At the end of December, we visited Gulgong, an old gold-mining town that used to be on the Aussie $10 note (hence the name of the Ten Dollar Town Motel), for an annual folk festival that included a bush dance in the streets on New Year's Eve. It's about 200 miles west and slightly north of Sydney. While we were there, we took the opportunity to drive around the area. We visited Mudgee, the nearest town of appreciable size (about 8000 people) and known for its numerous wineries. We stopped at the Mt. Vincent Meadery and picked up a bottle of mead wine, mead liqueur, and a six-pack of mead ale. Yummy!
The model of the diprotodon, below, is based on skeletons that have been found in the Wellington Caves. The diprotodon was a huge, carnivorous ancestor of the wombat. Luckily, today's wombats are much smaller and herbivorous, though you still wouldn't want to antagonize animals with digging claws like they've got! The Aboriginal rock art is ancient, created by putting ochre powder in the mouth, placing the hand up against the rock, and blowing to create the outline of the hand.
On to the next set of thumbnails....
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