Monday Trivia:
Anybody wondered what sort of a name is Cobar? Well, according to the good people at the Cobar museum, the name has Aboriginal origins. When people first came to the area, long long ago, what brought them was a water hole in this area. The land around that hole had a red ochre cast to it, (and still does, as you can see). The word for red among the Aboriginals of this area was "gubar."
Aboriginals also used a paint derived from the soil in their rite of passage ceremonies for young men, which were called "corroboree". Corro, gubar... Cobar.
More fun facts:
All over the outbacks you find these lovely two story buildings with verandahs on each level.
Castlebridge Hotel, Dubbo
The reason for them is more than aesthetic: it gets really, really hot here in the summer, 40 degrees Celsius and above. And in the olden times, tweren't no air conditioning to run to. These verandahs served that function, the roof on each level providing a shaded place to escape from the bitter sun. How about that?
Speaking of air conditioning, in Cobar they invented their own special kind of air conditioner unit, made of stainless steel, to handle the high mineral content of the water in the air. It's called...wait for it...Cobair.
Gotta love the word play.
One more such fact: before refrigeration, to keep butter from melting on the trip home in the outback from Cobar, stores would wrap it in wet newspaper.
Which had the added bonus of meaning you could read the funnies in the paper or on your toast.
I've left Cobar as of today, had a great, great experience there. This week I'm going to offer some more little stories and photos about the place.
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