SUMMARY
From Bathurst we travelled to Oberon and visited the Kanangra-Boyd National Park and Jenolan Caves.
Then off to Lithgow, looked at a couple of houses and the Lithgow small arms museum. Also visited Newnes, a glow worm tunnel that is an old railway tunnel and did a bit of four wheel driving in the mountains. While there we drove to Katoomba for the three sisters and also visited Leura, a small town near Katoomba, for a couple more old houses, one of which was a toy museum.
Next stop Cessnock in the Hunter Valley for some wine tasting and a look through the Hunter Valley Gardens.
A quick stopover at Anna Bay on the coast, then we were heading for Mungo Brush also on the coast, but got side-tracked to the Barrington Tops National Park, for some great rain forest scenery.
Next was
Taree NSW for another short stop and while there checked out Crowdy Bay and a
few camp spots in Crowdy Bay National park.
Then Port Macquarie for
a week and spent a day driving to Wauchope and Ellenborough Falls.
Then Nambucca Heads for
two nights, a van caught fire here!
Next we spent a week
with friends Len and Joan at their place near Coffs Harbour and Ron and Joan came as well.
Then Grafton for a
few days to catch up on cleaning and finally for NSW, the Celtic town of Glen Innes.
Thats it for this blog and NSW, the next blog will be Queensland
Thats it for this blog and NSW, the next blog will be Queensland
THE BLOG
We left Bathurst
on the 21st Feb and booked into the Jenolan van park in Oberon. The same afternoon we headed off to the
Kanangra-Boyd National Park to see the Kanangra Walls, a striking cliff face, and while
there took the steps down to look at the falls, 420 steps down and of course
all the way back up (quite steep), we both had sore legs after that!
 |
| Barbara with the Kanangra Wall in the background |
 |
| Kanangra Falls |
Next day was
Jenolan caves, very steep and twisting road in. John did the Orient cave tour, 350 steps, on his own as
Barbara’s legs were still too sore and she is not mad keen on caves. It was a large cave with some great
Stalagmites and Stalactites, plus other great formations and is one of around
360 caves in this area. Unfortunately
there are only about 13 you can actually get to see and they charge $30 - $40 per cave, so one was enough for now!
We had lunch
at Caves house and it was not very nice, stale chips and poor service. After lunch we drove through the Grand Arch,
which is like driving through a short cave, and took the long way back to
Oberon.
 |
| The road through the Grand Arch |
 |
| Sort of mini cave with great views! |
After the lookout we went to the Lithgow small arms factory museum, opened in 1912, I didn't realize how many different models of 303 rifles there were! At one
stage during World War 1, they were making 1,600 rifles a week and they continued making the 303 until 1956. The factory also made machine and sub machine guns. In 2006 the factory was sold to the French
aerospace and defense consortium, “THALES”, and they are still manufacturing
rifles here today!
Next day we
drove out into the mountains near Newnes on the old railroad, actually through
one railway tunnel and then explored the next on foot as it is now home to glow worms. Even if there were no glow worms the walk was
very beautiful and we got to see three Lyre Birds in the wild, first time in
the wild for us. There were lots of glow
worms and it was a very pretty sight in the dark! |
| Driving through the first tunnel |
 |
| Just a sample of the walk |
We headed back down the road “Old Railway route” to get to Newnes and in our
exploring mode decided to take a 4WD "short cut". It started off pretty good, except we took one
wrong turn and finished up in a wood chip plant. Back on the right track and after getting
around a fallen tree, discovered we were at the top of the Blue Mountains and
that Newnes was at the bottom. We did
some of the most serious descents ever, at one stage Barbara was outside
directing as the ruts would have at least got us badly stuck if not on our
side. After about 1½ hours to cover 5 or
6 kilometres we made it to the main road into Newnes, both heaving a sigh of
relief. Headed into Newnes to see the
remains of a 1906 Shale oil process plant, John was pretty excited. As we got closer the rain got heavier and
although it had eased off a little when we got to the turn off to the ruins,
the creek was flowing extremely fast and no telling how deep, so it was a “U”
turn and back to Oberon, stopping on the way at the Jannei Goat Dairy to get
some yummy cheese.
 |
| View from the road on the way to Newnes |
 |
| The three Sisters |
We decided to
head a few k's up the road to Leura. First
stop another house and garden. This is the Everglades, a weekender built in 13
acres of European style gardens and native bush, very nice. It was originally owned by Henri Van de Velde
and he got his money from Feltex carpets, pretty famous before and during the Second
World War. The yard has beautiful views
over the Jamison Valley. We had a bite
to eat here and then headed off to look at another house and museum.
 |
| View accross the Croquet lawn to house |
This one is
called Leurella, built in 1912, the house is grand and like a time capsule as
all the furniture and even curtains are all from around the late 1920’s. It is also the home of the internationally
renowned NSW toy and rail museum. Unfortunately
we were not allowed to take any pictures inside, well except for the one below of John in the Bear seat.
 |
| lots of hard work carving this seat! |
 |
| Leurella House |
After this we
headed north east towards Richmond and across the Nepean river which was
flowing a banker, to the Bells Line of Road back to Lithgow. We came this way as we were not sure whether
it was suitable to tow a caravan along and it is the road we intend to use to
get to Cessnock next. It was fine, steep
in places but some passing lanes.
Next day,
back to Katoomba to visit Scenic World and take the cable car down into the valley
and then the sky car across the falls. Unfortunately
the scenic railway “The Worlds Steepest Railway” was undergoing repairs so we
could not get a ride on that. Also due
to the recent storm that hit Sydney some of the walkways in the valley were also
closed due to fallen trees and boulders.
It was not a great experience as there are lots of tourists and it all
feels like you are being herded and ripped off. It was also muggy which didn't help. We were happy to get out and into Katoomba for
a great Malaysian lunch. Back to Lithgow
via the Lolly Bug shop.
Had
a rest day and then off to Cessnock in the Hunter Valley, best known for
Semillon, Shiraz and Chardonnay. This
area is similar to Busselton/Margaret River and the Barossa/Clare Valley; there are
over 150 wineries and over 65 restaurants so heaps for us to do!
We
visited, not necessarily in the following order;
- Lindeman’s wines, where we shared an orange and almond cake for morning tea and bought a few bottles of Sauvignon Blanc. The cake came out served with fresh berries in a berry syrup and a martini glass full of vanilla bean ice cream. Glad we didn't order one each but boy it was nice!
- Gundog Hunter Cellars, 'cause we liked the name, but not keen on the wine.
- Tyrrell’s Wines where we got some lost block Cabernet Sauvignon.
- Drayton’s log press cafe for a great lunch.
- The small winemakers centre and smelly cheese shop – great gelato!
- Hungerford Hill winery with an unusual building but they were too busy and we were wined out so gave up and left without tasting.
- Australian Alpaca Barn – very nice – very expensive so just looked.
 |
| Hungerford Hill Winery |
Last
but definitely not least was the Hunter Valley Gardens, which has over 6,000
trees, 35,000 rose bushes, 250,000 annuals, 600,000 shrubs and 1,000,000 ground
covers, but my favourite was the story book garden, would be perfect for
children! Have lots of photo's from here, just a few to follow.
 |
| John having fun! |
 |
| John still having fun! |
 |
| Some more serious views of the gardens |
After
all of this over 6 days we decided another veg out day was in order and then we
would head off again.
Off
to Anna Bay Caravan Park which is one of the small towns on the Port Stephens
peninsula, mainly known for Oyster farming, also known for “Stockton Beach”
which is open to 4WD’s. I am not into beach driving so did not go, I figure
salt water and cars do not mix!
We
did a drive around the peninsula and looked at the beaches, lighthouse etc.
 |
| One of the many pretty beaches here |
Next
we decided to head off to Mungo Brush, a national park campground north of
Hawks Nest on the coast, however on the way we saw this "short" scenic detour to Stroud
and Gloucester, so thought that might be a nice quick detour so we turned
off. After checking the map again though
we found we were kind of way off track so the destination was changed to
Gloucester and Barrington. Stayed for a
couple of nights at Barrington reserve, very pretty spot.
 |
| Our camp spot at Barrington
Our next drive was a "big one", about 12
kilometres into Gloucester caravan park for three days. From here we drove up
to the Gloucester Tops, mainly to see the falls. When we got there a Park
Ranger came over to tell us the walk was closed due to ongoing repairs to the track. We were a little disappointed, but the drive was pretty good, so
we sat down to have lunch. We were just finishing up when he came back and said
he had talked to the guy with the digger working on the track and if we made
sure he saw us, so he could stop while we went through, it was OK to
go. Off we went, great walk and the falls were pretty but couldn't get a great
view of them.
Below is one of the many fords to cross the Gloucester River on the way  Another crossing  |
 |
| View from a lookout at Gloucester Tops |
Next day off to Barrington Tops and a few walks to lookouts, again a stunning drive and I think one of the best that you could see without needing a 4WD.
Taree for another
short stop and while there checked out Crowdy Bay township and a few camp spots
in Crowdy Bay National Park but although they were not bad they were just as
expensive as a caravan park and with no power or water, we decided to give them
a miss. Did manage to spot a very large
goanna in one of the camp grounds which was well worth seeing (from the car)!
Also, while driving
from Taree to Harrington we stopped at Stones’ Oysters and bought some very
fresh prawns which were yummy!
After Taree we drove
north but got off the Pacific Hwy and went through Laurieton, North Haven,
Bonny Hills and Lake Cathie on the way to Port Macquarie. All these towns looked quite appealing and
would be worth a longer look next time.
Went into Port
Macquarie and booked in for a week. Nice
town with some nice beaches and nice walks.
Spent one day driving west through Wauchope to Ellenborough Falls which
is the second longest single drop waterfall in the southern hemisphere. The longest is in Queensland (we saw it on
our last trip). Ellenborough is well
worth seeing and had plenty of water going over when we were there. Also while in Port Macquarie we had a very
nice seafood platter lunch at Whalebone Wharf Restaurant as it was Barbara's birthday.
 |
| One of the beaches in town |
 |
| Long way down! |
From Port Macquarie
only drove just over 100km, sticking to the Pacific highway to Nambucca Heads
(there isn’t any other road in) and stayed two nights. Our first afternoon in the Caravan Park was
rather exciting when a permanent on-site van across the road from us caught
fire, it was that close we moved our car away to be safe. The occupant wasn’t home
(fortunately) but John helped the park owner man a couple of hoses until the
Fire Brigade arrived by which time the van was definitely a goner anyway. There would not have been much they could do
even if they’d been there when it started.
 |
| John playing fireman with very small hose! |
 |
| Didn't take long - nothing left! |
The next day we explored Nambucca Heads which is very pretty where the
river meets the ocean and also drove out to Bowraville because we’d been told
about a museum that was worth seeing.
Nice drive and very well put together museum.
 |
| Nambucca Heads River Mouth |
Left here a day early
and went to our friend’s [Len and Joan’s] place at Moonee Beach, just north
of Coffs Harbour. The next day Ron and Joan also turned up and we spent the
next four days laughing and talking. We also managed to do three mornings of fishing and caught enough fish to feed the six of us. For the fishermen, we caught three nice size Bream, a few sand whiting and some Darts.
 |
| Len and Joan's lovely home |
 |
| HAPPY HOUR - From left: Len, then Joan & Ron, then Len's Joan and Barbara and me, out the front |
 |
| The three of us cooking pancakes for breakfast |
 |
| Len polishes up well! |
 |
| Ron and I did not polish up as well - but we tried! |
Didn’t do much here,
just cleaning and shopping etc.
Next stop was Glen
Innes, last town in NSW for us before the border. On the highway through the mountains, we had to stop as a couple of small trees had fallen over the road. Luckily someone had a chainsaw and they were removed fairly quickly!
The road work sign is for repairing flood damage to the road, mainly from mud slides.
 |
| Tree removal crew hard at work. |
We stopped at a nice looking
park called Craigieburn Tourist Park, but were told our van was too big! Bit
strange as the place was empty! Went a
little bit further and booked into Glen Rest Park, very friendly and nice park.
Glen Innes was a
Celtic community and they have erected 40 granite monoliths, each stone
standing 3.7m above ground, which meant they had to be 5.5m in length.
The Standing Stones, that have a circle
of 24 stones representing 24 hours of the day, three central stones, four
cardinal stones marking true North, South, East and West and seven stones
marking the summer and winter solstices, {the longest and shortest days of the
year]. They believe they are the first
of their kind to be built anywhere in the world for 3,500 years and may be unique
in the southern hemisphere, so we had to go and have a look.
 |
| Gives some idea of size - I know I am only small, but they are still big :) |
 |
| Not a sight you expect to see in Australia |
Glen Innes is also
famous for fossicking, but most fossicking sites were a long way out of town
and the bags of wash you could buy in town did not impress as the cost was
fairly high, plus we had some gems already from Gem Tree in the NT so gave fossicking
a miss this time.
We did however find
time to visit the Strawberry shop and have some great scones with strawberry
jam.
Next stop Queensland,
but that’s for the next Blog!
Have fun and keep smiling
John and Barbara
No comments:
Post a Comment