Ariah park recreation reserve

We have decided to head to warmer climes sooner than we had hoped. The diesel heater seems to be faulty, I will have to get it sorted soon. In the mean time we are looking for cheap sites with power. Ariah park fits the bill very nicely and at $10 per night is just what we need!

Nearly two and a half years ago I brought a large, gym exercise ball (silver in colour) home for Casper to play with. For a couple of days all was well, until Casper burst the damn thing! It was obvious that the daft sod had eaten some of the plastic ball. He started retching and vomiting over a couple of days afterwards. We took him to the vet, who X-rayed his stomach. Nothing was found and the all clear was given. It was six months later that Casper decided to have a vomit attack and throw out a piece of the ball! Six months!

This morning Casper was playing outside with his rubber ball when he seemed to breath in something (I think it was a small stick or a dry leave) that has caused him some serious discomfort all day. He started vomiting virtually straight away. The poor lad must have been sick at least 5 times. After two and a half years would you believe it a piece of exercise ball came up!!

AFTER TWO AND A HALF YEARS!!

This measures approximately 75mm x 75mm, unbelievable!

Poor Casper!

Ariah park, well if you are looking for a one horse town then this is it.

I loved it, it was just what i needed before another 3 or 4 hour drive. So peaceful and everybody was so friendly.

This is the camp kitchen, as you can see in pristine condition. It contains a BBQ, sink, kettle, toaster, microwave, tea, coffee and sugar. It has seating and lighting. Any camper is free to use this facility and all they ask for is a donation. It is there in full view of anybody. It is there to be abused and graffitied on by the local vandals.

Yet it is still in pristine condition and says a lot about Ariah park and the people that live and frequent there.

The memorial to the fallen stands at the entrance to the small town. I personally think it is wonderful and very moving.

Lest we forget

The home of Wowsers, Bowsers and Peppercorn trees. Ariah Park lives in a self-proclaimed 1920’s time warp. Most of the shops are closed and window spaces have become window dressed with items of furniture, clothing, food and artefacts from the 1920’s including old petrol bowsers. Each window or yard display uses a different theme of the 1920 lifestyle.
The story of the wowsers goes something like this. It seems that sometime in the early part of the last century the local publican was disliked. Some citizens tried to obtain a liquor license to open another pub. Of course the publican opposed the application and had enough support from the community (locals say he enlisted the support of the strong Methodist Church group of teetotallers to take the matter to court. He and the Wowsers won and to this day there is only one pub in town and believe me it is struggling and if it's not struggling it is shut. The petrol bowsers came later as did the imported Indian Peppercorn Trees. It is sad to see the degeneration of all these old towns and as the local agriculture no longer needs manual labour, I am sure they are doomed.



So what else is Ariah park famous for?

Babe the pig was raised here before he/she found fame on the big screen!

It is also home to some of the biggest moths I have ever seen!
Ghost moths abound here after rain and reach an astounding three to four inches in length. Sadly though their predators are also on the rather large size!

I have seen plenty of Redbacks in the past but this bugger was a big un!

Click on the photograph below, to enlarge and you can the spider to the copper nut on the right of the photo you will get some idea of scale, yes its a big bugger!!

Ariah Park recreational reserve

Latitude -34 21 08S   Longitude 147 13 09E
Dump-point - No Toilets - Yes Water - Yes Pets - Yes Shower - Yes 
Length - 11 Mtrs Level - Yes Noise - No Grassed - Yes (sparsely) Cost - $10 per night Time Limit - None