Half over

Sigh... a whole week has passed in the blink of an eye. And it has been pretty good as well with the kids taking to the whole adventure with great gusto. Today we spent a bit of a cruisy day bumming around for most of the morning before visiting the Old Dubbo Gaol. An interesting place to spend a couple of hours, peering into the past at how criminals used to be treated. There were 8 executions at the Dubbo Gaol, all of them because the inmate was guilty of murder. Some of the crimes were truly horrendous, even by today's standards.

The building that houses all the cells has a couple of solitary confinment cells and they are something to behold. They are in pitch black darkness and Tom was extremely reluctant to go inside even with both Mark and myself beside him. Even the lux feature (night vision) on our video camera did nothing in the total blackness. And prisoners spent sometimes weeks in there.

The rest of the day was spent just lazing around the caravan park with Tom spending much of it on the jumping pillow. It has been bloody chilly here the past couple of days which is a bit of a shame as there is a pool here that Tom has been bugging me to get in, but there is no way I'm getting in when the outside temp is barely cracking 15 degrees.

Tomorrow we are headed for Warrumbungle National Park, and the northernmost point of this trip.

Caravan park wrap up: so we spent 3 nights at the Parklands Big 4 Caravan Park and there are some pros and cons. For those that are looking for a quiet intimate park, then this is not for you. This is a large park with a number of sites. When we first arrived, the park was close to being full, but the past 2 nights have seen it empty out a bit. Our site - C13 - was quite spacious and allowed us to park the caravan, park the ute beside it and pull out the annex as well. Not something that can be done at all the sites. After both Mark and I struggled to shower the kids the first night, we discovered that this park has both a baby and a toddler bathroom. I can't comment on the baby one, but the toddler one has a bath and shower and has plenty of room. A definate plus in my book. I have previously mentioned the jumping pillow which both kids thought was simply fabbo. And it is. But the playground associated with it could do with a little more equipment suitable for babies and little toddlers. The jumping pillow gets a bit crowded (and rough) with the older kids using it, so the younger ones can find it a bit of a struggle. Something else for them would be good. The amenities are good - the camp kitchen is clean and has plenty of room and seating, the water is hot and there are a decent number of showers and toilets. However, the cleaning roster of the toilet blocks could be reviewed with the women's closed between 9 & 10am and the men's closed between 10 & 11am. Right when people are making their last abulutions before leaving. Whilst we never used it, there is also a small kiosk in the reception area where you can buy some groceries. All in all, I give this park a tick. It is certainly a very good place to base yourself from when visiting Dubbo and surrounds and is conveniently located almost next to the Open Range Zoo.