Every morning we wake to the sound of birdsong. Because we have been staying in different places, the sound of the birdsong has depended on which birds live locally.

This morning, on the lake, the birdsong was duck.

Not exactly tuneful!

It was a beautiful morning on the lake. I decided to try my hand at bird photography. The first thing I learned was that the best way to attract birds is to put the camera away. The birds will pose beautifully but fly away as soon as you have the camera out and ready to go. So I have no bird pictures to show you.

Except for the ducks, they are happy to swim around quacking and you can take as many photos of them as you like.

There were some beautiful wrens and other very small birds flitting around just outside the van door. Last night at dusk we had also had some small bats swooping around the van catching insects.

We were down to about a quarter of a tank of fuel, and we decided to go the back way to Bathurst and refuel there, rather than heading back into Lithgow and along the highway.

So we got to travel via Tarana and Perthville. (Yeah I know, I said that too - that's not how you spell Torana!)

The road was again narrow and spectacular. Not so twisty this time, but it did go across a couple of causeways. This road also follows the main western rail line for a while and we saw the XPT 3 times. I managed to get a picture.

The horse racing of choice in the Bathurst area is trots and we actually went past Hondo Grattan's stable - there was a sign on the shed to let us know. I hope you are not asking who the hell is Hondo Grattan! I had a poster of Hondo Grattan "The Bathurst Bulldog" on my wall when I was a teenager. Well, I say a poster, it was actually an E's E 2 C calendar which I kept after the end of the year. I think I might have actually bought calendar refills for that one, I liked it so much. I know I kept it even without the calendar part. I may even still have it somewhere at home. In long-term storage.

We arrived in Bathurst via the old Vale motor racing circuit. When Brett and I last drove that road - it would have been in the 1980s - there were signs marking the track along the side of the road. We kept a lookout this time but the only sign we saw was the one for the finish line. If you look to your left as you cross the finish line you see Mount Panorama. So we looked left. The mountain actually doesn't look all that big from this angle, it is more spectacular to approach it from Bathurst proper.

Down in Bathurst, we took the opportunity to get some shopping done. The whole town is getting into the spirit of the race, the Woolies staff were wearing crew shirts and half the customers seemed to be wearing race accreditation on lanyards.

We drove up to the mountain to check our campsite. It is great, but the motorhome park doesn't open until tomorrow. So we left in search of somewhere to spend the night. We chose the free camping site just over the river.

From there we walked to the Panorama City Hotel Motel for a meal. The GTR XU-1 club is staying at the showgrounds which was on the way so we got to see a whole heap of bog standard Toranas. Also the trots were on. This being Bathurst.

Another chilly night. Off to the Mountain tomorrow.