Big chess for big boys in the park

Perhaps I have an excuse for not writing, but what does it matter?
For the 4 days I was in Katoomba I only did something on the first day. I went on a great walk with Tim and Daniel, a couple of brothers I met from Queensland. The days after I was ill and couldn't move much. It was the perfect place to recuperate though. I managed to see the Blue Mountains and the Three Sisters, three majestic peaks looking over the valley.

On Monday I returned to Sydney, and in much higher spirits. The first night there I met some Belgian guys who gave me some very good medicine for my stomach which worked. I also met a 65 year old guy named Michael Moore. What a fellow. I spent a lot of time with him drinking tea, planning my itinerary and listening to his stories. He reminds me of a buddha, he seems to have spent his life being silly (in an innocent way) and making other people happy. He told me how he once tried a cigar and only managed to get wet tobacco all over his face. He hadn't tried drinking until he was 40 years old.

And now I'm on the train to Broken Hill!
We stop at Bathurst so the smokers can have a waff. I don't get out, watch 20 others hurriedly light up or roll. The skinny couple who look like junkies. The aboriginees dressed in hip-hop clothing. You don't look cool smoking when there's 20 of you doing it at exactly the same time.
Saw this sign on a metal barn in a field.

KEEP CLEAR
EMEGENSY USE

Orange doesn't look a pretty town. Gun shops, auto shops, electric stations, run-down shacks, and supermarkets.

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I went for a walk around Sydney yesterday because the sun was out and it was the first day I'd felt fully alive again in a week. I walked through Hyde Park and saw the lovely fountain. Also saw a large scale chess game taking place. Was great to watch. Took a lot of pictures.