Where To Now

[Terry]

Where To Now?

And where to now I wondered as the faint track petered out,
old Bill’s mud maps were always vague; of that there was no doubt.
His greasy thumbprints covered half the paper on my lap,
where feeble looking lines were meant to represent a map.

I should have known the old bloke would bamboozle me again,
he’d started of by waving arms while trying to explain.
Then came this bright idea of another track to take;
a shortcut through to Bindah; “past that old mine in the lake”

I should have gone the way I knew; the way I went before,
I would have got there quicker, and of that you can be sure.
Now if I could have snuck away I might have done just that,
but would have felt quite guilty when I dropped in for a chat.

I studied his old map again, still totally confused,
but had to smile when thinking of the language that he used.
Now Bill could swear a treat, he was a master of the art,
his words just flowed like poetry, when once he got a start.

He hated politicians; damned them to a fiery fate,
you just sat back and listened when old Bill was in full spate,
I gave up on his map and looked to turn the ute around,
another rotten shortcut that has never yet been found.

19/6/2009  T.E. Piggott

[Terry]

We’ve all been the recipients of what appear to be meaningless directions.

I was looking through some old poems written years ago, (this was probably a homework one from somewhere) and this poem reminded me of getting directions from an old Aboriginal bloke of how to get to a spot on Banyawarn station. He waved his arms in a sort of half circle, then pointed up in the air and said the track in was 20 to 30 miles from where we were now (miles from any track). His final bit of advice was the it was “near that stone “ ; that country’s littered with stones and rocks.

An interesting thing we learned was how Aboriginal prospectors used to leave secret signals for mates, to the where-a-bouts of spots they'd found. A small stone or a piece of wood placed unobtrusively on or near a fence post (much harder to spot than you might think - fences out there run unbroken for miles) was popular, plus many other carefully arranged signals that few were aware of.

[Heather]

I wonder if "that stone" is known to the GPS Terry? I remember you taking the scenic route to Tamworth by relying on a GPS. and if it was The Putty, I think it probably was the better, albeit it slower way to Tamworth!

[Terry]

Hi Heather

Yes it was the Putty road and you could sense the history as it wends its torturous way through the hills and valleys.
As you say a beautiful drive if you dare take your eyes of the road for a moment.
I believe a couple of the tiny bridges were built by the convicts in the early days, no doubt distant relatives to some of our mob on the forum. I don't wish to brag but my distant ancestor was Town Constable in charge of convicts at Albany, mind you we didn't have many convicts over here. (he was a bit of a tyrant I'm led to believe)

Cheers Terry

[Shelley Hansen]

Good one Terry! We've found some of the most interesting places imaginable when we've been lost ... and we once towed a caravan over the Putty Road!!

Cheers, Shelley

[Heather]

I thought The Putty was pretty easy really and parts were very pretty. I was regaled with stories of horror before I drove it but found it didn't live up to the stories.

[Terry]

Hi Shelley
We also took an alternative route with our caravan the last time we went to Tamworth; a bit like the putty but over high hills and on a gravel road thanks to our GPS.

Heather I agree the road was fin, it was just the number of blind bends often at the top of hills - attractive drive though

Terry