Day 5 Tuesday 16th July, All Museumed out….Not really

Today we did some very enjoyable “touristy” things.  Our first stop was the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery where we were very impressed by the National Art Glass collection. The other gallery featured works by senior secondary school students who had achieved very high scores for their artworks in their final year presentations. We then did a delightful 4km walk around the Wollundry Lagoon which is a natural lagoon located very close to the centre of Wagga. From here we drove out to the small town of Coolamon. The main street was full of heritage, quirky shops. We stopped in at the Coolamon Cheese Factory where we watched some cheese making, did some tastings which resulted in some purchases and finally finished up here with a delicious ploughman’s lunch to share. We then strolled down the street to visit the 1900s “Up-to-Date” store which was a museum showing the original fittings and displays from the days when the shop first operated. One room really caught my eye. Originally it was an area set aside for millinery but now it contained the most amazing display of crocheted outfits done from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, by a lady called Mavis Furner. I thought I would hate them all but I didn’t! They were displayed in large pull-out drawers covered in perspex. She must have been extremely creative and clever. She made over 400 outfits over the years. Who would have thought crocheting could be so beautiful? From here we called into the Coolamon Fire Museum, located in the old fire-station, at the top of the rise in the middle of the main street. A retired fire-fighter was in this building and explained how the whole collection actually belonged to him and he had collected things from all over the world. He was very interesting and took pride in showing us all this different fire officers uniforms from around the world. Again these were beautifully displayed in large pull-out drawers, covered with Perspex. When I commented on these lovely displays and how I’d just seem similar drawers in the old shop he proudly said that was because he had made them. (His other job when not fighting fires was a cabinet maker.) He had spent all his spare money buying and collecting things for the display and had kept them at his home until he was able to use the old fire station. After this lovely stop we drove onto another small town called Junee. Again this was a beautiful, little town with beautifully preserved historical buildings. We had been told not to miss the Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory and so we made sure to visit. It was a very busy place with many families visiting as it is school holidays here. We were literally like two kids in a candy store and yes we watched some of the delicious chocolate things being made and we couldn’t resist making a few purchases….sorry there won’t be any left by the time we get home. We returned home to our caravan park and joined a rather large group of fellow travellers, around the fire pit at the meet and greet.