The Final Leg Home - Scrub Stitchin' 2026 - Chapter 3: Tootool

The last sightseeing stop of the trip was a spot I'd been wanting to go to for ages, but could never quite make work logistically...until now...Tootool.  In it's heydey a busy little village with a post office, school, general store, two churches, a railway siding and silos...and while that is now in the past, the local volunteers of the Tootool Rest Stop Committee, with the support of Council, have created and maintain an area well worth making the effort and stopping for...

The rotunda is filled with murals of birds and information...

More birds...

Do you see the wee houses on the tree?...There is so much to see...surprises everywhere...

 

The entrance to the garden...

Not just a plant or two here and there...it is chockas...lovingly maintained and full of whimsy and personality to go along with the beautiful plantings...

There is a chapel...

and how would this be for a spot of tea...

If you are passing through it's well worth the stop...but allow time...you are going to need longer than just a pit stop to have a lovely wander through the garden and check out all the bits and bobs that are outside the garden at the rest stop itself.

 

On the way out of Tootool I came across the Tootool Telephone Exchange Building.  The mural was a collaboration between the Tootool Rest Stop Committee and the local Council, painted by an artist originally from the Riverina district.  Started one day and finished the next!

 

Because I was headed out of Tootool the first side I saw was... 

But if you are coming into Tootool the greeting is...

 The front is painted up like an old telephone...

and on the back wall...the local school is remembered...

 

Tootool...well worth the stop... 

 

Onwards now to home...well, with a quick-ish stop at Howlong...can't miss an opportunity to pop into the patchwork shop...got to cross the river somewhere, might as well be somewhere with a patchwork shop!

 

Happy Stitching... 

The Final Leg Home - Scrub Stitchin' 2026...Chapter 2

The area where the water tanks are located at the RAAF base in Wagga is at the front of the base where the public access/car park area includes the Heritage Centre and other displays is located.  I didn't go into the Heritage Centre building itself as time didn't permit - I had only expected the water tanks and museum so wasn't prepared timewise for how much there was outdoors...but I spent a good while walking around the outside display...

 

Replica of chapel built by members of 31 Beaufighter Squadron in 1943 at RAAF Base Coomalie Creek near Darwin.  The Squadron was formed at the Wagga Base on 14 August 1942, the only operational squadron to form at the Wagga Base.  It's a lovely little chapel, feels quite peaceful.

The information board tells the story... 

The water tanks, Heritage Centre etc are located on one side of the base entry road and on the other side behind the car park there are a number of aircraft displayed.  I was quite surprised at how interesting I found them...they are planes...boy toys in my head...maybe it's a genetic memory or something as on dad's side the serving members in WW2 (his dad, uncle and auntie-in-law) were RAAF (not on overseas deployment and from memory they didn't fly)...

The detail on the information board plinths...perfect!... 

After finding all the painted towers and tanks around Wagga I turned off after Collingullie and headed to The Rock, the intended destination being just out of The Rock. Because it takes a deliberate turn off the highway and over the railway line when travelling from Albury to Wagga, I'd not actually gone into The Rock before, just passed through the part on the highway.  A lovely little town...very neat.  I needed a pit stop so I stopped at the park.  Adding to the theme of the Defence Forces after the RAAF Base...in the park behind the facilities is a Gallipoli panel sculpture...

  

loved how the artist had made it 3D...The rock that towers over The Rock and gives the town its name. I hadn't enough time to go up to the Nature Reserve - on the list for another visit.

 

Only about 10kms now to the next stop...

 

Happy Stitching...

The Final Leg Home - Scrub Stitchin' 2026...Chapter 1 - Painted Water Tanks & Towers

The last morning of the whole trip dawned and it was time to pack up the car one more time and continue heading south...from Wagga it's only about 4 hours if I drive in a straight line and don't get distracted (yeah, right, as if that is going to happen!) and I had some painted water tanks and towers to hunt...took the time to start the day slowly and make the most of the 10:00am check out (well the second destination wasn't open until 10:00 so no point in rushing!).  The first painted water tower stop was a whole five minute drive from the motel...Willans Hill...

The tanks are owned by the local water board and the theme combines local children and the part water plays in their lives.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of graffiti scribbled on the mural - around the base...such a shame it has been vandalised.

 

The Botanic Gardens are a couple of minutes away from the water tower but I hadn't realised so hadn't factored in time to have a wander.  Location definitely noted for another time.  Then it was a less than 20 minute drive to the next water tank...at the RAAF base...

The RAAF Wagga Aviation Heritage Centre painted water tank...Then. Now. Always. Commissioned to honour the 100 year anniversary of the RAAF and the Riverina contribution to WW2.  Spent way more time there than I expected...but more on that in another chapter.

 

Next up was the Water Tower at Uranquinty...barely out of Wagga, about 25 minutes drive...I'd spent a long time going not very far - ha ha ha.  When I arrived in Uranquinty I stopped at the bakery first and grabbed a sandwich and cake for on the road.  Even though it was a little bit early for lunch by the time I would have another opportunity of a shop it would probably be scrapings if anything was left.  The water tower is in a small reserve in a residential area over the railway line but it's a lovely little park...

Murals dedicated to the part Uranquinty played with the RAAF in WW2...the first and only Aboriginal RAAF fighter pilot, Leonard Victor Waters...the first three Wirraway planes to be flown in for training...and RAAAF women working on a Wirraway.

Onwards next to Collingullie...another short drive, about 15 minutes...looking for painted water tanks...that was a bit trickier as they are actually in laybys on each side of the highway heading back into Wagga from Collingullie, not in Collingullie itself.

Wirajuri artwork on each one...so much detail in those dots!...

I was still barely outside Wagga, indeed if I had been wanting to go back into Wagga I wouldn't have needed to backtrack, just keep the loop going and in less than 20 minutes I'd be back in the centre of town...but it was time to head back to Collingullie and keep going in the direction of home.

 

Happy Stitching... 

 

 

The Way Home - Scrub Stitchin' 2026

It always happens....what feels way too soon...Scrub Stitchin' ends and we all have to say our goodbyes, pack up and start trekking back from whence we came for another year.

 

I didn't have days to spare going hither and yon on the way back so Sunday afternoon I set off down the highway as far as Peak Hill...staying in the small (just my size!) caravan park off the highway, about 100 metres down a side street, brick motel style unit rather than a cabin that had everything needed for an overnight stay...and it wasn't expensive! It's now on my list of approved accommodation...along with the addition of the motel in Lexton on the way up to Baradine, the list has expanded favourably this year.  I walked walk up to the quiet closed (well it was about 6:00pm on a Sunday) main street to get tea and post a letter....chinese takeaway from the RSL bistro, the only option but hot, fresh and tasty so no problem with that!

 

The next morning before setting off on the next leg...a visit to the Gold Mine Experience area on the edge of town...a self-guided walk and quite interesting...it is uphill though, so while the path is well formed it isn't a flat lander stroll...but it's downhill on the other side on the way back! ha ha ha...information hut at the car park to start the walk

 

One open cut mine (the closest to the road/car park) has been cleared out of rubbish and overgrowth/rock falls...vegetation is taking hold on the tiers which wouldn't have been there when it was a working mine but it's cleared enough so you can see how it would have been back in the day...

Other mines are "as is"...they really dug into that hill, it is much more obvious from the more elevated mine sites looking down over the plain...

Imagine going into that wee hole into the underground to look for gold...shudder at the thought...

Mining relics and information boards are along the path...

This is a bit of fun...played with a bit of stick tied on a string...

Views of the town and district from up the hill...

Sculptures of a couple mining a creek to finish the walk back at the car park...

I had planned to check out the main street in the daylight, get a coffee and take pics of some street art but decided getting to the overnight destination, Wagga Wagga, and having a early stop for the day was a preferred option so I drove through town and, aside from a stop in Forbes to get lunch, straight on to Wagga (well almost straight, missed a turn so it was a little bit of scenic tour - ha ha ha)...last overnight stop before heading home tomorrow.

 

Happy Stitching...