23 June 2021 - Roma

Day 14. 23 June 2021

Roma


I went for an early morning wander back through time along Roma's Historic Walk discovering some lovely old buildings and along the Avenue of Heroes.  After breakfast back at the van, Noeleene and I walked the short distance to the Big Rig Information Centre for a self guided tour to learn about the history of oil and gas exploration in the region. Before we started, we sat and had morning tea in the warm sunshine outside the information centre, and started talking with two elderly locals, one of whom looked very familiar. After chatting for about 20 minutes, I realised it was Jim (without his Akubra), the same man who took me around the Cattle Sales yesterday. Having lived in the area for 80 years, he was keen to chat with us strangers and share more of his experience and knowledge of cattle farming, gas and water in the region. It's been a highlight of our trip meeting and chatting with locals. It's so uplifting.  

The afternoon included another walk through town and a visit to the Roma Cultural Centre to see the three dimensional clay mural of the history, industry and culture of Roma created by local artists. Back to the van we went for a relaxing afternoon. I started planning the next stage of our travels while Noeleene made her first Bach of scones in the oven - unsurprising, the queen of scones maintained her standard.  We even shared a couple with our caravan neighbours, a lovely elderly couple from South Australia, who were very appreciative. A night off cooking tonight with a lovely meal had at the Royal on 99 Hotel. Tomorrow we depart for a short drive and one night stay at Miles.



Avenue of Heroes - 93 Bottle Trees planted in memory of the men of Roma who lost their lives in WWI

Avenue of Heroes with the Roma State School in the background 
 
1938 Roma State School building

Main Street of Roma

Hunters Store and Queens Arms Hotel from 1916

The School of Arts Hotel - the Glass Turret at the top was used as an enemy aircraft lookout during WWII

The Western Star providing regional newspapers since 1875 

Roma historical buildings

Avenue of Heroes

Sitting proud and keen to be photographed

The Big Rig

The Big Rig

Great exhibits, machinery and information about oil and gas exploration of the region 
 
The three dimensional clay mural depicting history and industry of Roma



 

Comments

  1. SueCJune 24, 2021 at 7:39 PM

    Loving the blog adventures and photos so far Bob.

    ReplyDelete

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