Yowah or Yeow-Wah!

Saturday Night Dinner and Bon Fire in YowahIt may be that the reason no Australian had heard of yo-wah is because it's pronounced yeow-ah, like "ow" I just hit my thumb with a hammer and, "uh" could you call the doctor? Once we got to this obscure place, we had a great time despite how rainy the first night was.

Saturday, it cleared up and we were able avoid the mud puddles while looking around at the expensive opal displays. Turns out it's really costly to mine opal! Who knew? We met some great folks. Real country people who had some good stories about where to go, what to avoid, and why several other places were better for opal (local battles between who's on top).

Little Bath Tubs Fill up with the Artesian WatersThe town does have natural thermal baths and you can see us enjoying two tubs of the sulpher smelling water.

Perhaps the most amazing item of note was on the Sunday we left, we had noticed a tire was low on air, again. I searched around for some way to get air into the tire (or tyre as it's spelled here) and a fellow offered to help at the General Store. Turns out he was one of the singers from the night before, a native Texan, and owner of a cigarette lighter-based air compressor. Once the tired was filled, he just gave me the compressor! Outright! Said his Spirits were saying I might need it in my travels. Wow! Amazing.

Saint David Holding the Holy Grail (of Air Compressors)

On the Way to Yowah: Part 3

The wildlife that everyone else takes for granted is new to us, of course. As we move further inland, in the outback, we see a lot of road kills, mostly kangaroos. But then, sometimes we see a live one hopping around, and not in cars! So I got a little snippit of this roo looking and hopping away.

And while we were watching these guys, we were also watching our gas tank go down to empty, not knowing if we could make it to the next station, in Bourke. We made it, on fumes, with a stern warning from the station attendant to not assume there's petrol in each town!

A long road ahead with no much fuel (and no cell service or other cars).

On the Way to Yowah: Part 2

Funny Story #1* On the way to Yowah Shirl discovered a massive amount of fraud on her credit card simply by using it once at a pharmacy in the aforementioned beach town of Coogee. People in Paris were having a grand time on her card. That's not the funny part, though. We had gotten a phone call earlier in the week from Chase fraud mentioning we could call them if we wanted.

In the Middle of Nowhere, On the Phone to Chase

Once she did actually check to discover the major party a select few Parisians were having, she called first from our caravan park then from this isolated phone booth. We're still sorting that one out! Great fun.

Funny Story #2 This started while still in Sydney, then continued on as we traveled to Yowah: Our homeowners insurance got canceled. It was, We might cancel you if the couple of repairs aren't made sometime in the future, then out of the clear blue it was, We've canceled you! Thankfully, our neighbors Jennifer and Mark came to the rescue, installed the all-important railing and painted the back side in time for us to be reinstated. Mark did all the hard work by climbing into our attic to get the paint (why does a house need to be painted to have the insurance reinstated, one might ask) and installed the railing, so thanks Mark!

Funny Story #3 Oh, so many things happened while going to Yowah. We ran out of propane. While normally this wouldn't be a big deal except that (A) we shouldn't have run out for weeks, not days; and, (B) we were in a caravan park that could've filled up the tank, no problem, but the valve was force-fitted onto the tank because the helpful folks at Traveler's Auto Barn thought it would be grand to just blow off filling the tank due to its difficulty in getting the value off, leaving us to get it repaired. Ha Ha! Auto Barn, you so crazy! Thankfully, the owner of the park had the right combination of tools and know-how to get the valve off and to fill the tank. Now we can have a cuppa (apparently, that's a cup of tea here) whenever we like!

* Funny for you; not us.

On the Way to Yowah: Part 1

We came across the bottle museum in the town of Merriwa.

Shirl made friends with the head of volunteer emergency services, which was also the Bottle Museum!

Shirl points to the toilets. Next to the Bottle Museum!There were hundreds of bottles from everywhere in Australia. All housed in the back room of the emergency services building (next to the public toilets, hence our reason for stopping initially). He invited us in and here is a sample:

Upper Row: Some interesting bottles

Lower Left: The plaque on the building

Lower Right: Shirl and Max at the Museum/Emergency Services in Merriwa, New South Wales, Australia

Bottle Museum

Here is the whole museum in a video:

To a Town No One Has Heard Of

Guard this map with your life. If questioned, immediately swallow it and act normal.So, every Australian to whom we've said "We're going to Yowah," has not been to, heard of, or knows the location of said town. Rowan discovered this opal festival starting on July 15th there so all previous plans were canceled* to attend this all-consuming desire to explore something of potentially no value held in a town of potentially no potential. But opal! Who doesn't want to see opal in its pristine state? (This is where you click on the comment link and say, "Oh, yeah, opals, you can't beat those puppies for nothing!") Rowan is nearly certain you can get a 'roo to follow you through the opal fields of Yowah, placing countless finds in their marsupial pouches as they hop contentedly behind waiting for a lick from his Vegamite Bagel smear.

Anyway, to get there, we've started to make our way in our "caravan" (as they say here) inland to the mythical town of semiprecious renown. Tonight, we sauntered into Denman, a town known for its IGA grocery store with adjoining hardware annex, managed to run out of propane, but found out the place has a great grill and Rowan cooked corn and sausages.

We've plotted out a half-assed itinerary to get us there by this Friday so we can get a good spot at the ol' caravan park. So Tuesday first thing in the mid-morning we head to Point D on the map (having already left Points A in Sydney, B in Narrabeen, and C in Denman) for a three-hour drive further into the land of Oz. Then Wednesday it's on to Bourke, Point E, for another three-hour drive. Thursday has us coming into Cunnamulla, Point F, to be within earshot of Yowah for Friday. Or at least, that's the plan for the moment.

Internet connections may be iffy as we head to the town of lore and ore. We'll be there until Sunday, July 17th, when we start back towards the coast (Brisbane) and perhaps moving to a warmer area.

*There were no plans. (Seriously, plans? Traveling with Rowan?)