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Pensioners' Hill
BHP sponsored the statues on this hill, which was so-named because during the depression pensioners and unemployed people camped here.Blue skies greeted us this morning and just after 0830 we were on the road again. We headed for Coonabarabran where we emptied our loo and topped up our water tanks. Thankfully Rags didn’t mix up the two!
Gunnedah was our next stop where we climbed Pensioner’s Hill, so named as pensioners lived there during the 1930's depression. This has now been made into a park and overlooks the township.
A visit to the local Information Centre followed where we bought some more fig and peach jams as well as a couple of gifts for our mothers.
Gunnedah is a typical country town, with the main street being the focus, Coles and Target being on a back street. Judy was feeling peckish so we had our ham, cheese and tomato toasties at Maccas, together with our free coffees. The coffees were white; this was the first Maccas that wouldn’t give us a cappuccino. We’ll remember this place just for that!
Coal mining is still an important industry in this area and in one of the parks we found a statue dedicated to the first miners who went on strike
Gunnedah
The view of the town from Pensioner's Hill in protest at the mines being closed. They won, and the mining continued.
On to Tamworth, and here everything seemed to go wrong! The directions to the Information Centre were incorrect, there were no signs indicating where it was, and when we reached it we found that it had moved.
After missing the turn to the new position we eventually reached it, but not with a bit of added stress. The caravan parking area was poorly marked and suddenly Judy screamed at Rags to stop. Luckily Rags listened to her, as hidden from his view was a steel lamp-post.
After parking we went to the Information Centre and looked for the Walk a Country Mile Museum. This seems to have disappeared in the move but there were now a couple of other expensive county music museums attached. As country music is not a big interest and we were tired and it was late in the day we decided not to view these. In front of the Information Centre there was a statue of the Golden Guitar which Judy of course wanted for the blog.
We had both a little uptight with the problems we had just
The Golden Guitar
This monument is in Tamworth outside the Walk a Country Mile Museum. experienced so we didn’t give the place the justice it probably deserved. Added to this, all fees for caravan parks were over the top, as they catered more for when there are festivals in town, rather than the passing traveler.
Instead, we left town and continued on towards the coast. Just under 50kms out, along the twisting and climbing highway, we reached Bendemeer, where 24-hour stays at the showgrounds were allowed at $5/night. This gave us a flat spot, off the highway with toilet facilities which was all we needed.
Thursday 23rd April 2015 Just a short distance from our campsite we turned off the New England Highway and headed east towards Port Macquarie. The countryside was still reasonably flat with large farms on either side of the road growing wheat and breeding cattle.
Walcha was the first sizeable town we reached, about 50 kms from the turn-off. We stretched our legs here and dropped into the CWA shop there to look at some local craft and hopefully be able to buy some goodies for morning tea. Unfortunately there were no edibles there, so after Judy had a conversation with the
Wauchope Showground
Great place to stay, well off the road and quiet. lady there about family history we bought some slice from the bakery.
After a coffee we set off and from here the going got tougher. The road winds its way up and down through the mountains and every so often we would meet an oncoming semi-trailer on the narrow road. A couple of times Rags pulled over to allow following traffic through as there seemed to be a continuous solid double white line all the way. The speed limit was 100kph but most corners had advisory limits of between 45 and 25kph and not knowing the road we were very cautious.
By about 1400 we reached the town of Wauchope, which is 20kms before Port Macquarie. Both of us had had enough by then, Rags particularly, so we checked into the local showgrounds and found a lovely green spot to set up, near other vans. Good value, $20/night with clean facilities and hot showers. We decided to book in for 2 nights and we’ll leave the van here when we go to Port Macquarie tomorrow.
The weather seems to be clearing and fine weather is expected where we are headed for the next few days.
Port Macquarie breakwater
One of many painted rocks. Friday 24th April 2015 We woke to a fine day with just a few clouds in the sky. Rags rang his daughter, Julie to wish her a happy birthday. It was her 40
th, Hard to believe and just reinforcing the mantra that “life is short”.
Port Macquarie is a well set out town on the banks of the Hastings River. Buildings vary between modern and those built during the early settlement.
We walked along the breakwater towards the ocean entrance and admired the council condoned graffiti on the rocks by the edge. Many are just to acknowledge that they were there, others in memorial for someone who surfed or walked along it for many years.
A drive along the coast followed, the scenery from the overlooking cliffs being quite spectacular.
On our return to town we had a late lunch of fish & chips before walking it off around the town.
The walk led us to a church built by convicts during the 1800s. The lady there took us around the church, explaining who built what, how the pews were allocated to the gentry and then to free settlers,
the convicts being at the back of the church. She was quite animated and her stories were well worth listening to but we rushed a bit as Judy had made an appointment for a haircut. We still squeezed in a climb to the top of the church from where we had expansive views over the city. Well worth the extra time!
After Judy had a haircut and we did a little bit of shopping we returned to the showgrounds at Wauchope to the van. A quiet evening followed.
Saturday 25th April 2015 We were off first thing this morning, headed north and not certain how far we would get. About 60kms further we reached the little town of Kempsey on the Macleay River. Here we stopped in a small park in the township and had morning tea. We met an interesting old fellow from Pinjarra, WA, there. He told us about living in the area, how he had land in Broome, which he bought for 135 pounds when he was 20 and sold recently for $1.2m. Apparently he gave all the proceeds to his kids and is now regretting it as they
Kempsey
ANZAC day march. won’t help him buy the new Cruiser he needs.
When we returned to the centre of town the deserted streets were now filled with cars and people. We realised the ANZAC march was about to start, so we parked and joined in. Whilst waiting for the procession we spoke to an interesting older couple who now lived in the town.
The procession was quite impressive, with members of the RSL, ambulance, police, army, local schools, and cubs and scouts all participating.
From here we drove to the coast, to South West Rocks. Here we checked into a caravan park before touring the area.
Trial Bay Gaol ruins are nearby, this gaol being built by convicts so that there would be a labour force to build a breakwater for the bay to give shelter for ships sailing between Sydney and Brisbane. The breakwater was never completed but the gaol was used to house convicts whose sentence was nearly finished, later for more educated convicts, and finally to house German settlers as POWs during WW1.
We continued south along the cape to Smoky Cape, here a lighthouse was built in the early 1800s and sits high on
Trial Bay Gaol
Looking towards the entrance from inside. a cliff. Beautiful scenery from here, with the two keepers’ houses now upmarket B&Bs.
Before returning to the van we toured through the settlement, this was bigger and more modern than we first thought. T bone steaks were on special at the local IGA so we bought some to try.
Dinner was two of the best pieces of steak we have had for some time, if they are still on special tomorrow we will certainly stock up on some. They come from local stock (McCleay Valley) at $9.99/kg, what a bargain! We aren't surprised that the meat is so good as the cattle here have much greener grass than those at home. The valley and surrounds are lush green. unlike anything we'd see in the West.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Golden Guitar
We always enjoy these crazy little monuments.