01/08/26 01/08/26 Holbrook to Goulburn: More Big Things

 I went for an early morning walk in Holbrook.

The puddles in the motel driveway had frozen and frost melted slowly in early morning sunlight.

An old man fidgeted in a patch of sunlight.  "It's a cold morning," I said as I went by.  He reacted with excessive shock.  "Morning? What time is it?  I thought it was evening!  Isn't the sun about to set?"

Far be it from me to lecture a man about the relationship between East, West, the sun, and the beginning and end of the day.    I confirmed that it was indeed morning, and went on my way.

Just down the road Gundagai called us with the promise of not one, but two Big Things.  The Big Koala turned out to be merely medium-sized, a small cousin to the big one that I myself had visited in Dadswell on the way to South Australia.

Not as scary as the one in Dadswell, but it had the same evil eyes.

Drink this and you will turn into a terrifying koala.

The Dog on the Tucker Box was not big at all, surrounded by slightly confused tourists who didn't quite understand why they were there taking photos other than someone on Instagram had told them this was the thing to do.

There never was a real dog on a real tuckerbox.  It was more the vibe of the thing, along with a poem and ballad written 80 years apart.  But Gundagai had made the most of the whole idea, more power to them.

Well, the dog was little and the koala was medium-sized so we had to wait until the end of the day for a really Big Thing.

Finally.

Well that was it, really.  You can't get much better than a day that covers a Small Dog, a Medium-sized Koala, and a Really Big Merino.  We checked into the Goulburn Motor Inn, turned on the heater, and had 2-minute noodles for dinner.

But not before I'd gone for a walk and appreciated some of Goulburn's fine old stone buildings.