A quiet day today before the actual get-together starts tomorrow.
A wander to downtown Ariah Park. We were impressed. The main street, Coolamon Street, features shopfronts in their original early 20th-century structures and is shaded by century-old peppercorn trees. As with many rural towns in Australia, the town is struggling, with lots of shops closed, but it appears loved. There is a group of locals who dress up the empty shop windows so that the closed shops are not an eyesore.
After lunch, we headed a few kilometres out of town to where quite a few draught horses were resting for the night. Barellan, 130 ks west of Ariah Park, holds a Working Clydesdales "The Good Old Days" Weekend in October each year, considered one of the largest gatherings of heavy horses in Australia. The horses (and wagons) trek 200km from Stockinbingal to Berallan over 8-9 days. 28-40 horses, predominantly Clydesdales and 9-13 horse-drawn wagons make the trek, with the rest stop just north of Ariah Park one of their camps.
Cooling down tonight and certainly time for a campfire.
