires will reach our homes.  Fortunately, the nearest I have actually been to the fires thus far is sitting in the Katoomba Library watching the billow of smoke rising from the Ruined Castle fire. For me there have been surprises. 1. How a tiny fire many miles away can creep (or speed) in closer and closer. Take this one for instance I would never have thought a fire as far away as Palmers Oakey would end up at Brogans Creek and within the 10km zone for Clandulla.   2. Becoming obsessed with the Fires Near Me app, checking regularly to see if any of our properties are at risk. Here is how things currently look in the mountains.  Again there are now fires within a 10 km radius of our home in Lawson but the weather is being nice this week giving the firefighters a chance to manage things. 3. Checking the Weather App t...

Windermere Dam has actually gone down only a further .5% since my last photo  but at this tail end of the lake the signs of the continuing dry are showing.

I'm glad we went to Mudgee on Friday.  The street trees are putting on their spring display. Reflection: Psalm 100:1-2 New International Version (NIV) "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

OK is it not the most pleasant of subject matter but I was thrilled to see this awesome huge bird  feeding on the dead kangaroo.  I usually only see them high in the sky.

On Fridays when we are at Kandos we often drive over to Mudgee to do some shopping.  One of the delights of this trip is passing by Windemere Dam which I have shown you on several occasions.  Lately the water has been getting low though still 32% full. We haven't had much rain lately and water is let out of this dam to feed into Burrendong Dam further west near Wellington.  Burrendong Dam is at a rather desperate 5%.

Fortunately I don't have the flu but I did pop over to Rylstone Hospital to get my annual flu jab. Despite it being a grey day my eye was taken by the light and the mountains - such a lovely part of the world.

It's time for a break from Autumn leaves. This beautiful creature is an introduced species and  a pest  but I can't help liking it right now.  I took this photo through the window of Farm View Cafe at Running Stream* where we often stop when travelling between Kandos and Lawson. The cafe under previous owners was called Foxwood Farm - perhaps this is why. * Running Stream is a tiny hamlet on the road between the Blue Mountains and Mudgee.  It is nothing more than the cafe, a closed one teacher school, a community hall and a little stone union church.  

I grabbed this last shot on the road between Clandulla and Kandos, back home from our lovely drive. We drive along here very often and never notice that tree other than at this time of year when it has its 15 minutes (days) of fame (flame).

I thought I would start by checking out the entrance to Kandos which I have s hown you previously .  It's pretty but not quite as awesome as I hoped.  I notice the vineyard has already lost its leaves.

This is the view looking North from the deck of our Kandos home.  Recently my eye has been caught by the yellow poplar burning like a flame against the mountain backdrop.     This gave me an idea, to go for a Sunday drive seeking out more of this beautiful autumn colour. We "commute" regularly between our homes in the Blue Mountains and Kandos. Poplars colour up beautifully west of the Blue Mountains whereas in the mountains they just drop their leaves without putting on an Autumn display.  So for our Gold seeking drive we headed further west from Kandos to the regional cities of Bathurst and Orange.  Over the next week I will show you what we found.

Down at the end of the main street you pass by a mechanics shop, the Kandos Hotel, the Men's Shed, the rotunda park and reach the railway station. The rail line is now only used for occasional historic tourist trains.  Over the railway line is the rather attractive Railway Hotel. That's it for this tour of our main street where most of the action happens.  Sometime in the future I will explore the other things like the museum which are off the main street.

A town is incomplete without a Chinese Takeaway.  Over the road is the other staple a Country Bakery.  There is also a takeaway fast food shop over the road.  I have posted earlier the Quoll Cafe and Wildflower Lounge which is up near the clock and the church  which is also on the Main Street. Other eating places are to be found at the golf club, bowling club, and local hotels.  Or we could take the short trip to Rylstone or perhaps to one of the local wineries.  

Looking for a unique gifts to buy or make.  How about Shady Lady Hats run by award-winning milliner Willy Hoffman.   That's her rather unique mail box above.  Other options are Wattle it Be gift shop (shown below), Kandos Crafters (for hand crafted items), the Community Shop (for second hand treasures), a Craft supplies store and the Art Box Gallery I have shown previously.  These all cater nicely to locals and tourists. There are more gift shops, hardware and ag supplies stores in Rylstone but for anything else we go to the bigger towns.

Here are two services not seen in lots of towns these days ... a local bank and a post office that is still a post office! Also in the main street is a hairdresser, a solicitor's office and a real estate agent.

Here we are in the local pharmacy. Whenever we talk with city friends about moving to the country the first issue they raise is medical facilities. A number of blog friends have also asked about this important topic. Fortunately Kandos is not in the remote outback.  We currently have three doctors and a pharmacy. We share a small hospital and ambulance with Rylstone just 7 kms away.  There are three towns/cities with bigger hospitals and specialists within a 100 kms radius and of course transfer to the big smoke is organised when things are really complicated. If the number of healthy older folk around us is anything to go by I reckon a quiet country life may be worth more than many pills.

Next to the Art Box Gallery is the community radio station KRR 98.7 FM  and a little further up the road the Kandos Community Centre  which includes the local library and War Memorial. I don't listen to radio very often and am still getting my library books from the Blue Mountains library so these are things for me to explore in the future. There are other community services like meals on wheels, weekly community buses to the bigger towns of Bathurst and Mudgee for shopping trips, a daily bus service connecting to the Sydney trains and no doubt a plethora of other things I don't know about yet.

Kandos was an industrial town but the cement works and mines have closed in recent years.  So now what? Real estate gets cheaper and that encourages people on less assured incomes to move in -- the artistic community (how nice is that).  Art Box Gallery and Shop  opened recently.  I miss the days when I was flush with money and often explored galleries with the possibility of purchasing something to loves for years to come. Here's a peep through the window of Art Box Gallery.  Kandos also stages  Cement a a bi-annual contemporary arts festival which will be held in November this year.

I am told that Op Shops thrive in country towns and we are no exception, there is a busy Vinnies over the road from the supermarket and a Community Shop further down the street. Being in the process of downsizing I have become a regular contributor to Op Shops rather than a buyer so have never been into Vinnies. Another interesting shop in this part of town is the Laundromat.  I don't think they are all that common these days.

We have reached the busy part of town where there is a well presented and well stocked  IGA Supermarket .  It might not be a Coles or Woolworths but it is certainly great to have a good supermarket in town. Over the road is Coopers Country Meat s which sells locally grown meat.