Monday April 19, 2010 – Dubbo

We did very little yesterday. Being Sunday not much is open. Charles tried to golf but there was a tournament on. We did go in the hot pools 3 times.

This morning we had a slow start. We did not have far to go so it didn't matter. There were lots of semis on the road today. Some had oversize loads. We had to follow one with a mining truck on it. It took up most of the road. It finally turned off to Gunnedah. We went straight through.

As we neared Coonbarabran we started to notice signs with planets on them. The first was Uranus and the second Saturn. We did not think to stop and take pictures of the signs. When we stopped for lunch at Gilgandra there was a sign there with Neptune. It turns out that the observatory outside Coonabarabran is the sun. On the road out from there are mercury, venus, earth, mars and jupiter. Then along the roads leading out from Coonabarabran there are signs with the other planets on them. If we had only stopped to see what the signs were all about. This is quite a novel idea. There are a number of observatories in this general area. Dubbo and Gilgandra also have ones. When we got to Dubbo there was a sign for pluto.

After checking in we headed downtown to do some shopping and see the old Goal. The goal opened in 1887 and closed in 1966. Like so many other attractions this was interactive. One of the exhibits was about a hangman. It was a hologram. What an amazing show. It was a very enjoyable afternoon.