New Years Day we were up and leaving Frank and Debbies place by about 9am. Debbie had given us good directions to get out of Canberra and on our way to Mudgee... we only took one wrong exit due to confusing roadworks but with the help of trusty Google Maps on the smartphone we were soon back on the right road.

I drove the first leg, to Cowra which is roughly half way, and so became our lunch stop. I had been watching the petrol gauge and working out how far we'd traveled and how much petrol we were using. About 45 mins out of Cowra we were going through a small town and Rodd asked if I was stopping for petrol.... I decided not to as according to my calculations we should have enough to get to Cowra!!! Well seems the second half of the tank goes faster and not as far as the first cos the gauge was dropping at an alarming rate and I will admit now I did have a few moments worry that we'd run out of petrol before we reached our destination. The light came on when we still had 35 km's to go so I "sweated" for 20 mins all the while telling Rodd I was confident we'd be fine!! Phew.. was I glad to pull up at the petrol station!!

Lunch was a very disappointing affair.. New Years Day there's not a lot open in Cowra so we ended up at McDonalds because of course they are always open!! I managed to find a salad, which consisted of some lettuce, 2 little cherry tomato halves and not much else but it was enough to sustain me!

The rest of the drive was uneventful and we arrived in Mudgee around 3pm.

The reason we drove all this way to Mudgee for just one night was a bit of a trip down memory lane for me... I had spent some of the best years of my life as a 15-16 yr old here.... 30 odd years ago! We drove around all the old haunts, of course it has all changed a bit but still so much the same.

"Cloud Nine" was the local lookout where I spent many a night with my friends, it's all fenced off now and had it not been so hot and I'd been wearing joggers I would have loved to walk up there. I'm surprised I remembered exactly how to drive there, no hesitation I directed Rodd straight there.... mind you I traversed that road so many times in so many different states that it was probably indelibly etched in my brain!! Oh the misspent youth!!

I wandered through Lawson Park and memories of hot summer days with the car boot and doors open music blaring while all the gang swam in the river or sat around on the grass chatting drinking and smoking..... sorry Mum and Dad.... came flooding back. I loved those days, carefree and young, a whole life yet to live with endless possibilities, so oblivious of everyone else's needs and wants, just living my life for me, selfish maybe but happy. I must say the river doesn't look very inviting these days and even has signs saying "no swimming".

 I used to sneak into the RSL club to go dancing.. Tina Turners Nutbush would get everyone of us up, got thrown out a couple times but did get away with it on numerous occasions..... the club of course has been renovated extensively since I was there last in the late '70's!!! We went up to the golf club too, another place that even after 34 years I could still find.... I spent a bit of time here too but unfortunately the clubhouse was burnt down so the temporary structure they had there just wasn't the same!

We ended up at the RSL club where we had an awesome Chinese meal for dinner, I'd definitely recommend eating there. Oh and we had some fun and luck on the pokies there too!!

Next morning we headed off to Bathurst and drove via Lue, Kandos and Rylstone, more memories. On the road to Lue was the quarry which was a favourite spot for all the Mudgee gang to hang out for a swim, it was very deep and cool with cliffs the brave and foolhardy would jump off.. not me!! Unfortunately even though the Lue Road was so familiar to me I couldn't recognize the turnoff to the quarry. I'm pretty sure I heard they closed it to the "public" years ago... spoiling fun for generations of Mudgee youth.. if only they knew.

A quick stop in Kandos to see the Kandos Hotel which Mum and Dad owned in the '80's then on our way to Bathurst to spend the night with Rodds family stopping only in Sofala for lunch.. what a lovely quaint little town! Last time I was here I was with Deb, I think we were driving to Canberra for Sally Rothwell's wedding, and we walked over the river on the old bridge.... pity they had to remove it but good to see it preserved.

Oh well enough reminiscing.. tomorrow is Rodd's chance to relive his past.