A quick note and an apology to all you fans of our weekly competitions: we have had to put a pause on our 'Lost Four Words' competition, and there will not be a clue this week. Don't worry, it will be back soon!

So, it looks like we're still at least a year away from seeing the Great Western Highway reopened at Victoria Pass. It seems a long way off, but I guess it is no real surprise when it comes to a construction project of this scale. It is great to see there is a plan and that something is happening, and I think we'd rather see the whole thing done properly than a rushed, temporary fix. But why stop at just fixing what was there? So much time and planning has already gone into the shelved tunnel project; surely this road failure has shown there needs to be another reliable transport option over the mountains. It would be nice to hear the government announce a concrete, long-term plan to improve transport links between Sydney and the west, rather than just a return to the status quo.

This week, Lucknow is celebrating the 175th anniversary of the discovery of gold in the district, which you can read a little more about inside. I decided to look through the archives to see what I could find about how the mining village came to be called 'Lucknow'. It's one of those things that we'll probably never know decisively, but it was a fun little bit to research.

School Holidays get underway this weekend after a longer-than-normal school term, and I know there are many students and teachers eagerly awaiting the break. Take care if you are hitting the road, and good luck to all you parents who now have two weeks on entertainment duty.

Until next week!