AS Bathurst heads for a sunny and warm top of 19 degrees to ring in the first day of spring there is a definite buzz of excitement in the Western Advocate office this morning.

We'll leave you this morning with a question 'You know it's spring when....

Click below and let us know your answer.

8.51AM

LOOKING to get fit for summer?

This ad was spotted in the classifieds section of today's Western Advocate. Why not put on your joggers, head outside and become a walker for us.

8.46AM

DANCE, speech and drama sections are underway at the Bathurst Eisteddfod this week.

Before your child hits the stage to perform, why not flick through the Western Advocate's gallery from last week's music performances.

8.36AM

FORMER Central West writer Maggie MacKellar will launch her memoir How To Get There at a special event on Tuesday, September 2.

How To Get There traces Maggie's move to Tasmania for love, and the struggles and joys of settling there.

In 2011, she moved from Central West NSW to the east coast of Tasmania with her children and assorted menagerie to live with a farmer.

Maggie MacKellar is a writer and former academic, and the author of When It Rains, a deeply moving memoir about the death of her husband and mother which featured on ABC's Australian Story.

In her new memoir she reflects on love after grief, juggling being a mother and negotiating a new relationship, homesickness and the writing life.

Told with great candour, beauty and perception, How To Get There is a story about making a new life in a remarkable setting - the east coast of Tasmania, on a sheep farm, in a stone house built by convicts in 1828.

Ms MacKellar will be speaking at Bathurst City Library at 6.30pm tomorrow.

Tickets are $8 and are available from BooksPlus on 6331 5994 or Bathurst Library on 6333 6281.

8.28AM

KEEN for your sport fix after the weekend's action, well look no further.

* The Cowra Magpies are the first side through to the Group 10 Premier League grand final after they put aside an uninspired St Pat's 22-12 at Carrington Park yesterday in the major semi-final.

* Bathurst Panthers' incredible two-month run of survival was ended on Saturday by the same team the men in black beat in July to start that run of form.

* Orange Emus hung on to claim a gripping 28-19 minor semi-final victory over a Bathurst Bulldogs outfit on the wrong end of a 23-5 penalty count at Orange's Endeavour Oval yesterday.

8.20AM

HAVE you recently relocated to Bathurst or know someone who has? Why not come along to the Welcome Wagon for new residents.

The next event will be held on Thursday, September 11 in the Bathurst Regional Council Chamber. Come along, meet the mayor and other new members of the Bathurst community.

New residents will receive welcome packs containing helpful information about Bathurst and discount vouchers from participating businesses.

For more information please call toll free number 1800 44 88 96 for more information.

8.10AM

WE love this story! When Dave the cat went missing his owner Jared, 14, feared the worst.

"I was really worried. By the end of the week I thought he was gone for sure," Jared said.

It's the sort of adventure you would expect from a dog, not a three-year-old moggy.

8.00AM

ROADWORKS are still underway on the Great Western Highway between Gilmour Street and Stockland Drive.

Traffic in both directions will be affected from 7am to 6pm and again from 7pm to 5am from today through to Saturday.

Motorists are advised to expect delays of up to five minutes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

7.50AM

TWO teenagers spent the night in the bush after injuring themselves during a hike in the Blue Mountains on Sunday.

Police have been told at around 1pm an 18-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl went for a bushwalk at Govetts Leap in Blackheath.

Concerned relatives contacted police about 8pm when the couple had not returned home.

Officers from the Blue Mountains Local Area Command, Police Rescue Squad and Ambulance Special Casualty Access Team (SCAT) attended the scene and began searching for the teens.

About 11pm they were found near Bridal Veil Falls; the girl had injured her knee while the man had fallen and struck his head.

SCAT officers remained with them overnight and it is expected they will be airlifted from the scene later today.

7.40AM

HAVE you joined Club Red yet?

The Australian Red Cross Blood Service's mobile donor centre is back in town today at Bathurst McDonalds.

Do your bit for someone else and donate blood, every donation will help to save three lives.

The donor centre will be there 12.40pm to 7.10pm today, 9.10am to 1.30pm tomorrow and then 9.10am until 3.40pm on Wednesday and Thursday.

If you can't make any of these times click here because the donor centre will be back later this month.

7.32AM

STILL a dedicated smoker? You'd want to be from today when cigarette taxes jump by a hefty 13.7 per cent, the second of four outsized increases in as many years.

The excise on a pack of 20 will climb from $8.13 to $9.25, an increase of $1.12. The excise on a pack of 40 will climb from $16.26 to $18.51.

If fully passed on, it will push the price of a packet of 40 above $30 and push the price of some packets of 20 above $20. The increase means the price of cigarettes for casual smokers will approach $1 a stick.

Labor announced a series of four increases mid-last year, with the first of 12.5 per cent due on December 1 followed by three more on September 1 in each of the following three years.

7.26AM

MAKING headlines across the Central West today:

* Supporters of Calare Public School are calling on the Orange community to rally behind the school in spite of the scandal that resulted after principal Chris Cundy called students "morons" and "village idiots" in a staff newsletter.

* Savings of more than $570,000 made in a stormwater drainage project in Dubbo's north are set for use this financial year.

* Birdwatchers from all over the country are flocking to Putta Bucca wetlands after a recent sighting of a bird not seen in Australia since 1987.

7.11AM

HERE'S what's making news in today's edition of the Western Advocate.

* The decision to grant commercial licences to a number of Bathurst residents to cull kangaroos has been slammed by an animal welfare group and The Greens.

* Are you a Mount Panorama walker? The use of Mount Panorama by both walkers and vehicles provides the ingredients for a 'perfect storm' that could end in tragedy, according to Bathurst Highway Patrol Sergeant Peter Foran.

* An elderly man died in a single vehicle accident on Turondale Road north of Bathurst on Sunday morning.

7AM

MORNING, Bathurst and welcome to the first day of spring, reporter Nadine Morton here for your BathurstAM over the next two hours.

After a foggy start this morning we should be in for a sunny top of 19 degrees, but there is some chance of rain in the south-west tonight.

If you have a news tip, community announcement or photo you would like to share this morning email it to nadine.morton@fairfaxmedia.com.au

Keep an eye on the clouds here: