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Town in New South Wales, Australia
Photo: Amanda Slater, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Parkes is a town and service centre in Central West NSW. Its main claim to fame has traditionally been the large radio telescope located just outside the town. The telescope was featured in the 2000 movie The Dish. The town also hosts an annual Elvis Festival, attracting visitors and impersonators from a distance. Apart from these two features, the town is a somewhat sleepy and attractive country town. Well worth a stop off or a weekend away.
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The Radio Telescope is well worth a visit and is the first telescope to detect signals from the moon back in 1969. There is a small museum with some stuff of interest to kids. There is a cafe with decent coffee and sandwiches. But the spot itself with the telescope and the wide-country and blue sky is quite special on a sunny day - even if you have no interest in space or telescopes.
The Elvis Museum is located adjacent to the tourist information centre. It really is set up for those who are really into Elvis before they visit. It's a collection of memorabilia of the life of The King, but not a place to discover his music or start your learning about him.
A lookout made in memory of Sir Henry Parkes.
Includes a bar and a restaurant.
By car
Parkes can be reached by going 110 km south of Dubbo using A39 (Newell Highway)
By plane
Scheduled commercial flights to Parkes Airport (PKE) from Sydney. Charter also available. Car hire facilities are available at the airport. Book ahead to make sure there is someone to meet you.
By train
Parkes is rather inconveniently accessible by train, with the Broken Hill train making a stop there weekly. NSW TrainLink Coaches connect from Orange on the Dubbo XPT train on other days.
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Parkes · Regional · PKE
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