Day 2 Parkes to South Aussie border

Well the kiddies had there first gander at this beautiful old girl, The Dish has been in operation for over sixty years and thanks to regular upgrades, it continues to be at the forefront of discovery. It's still arguably the finest single-dish radio telescope in the world, and is still performing world-class science and making discoveries that shape our understanding of the Universe. Oh and yes it's still in the middle of a sheep paddock.

I was about fourteen years old when I was last here as my Dad and Mum brought me down here with my sister Jodi, we drove down in Dads Combi van and then headed out to Broken hill. But it felt funny as here I was standing as a teenager with my Dad, then what seemed like a not-so-long period of time and I'm now standing here as the Dad with my mob of boys. It was a really strange feeling to be true...

Her name is Murriyang, which in the local aboriginal language means Skyworld, it's huge at 64 meters CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope is also known as 'The Dish, along with two smaller radio telescopes. The dish was one of several radio antennae used to receive live television images of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Its scientific contributions over the decades led the ABC to describe it as "the most successful scientific instrument ever built in Australia". So after sitting around enjoying the quiet morning air in the bush just looking at this ripper piece of aussie history, but our tummies were rumbling and we were already late for breakfast so after one last look we jumped back in Eddy and headed to a surprise brekky...

The kiddies surprise was the opportunity to have there first feed at a Carl's Jr, and this was our last one on the way back home.

Jacko inside Carl's Jr at Dubbo and fairdinkum we loved the feed, yes it was like McDonald's but to me it was just a bit better and the kiddies loved the free drink refill.

After a nice long drive through Cobar without hitting any Cobar goats we hit Broken hill again, it was just over a week ago we spent most of the day driving around this town. Today it was going to be a lot shorter trip around as we still had a bit to go before night fell, so a top up with fuel and a feed at Macca's before hitting the road again...

Oscar with a painting of Broken hill inside the shopping center.

So a bit further down the road we finally hit the border between Cockroach country and the Crow eaters, and decided to keep driving until the sun goes down.

About time to pull over and call it a night...

So we pulled into the Barrier Hwy Parking bay, so the old man saves another $60 on caravan park fees... you little beauty!!!

Now to drink a couple of these Darkside beers that Chris Troon gave me, crikey there strong!

Just so you know today we drove a total of 1024kms which to our English mates that's the same as driving from the front doors of the VIP pizza at Brighton, to the Dolphin cafe in Peterhead in bloody Scotland!