After leaving Dubbo I had a wander along the Main Street of Wellington. So many empty shops. It is a pretty town with a nice park opposite the shopping precinct. I normally cut my own hair (a hat covers a lot of mistakes) but occasionally I go to a barbers to get it “tidied up”. As I walked along the street there were a couple of hairdressers so I went into the one that was empty and had a “number 2” (that’s the blade number lol). Talking to the owner I asked why so many empty shops. She told me 4 or 5 people pretty much own all the older shop buildings in town and ask such ridiculously high rents that they remain empty. She went on to tell me that she had her own salon for 15 years and brought her building 5 years ago. In the previous 10 years she had forked out nearly $.25million in rent. She was passionate about the town where she has lived her whole life but there had been 2 murders in the last couple of weeks and a huge drug bust late last year so the town was copping an image problem but felt it was still a great place to live. I went on to Orange where I stayed at the Showground before moving on to Bathurst where I did a lap of the Mt Panorama race circuit (see Bucket List #46) and had a look through the Motor Museum adjacent to the circuit.
I stopped at the Lions Berry Park on the edge of town and spent an afternoon wandering around the CBD. Bathurst is the oldest inland city in Australia and has some lovely historical buildings. Unfortunately their Historical Museum was not opened.
rayaroundoz 