Coolamon to Griffith

After our late arrival in Coolamon it was a slower start to the day.

This town main street is heritage listed and many of the original buildings were built during the early flourishing years between 1880 and 1920.The town has a wide main street with a central garden. It is a grain growing area. The caravan park was very neat with a brand new shower block that was shared with the local pool. Locals were super friendly and Greg came back after walking Rifter with a date slice purchased from a street cake stall. The Main Street had lots of heritage buildings and we stopped for coffee at one quaint building.

Unfortunately we parked the van in front of a disused driveway only to find out it belonged to the local men's shed.

They were moving out to another premises that morning.  Can't help bad timing!! Not that easy to find car parks for the van.
Next stop was Narrandera where Greg went for a paddle on the Murrumbidgee river. He said it was flowing at about 2-3 km an hour and it was hard work paddling, plus there was the odd hidden log ..not that easy to see in murky water. But the sun was shining and the day was gorgeous.

Meanwhile I took photos of a disused brewery, walked Rifter, enjoyed the sunshine and birds who were singing with gusto.

We arrived in Griffith and stayed with cousins.

 

Met a lot of the extended family, lots of kids ( Trev and Rhonda have 11 grandchildren- the youngest a week old-gorgeous kids) and two grandmothers who look so spritely. Hope I'm still as sharp at their age. These guys have farming backgrounds and now have school bus runs. They have a beautiful home.

Griffith is a very fertile irrigation area and has orchards, vineyards and rice growing area. 60% of the population have an Italian background. Unfortunately some Italians have links to the Calabrian mafia and there are rumours about their rapid riches and elaborate massive houses being linked to drugs. Actually more than rumours .....there have been murders, police corruption, crime bosses, marijuana crops, 15 million ecstasy pills shipped in tomato tins etc. The TV series Underbelly was about crime bosses who had links to Griffiths. But despite that the town looked neat and busy, fertile and productive.

We spent the night catching up and sharing photos.