Today's basic plan was to visit the Age of Fishes Museum at Canowindra and the Henry Lawson Festival at Grenfell.

Canowindra (pronounced ca-noun-dra) is 33km North of Cowra and was the site of a chance discovery in 1955 which revealed an extensive fossil bed dating from the Devonian Period. This 360-370 million year old fossil deposit, dating back to long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, contains the remains of thousands of freshwater fish. Many were new to science and the best of the fossils so far recovered are now on public display here at the Age of Fishes Museum. We found it an interesting display and the audio guide included in the entry prices enhanced our understanding of what we were looking at.

But it was indeed a chance discovery as it occurred when a council road worker, who was grading an unsealed road between Canowindra and Gooloogong, turned over a large rock slab with strange impressions on its under surface. He pushed the slab aside to the fence line, where it was later spotted by a local bee-keeper who recognised its importance and notified the Australian Museum in Sydney. Despite initially doubting its significance and only visiting because they were on their way to another site, expert examination of the slab later confirmed it to be one of the most remarkable discoveries of its kind anywhere in the world.

We grabbed a sausage roll at the Canowindra Bakery for an early lunch and headed towards Grenfell, the birthplace of Henry Lawson, where the Henry Lawson Festival is held each Queen's Birthday weekend. This year marks the 60th year of the Festival and also the 150th anniversary of Henry Lawson's birth. There is a program of events which runs from Thursday to Monday, but we wanted to see the street procession which commenced at 1:30pm.

Main Street was closed for motor traffic and apart from many of the permanent shops being open, the street was lined with many stalls selling craft, various novelties and of course food. Preparation for the procession was like a military operation with the SES fitting galvanised steel posts into holes in the roadway and fastening plastic netting for the full length of the street to separate the spectators from the procession traffic. The procession consisted of various forms of vintage transport, community groups, a marching band and of course a clown. However the common theme was a 150th birthday celebration for Henry Lawson. 

After the procession we completed our walk along Main Street and were enticed to queue up at the Grenfell Public School donut stall. The queue was quite long, but they were very tasty, making the wait worth it. At the other end of Main Street we saw the old Grenfell railway Station, which had been restored by the local Lions Club. When we visited the Cowra Rail Heritage Centre yesterday the guide commented about how well the Cowra Rail depot had performed in the railway's garden competition and we noticed today amongst the display at Grenfell that the station here had received a second prize. On the way back to the car we watched the end of the wood chop competition and viewed a quilting display.

Heading back towards Cowra on the outskirts of Grenfell we saw a signpost to O'Brien's Lookout and decided to investigate. Apart from providing an outlook over the town and picnic amenities, this area is notable because of the gold mining which took place here. The first suggestion of gold in the area was first reported in the Yass Courier in 21st February 1863, yet it was nearly 3 years until Cornelius O'Brien who was tending sheep saw the gleam of gold in a quartz outcrop. O'Brien registered his claim in Young on 29th September 1866. O'Brien's reef was the richest on the Grenfell gold field. There are remnant pieces of mining machinery on the site including a horse works, stamper, air shafts and poppet head.

Back at the van park after a long and enjoyable day out there had been even more arrivals. Dinner was meatballs and vegetables in a spicy tomato sauce, which we normally do in the Weber, but being a bit cold tonight we did it in the frypan in the van. Peaches, apricots and yoghurt followed by a cup of tea completed dinner - no room for slice after three donuts each!