Howdy Folks, back from a jaunt to the country.

This is simply the best time of year to be on the road :-)

We headed for Dubbo and Gulgong this weekend for our first shows there.

This meant crossing the Blue Mountains, passing through each town named after a long dead explorer. I have visions of these Englishmen wandering around the Bush yelling 'Halloooo?' trying to find their way across the Great Dividing Range, getting lost and occasionally eating one another. Speaking of which, we stopped for lunch in Blackheath where the fright trains rolled by.

Love for the GPS?

I am a big fan of the GPS. Theo is not. 

I like not having to think about navigating. Theo has an enlarged brain segment responsible for mapping and finds my hardware inferior. 

Despite disagreeing with the GPS's choice of highway, there was spectacular scenery and yes, we got all touristy and stopped for pics.

Near Mudgee, things seemed greener

resuming the normal parched brown of NSW that I am more familiar with as we neared Dubbo.

If, Dear Reader, you are in an office, or at home, I hope these pics give you a sense of the simple pleasures we get in driving through horizons without borders.

You Know you're in the country when:

Paved roads are optional

Bull bars are serious

And with good reason. Very sadly we saw a high number of Squishy The Kangaroos on the side of the road, this run. We passed some Bike Riders who had struck a rabbit (thank god only a small one) and were pretty shaken up. The rabbit wasn't so thrilled about it either.

Dubbo

Our first night in Dubbo and Mr Wizard wants to let you know that the Dubbo RSL Motel is The perfect motel. 

Thanks to Gail for bailing me out with a hairbrush at the last minute.

The Dubbo RSL is...

Our sign was short an R

We were billed as a 'modern acoustic' act in the RSL guidebook.

Oops...

(For previous readers - compare this setup to the new style integrated digital desks in my last post)

With the lovely Ms Jo Fitzgerald with us for the weekend, we focused on songs that featured her harmonies and vocals; expecting a Saturday night crowd, we started with a couple of rousing numbers.

When a little old lady walked up to me during song two and shook her hearing aid at me whilst gesticulating, I suspected something was amiss and asked the crowd how we were doing for sound.

The Left hand side of the room said it was too quiet, the Right hand side said it was too loud. It took me another song to work out that the correct answer was to have them switch sides.

Thanks to Tony, Eileen and all the locals at the Dubbo RSL for hosting us for the evening. That was the first time on the trip that I heard the refrain 'you guys aren't half bad' :-)

The next day we got up and prepped to leave for Gulgong,

Here's a busy Dubbo Sunday morning 

Cheers to Gleni at the Sticks and Stones cafe for coffee!

Back on the country highways again, we header for Henry Lawson territory in the central west

Gulgong is another rural gem and they've done their best to maintain tradition 

Blackboards don't have spell check :-)

We had a great afternoon at the Gulgong RSL.

Adjusting our set list to lead in gently for a Sunday afternoon,  we once again had the pleasure of Ms Jo's company and thanks to Lukes hard work on the sound, had a very satisfying acoustic outcome.

Twice shy girl was almost flawless, both Theo and Rosie were in fine form, and we had a chance to pull out some gentler songs that haven't had a run for Saturday night gigs such as Glenrowan, The Way That She Smiles and Onward Traveller.

Having Jo there also gave the boys confidence to do Even in a lifetime, which I have missed playing, and of course 'wine to water' only really works with Jo. :-)

Shout outs to Josh, Jordan, Stuart and the Young Presidents (Lincoln and Jackson).

This is the Gulgong chapter of the Theo Wanders fan club.

This was also the second time during the trip I was informed that we 'aren't half bad' which has since been explained to me as the locals way of showing appreciation.

Apparently if you are half bad the correct phrase is 'jeez you guys are sh...'

That brings to an end our recent set of country runs and we have one more gig this weekend before we either go on tour or.....um...err...

(sigh).

Thanks to everyone who made another weekend of traveling and playing so enjoyable.

We look forward to getting out that way again soon.

MJEB.