August 5th: we left Hay to travel to Griffith along the Murrumbidgee Road - so much easier a road to travel on that the Sturt Highway! There was hardly any traffic and no trucks. We went through irrigated farmland- with cotton rice grape vines oranges olives and almonds-I texted Paulette for advice as to what was good to do in Griffith and she suggested the local produce restaurant called Limone so we went there for lunch after getting our bearings in Griffin. Nic had Murray cod and I had a buffalo mozzarella focaccia. We then headed for the tourist visitors centre who recommended the Griffith Caravan Village to us. We went there and got a site and unhooked the van. We headed for the Pioneer Village and arrived at 3.30pm when it was due to close at 4, but the receptionist kindly said that she would be there until 5 pm so we could stay and have the place to ourselves! It was fascinating! We visited the Italian museum - a tribute to the hard working Italians who made Griffith what it is! We leant about the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area first conceived of in 1920. We visited the Todd museum of old cars and carts, and a wine museum and the old hospital. We then went to the Hermit lookout on Scenic drive and walked the Hermit trail visiting the cave and dry stone walls and chapel and garden of Valerio Riccetti, a hermit who lived in his cave from 1929 until 1952. The lookout didn’t really give us that Walter Burleigh feeling of a laid out grid, but driving around the town certainly did.
We drove around some of the circles -the inner and the outer- tried La Scala for dinner but it was booked out so went to Little Italy in Banna St for pasta and a bottle of Calabrian Montepulciano.
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