Albury/Dubbo/Bathurst/Canberra/Myrtleford

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Day 12 (15/4/21)Temps: Max 25C, Min 8C

Rest day today & time to update the Blog which takes a couple of hours or more. So much to write about & lots of photos to upload.

Also sitting down & going through the things we will likely do in Bathurst next week & reading about local attractions while on the internet.

Cooking a mid afternoon lunch/dinner of a roast leg of lamb, jacket potatoes & roast pumpkin, carrots, peas & beans.



Day 13 (16/4/21)Temps: Max 23C, Min 9C

Up early to get some 10L bottles of water to take to Bathurst tomorrow as most of the tap water is awful; using that for washing up only.

Went to the Old Dubbo Gaol which is right in the middle of the main street. Read about some horrific crimes & the brutality of the times. Attempted escapes were foiled by alert wardens. One room is where you see all the macabre items; sticks/batons used to beat the prisoners, execution hoods, shackles & brutal items. This was a very dark room to be in & they appropriately have a warning before you enter there. You also read about those executed; most for heinous crimes, but some for non violent crimes. Compare those times to modern day sentencing & let it sink in about how far we have come & also how far we have gone backwards. My personal thought is we still do not have the balances right.

There was also a comedy re-enactment which engages with visitors about a prisoner trying to escape & telling lies to the warden who catches him in the act, then talking with visitors to try & find out the truth. It is very well done & an enjoyable moment of the visit.

Returned to the caravan park to start packing up & getting ready for the drive to Bathurst.



Day 14 (17/4/21)Temps: Max 15C, Min 4C

The nights slowly becoming cooler as Autumn starts to kick in & noticing the temperatures dropping the more South we head.

Left Dubbo at 8AM, stopping in Orange on the way. Quite a large town & maybe worthy of a visit in the future for a longer period. Arrived in Bathurst at 120PM.

Set up the van & went straight to the Information Centre, picking up a map of the area & brochures on attractions & nearby towns. Bathurst is extremely large & noticed the Police are very active. There are RBT checks everywhere, speed checks being conducted & fixed speed cameras on many roads, especially around road works. Several people were spotted pulled over & being issued with fines.

Walked around the Bathurst CBD to become familiar & stocked up with food for the next few days.



Day 15 (18/4/21)Temps: Max 19C, Min 3C

As you can see, substantially cooler in Bathurst than Dubbo, but we are also located higher up on the edge of the Blue Mountains less than 200 kilometres from Sydney.

Went for the winding 80KM drive to the old gold mining town of Hill End, driving around & looking at the historic buildings in the town before heading to History Hill museum & mine just out of Hill End on the road back to Sofala. $10 admission fee (cash only) with a lot of displays which are extremely interesting. There is also an informative video about the history of the town which is well made & very informative.

Once you have finished in the museum, you enter the mine after going past a shed containing old equipment & also a resident bat. Yes, a bat! Certainly did not hover in that shed for too long as I have no interest in being anywhere near a bat.

The mine has no bats thankfully as you walk through. The walls & ceiling are heavily timbered with a small railway track for the mining carts they used to use to remove the dug rocks. There are some small displays in the mine along the way, then you climb 7 ladders straight up to exit. If you are physically unable to do this, you can back track out the way you entered.

You will need a good 3 or 4 hours in this location if you take the time to read the many exhibits. On the road back to Sofala, we stopped in several places along the Turon River to have a fish & also pan for gold. The River was deep in spots, but barely moving in terms of flow. As such, fish were not sighted as they prefer a stronger water flow.

There are many tracks in to the river, so you need to be alert as you may drive past them as they are not visible until you are almost past them. The road has a constant stream of traffic, so you need to be aware if slowing down of what vehicles are around you.

We ran some gold pans, but found no gold. Stopped in Sofala for a light lunch & then chatted with the lady in the General Store who told us that the Turon River reached 4.0metres during the recent flooding. She also showed us some lovely local gold samples which makes it a possibility of another trip at some stage in the future.

Driving back to Bathurst, Police were again active in Wattle Flat hidden to pick up speeding motorists. Thankfully we were well under the speed limit.

Back in Bathurst we drove up to the Mt Panorama race track, home of the Bathurst 1000 motor race. You are allowed to do laps of this track in your own vehicle, but only at 60kmh. That does not stop idiots who think they can go faster, but hidden cameras catch them out. On one of our laps, we were passed at speed by one such idiot on a motorcycle, doing a wheelie in front of us. Stupidity at it's finest.

Stopping at the top of the mountain on one lap, we parked as there is a newly opened walking gantry & viewing platform which looks down on Bathurst. You will see this view in the panoramic photo, but also look closely in the foreground of this photo as to the left of the T in the word Mount, there is a white kangaroo with a baby joey. A bit further left of the white kangaroo is a grey kangaroo. See if you can see them!

Returned to the van after a long tiring day to cook roast pork, boiled potatoes & roast vegetables for dinner.



Day 16 (19/4/21)Temps: Max 21C, Min 0C

Being a sunny day, getting all the washing done early.

Drove to the Bathurst Motor Racing Museum where there is a fine array of racing cars & motorcycles on display. Some new, some old & some a little bizarre. It will take you about 2 hours if you are a motor racing fan as there is plenty to pique your interest.

After making a couple of purchases at the museum shop, we drove to the Bathurst RSL for lunch. On the menu they have crispy potato skins with bacon, sour cream & sweet chilli sauce. These made a delicious entree & thoroughly enjoyed them as I have not seen them in any restaurant for over 30 years. Our mains were a 320g rump steak & seafood basket. Food was excellent & flavoursome, especially the steak dianne sauce which seems to be everywhere in NSW, but rarely sighted in Victoria. Even butcher shops in NSW sell steak smothered in dianne sauce ready to go. Wonder why the difference between NSW & Victoria?

In the evening, walked up to the top of the hill behind the caravan park to watch the sunset. As soon as darkness started to set in, mosquitoes were everywhere & had bites all over me.



Day 17 (20/4/21)Temps: Max 20C, Min 5C

Left mid morning to go fishing at Thompsons Creek Dam near Lithgow. Renowned as one of Australia's best Trout fisheries, I was keen to see if I could hook up with one of their monster Trout.

You have to walk 20 minutes uphill to get to the dam from the car park & up onto the dam wall. At the top it was blowing a gale. The dam wall is about 2km long, so it was a long walk to the lee side on the pebbled gravel track which was quite uncomfortable.

No fish were sighted on the lee side, so decided to walk around to the other side of the dam which would be closer to the exit. No fish were sighted there either. Had covered around ¾ of the dam shoreline.

After the downhill walk out with sore feet from the rocky track, drove the few kilometres to Lithgow where Deb had caught the bus to from Bathurst. After picking up a couple of things, we drove back through the vast roadworks & battling the moron drivers of the region. Speeders, tailgaters right on your bumper despite us being right on the speed limit. Also as you come to merge points from 2 lanes to one on the highway, morons will overtake you at high speed as you are trying to merge. I seriously do not understand this stupid mentality & can see why there are so many accidents on NSW roads with idiots like these behind the wheel of vehicles.



Day 18 (21/4/21)Temps: Max 16C, Min 0C

With temperatures plummeting, it is getting more difficult to get out of bed in the mornings as it is like ice.

Drove down to the town of Oberon which is on the way to Jenolan Caves. The Jenolan Caves road was closed & unsure of the reason why. I know there are some roads closed due to landslides & flood damage after all the recen rains prior to our trip.

Fished Lake Oberon in multiple locations. Some areas have a green slimy weed which makes fishing difficult & you move quickly as the fish will not be around these slimy weed areas.

Found a better location & sighted one fish only with none caught. Passing another angler who had caught a 2 ½ pound Rainbow Trout. Needless to say the fish have been very uncooperative on this trip.

Had lunch at the Oberon Bakery before detouring to Chifley Dam for some photos on the way back to Bathurst. Did some shopping for the remainder of our stay & also for Canberra next week.

Dinner was marinated honey soy chicken & roast potatoes.

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