Tuesday Girls in Junee Day 2

 We started off the day with a morning walk, past the Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory, down to the urban wetlands Deb and I checked out yesterday.

You could see St Joseph's church poking up from behind the wetlands

Deb and I checking out the boardwalk

A Tuesday Girls selfie- as Kerrie said- 3 young ducks on the boardwalk

We headed back up the Federation Walkway. The blossoms were out, it was lovely to see the signs of spring

After breakfast we headed out to Coolamon- to visit the Coolamon Cheese Company out there. On the way we stopped off at Marrar for morning tea

Coolamon was a delightful town with beautiful old buildings

We made our way down the main street to the Cheese shop

First to have a cheese tasting

The cafe was a delightful space and the staff very friendly and welcoming

They make all their cheese on the premises by hand. They had windows up the back where you could see the cheeses being stored

They had some lovely cakes to choose from, all made on the premises. We shared the lemon curd muffin which was just divine, along with a pot of native lemon myrtle tea

 Last year Amy and I had met the mother and daughter who manage and run the café and the cheese company up at Lake Crackenback Resort at a food festival. We had chatted to them at the time, brought some of their cheeses and it had been on my list as a place to visit.

We chatted to the mother and daughter at the café and we were offered a cheese platter- we couldn't believe it when it came- it was very delicious- it ended up being our lunch!

We checked out the main street

which was delightful

The Fire Museum was open so we met the guy who runs it and owns all the collection- it was so well displayed and maintained

Then it was time to head back to Junee, we had a very important factory tour to be at by 1:30pm

We were the only ones on the tour, so enjoyed plenty of samples- we have done very well in the free sample department today- cheese, chocolate and licorice

Was a great day out

We went down into Junee afterwards to visit the Junee Railway Station, it had been beautifully restored

The old dining room was now a cafe

Deb and I made frittatas for dinner- nice to eat at home after a busy day out.

Tuesday Girls Adventure - Junee

 The Tuesday girls were on the road again. This time we had two nights in Junee then headed to Rutherglen for two nights. Kerrie has been trying hard to get the Junee Chocolate and Licorice Factory. She thought we were going there on our trip to Tumbarumba last year and was disappointed to find out it wasn't on the plan ( as it was not on the route). So Junee was on the list this year.

We like to take the road less travelled so instead of going straight down the Hume to Gundagai and across to Junee we turned off onto the Burley Griffin Way and went through Binalong. I always love it when I get to go on a road I have never been on.

We found this cute little cafe called The Two Pigs, so stopped for a drink and a cookie and a little explore around the town.

Binalong was the home of Banjo Paterson and and an area know for bushrangers being close to the goldfields at Young

Next it was on to Harden-Murrumburrah

Lovely old church in Murrumburah

Silo Art- pretty impressive

 

This is a statue of Bill the Bastard- a horse that carried wounded soldiers to safety in WW1 and his rider as well

Then we continued on to Cootamundra with all the blossom trees in flower. It was such a lovely day with blue skies, green countryside, canola fields in flower and the blossoms.

The Tuesday Girls enjoyed a nice lunch in the Olde General Store

On the road again to Junee- another road not travelled- excitement!

Kerrie finally made it to the Junee Licorice Factory and fortunately it did not disappoint.

The tours have restarted but we had just missed the afternoon tour so the plan is to go back tomorrow afternoon. We had a look around the factory, enjoyed some free samples in the shop, brought a few things,

Then it was time to head to our Airbnb- only a 2 minute walk from the Licorice Factory!

It was a very comfortable space, with breakfast supplies provided, milk, bread, bacon, eggs etc. 

It was a good find.

We went into the town, chatted to the ladies at the Visitors Centre. Deb and I walked back to stretch our legs, we settled in and headed out to the pub for dinner.

Sydney Zoo and Capybaras

 Amy has been fascinated by Capybaras for a long time now and month we went to the Sydney Zoo at Eastern Creek in Western Sydney for a Capybara encounter- Amy was in Capybara heaven. I was heading up to Sydney for my monthly Saturday shift at the temple, so we left on the Thursday night and stayed overnight out the Novotel Rooty Hill. The next morning after checking out we arrived at the Sydney Zoo around 11:30m, signed in for our encounter, and had a bit of time to check out the Zoo before meeting out Zoo Keeper at 12:15pm.

It was a cold day for Sydney, around 15 degrees, rain was forecast, and being out of school holidays the zoo was pretty quiet which suited us. We enjoyed checking out the animals and they were quite active so we were lucky. Then it was finally time for the encounter. There were 4 of us and we had about 20 minutes with the capybaras, they were very friendly and just wanted to eat the celery and bamboo we were given for them.

We had a fun time, checked out a few more animals, left the zoo around 3:30pm and it started to rain just as we were arriving at the temple accommodation and then just pretty much rained that night and the next day, so we were very lucky. It was a fun encounter.

Amy caught up with her cousins the next day and then met us at the Big Fat Greek for a late lunch before heading back to Canberra. A fun weekend.