Mundarlo, New South Wales 27th January to 14th February 2021

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We left Hillview to travel 17kms to Yabtree West in Mundarlo (pop 218) a farming community in the central east part of the Riverina and on the southern bank of the Murrumbidgee River, home to Nicole whom we met at Hillview. She is a hairdresser who supplements her work with cleaning at the farmstay. Nicole and husband Dean offered their back lawn for us to park up for a few days whilst they were away with son Colby (16) at a Camp Draft in Tamworth. We offered to feed their animals; Three mares in foal, five stallion, two mares with foals, three calves, one baby buffalo, three cats and nine dogs. Dean is farm manager at Yabtree West.He runs the almost 6,000-acre property with over 320 breeding herd of Angus Beef Cattle.

Campdrafting is a unique Australian sport involving a horse and rider working cattle. The riding style is Australian stock, somewhat akin to American Western riding and the event is similar to the American stock horse events such as cutting, working cow horse, team penning, and ranch sorting. In a campdrafting competition, a rider on horseback must "cut out" one beast from the mob of cattle in the yard or the "camp" and block and turn the beast at least two or three times to prove to the judge that they have the beast under control; then take it out of the yard and through a course around pegs involving right and left hand turns in a figure eight, before guiding it through two pegs known as "the gate". The outside course must be completed in less than 40 seconds It is recommended that there shall be a minimum of six head of sound stock in the camp at any time.

Up to a total of 100 points are scored by horse and rider: "Cut out" is worth a total of 26 points; horse work up to a further 70 points; and 4 points for the course. Most disqualifications (signalled by a crack of the judge's stockwhip) occur when a competitor loses his beast more than twice on the camp; losing control of the beast in the arena or running a beast onto the arena fence. A "tail turn" executed by a horse in the opposite direction of the beast's line of travel also incurs disqualification at any stage of the draft.

The sport requires consummate skill and horsemanship, and the skill in selecting a beast from the mob that will run well, but is not too fast for that particular horse. Great prestige is bestowed on the winning horse and rider of the competition.

Yabtree West is on Waradjuri land and is the most recent division of a once huge holding called Yabtree, established in the 1800's by the Horsley family, whose descendants still live and farm in the valley. The present owners bought Yabtree West at the end of 2013

There is a bit of everything on Yabtree West: the beautiful Murrumbidgee and her hard working river flats up through hill country denuded of trees by the ring-barkers of yesteryear and on to scrubby granite back country. This diversity and access to the river means great real estate for native birds and animals, especially as they continue to grow tree corridors linking the hills to the river.

Thursday 28^th January (120kms)

We took the opportunity to go in to Wagga to get the car serviced. Fortunately, the garage Nicole recommended lent us a car until ours was ready. It was too far to go home so we did some shopping.

Nicole, Dean and Colby left today taking five horses with them in a horse transporter towing their caravan.

Saturday 30^th January (460 kms)

We took the Hume Highway to Mittagong then to Picton, The Oaks, Wallacia and Penrith to our destination – Leura in the Blue Mountains for a three night stay at The Fairmont Resort & Spa.

Mittagong (pop 9000) is home to many wineries of the Southern Highlands which has been a recent growing wine and cellar door region. Mittagong has been home to many industries, with iron being first smelted in the area. The Mittagong Coal Mining Company (Box Vale Colliery), Joadja Kerosene Shale, and the first supply of fresh milk and butter to Sydney by the Fresh Food & Ice Company all operated out of Mittagong in years gone by.

The transport of iron ore and smelted iron was made by steam train. Lake Alexandra was originally a water supply dam for railway engines hauling coal from the back of Mount Alexandra to the iron mines. It was drained in the 1890s when the land around it was given to Council by the Mittagong Land Company.

The presence of the ironstone was discovered when the deviation of the southbound road was being made through Mittagong in the early 1830s. Fifteen years elapsed before any attempt was made to work the iron deposit. In 1848 land was taken up and smelting commenced at the Fitzroy Iron Works in a small blast furnace that had been erected. A brickfield had also commenced operations. Smelting was being carried on by means of a Cataline furnace and two shafts had been sunk. The party engaged in operating the mine was living in tents until buildings were erected. The mine was referred to at this time as the Fitz Roy iron mine, doubtless in honour of Sir Charles A. Fitz Roy, the Governor-General. Associated with the iron ore deposit was the Chalybeate Spring, an iron-rich mineral spring that was a tourist attraction mainly during the second half of the 19th century and first few decades of C20th.

The town was dominated by trucks and in winter inundated with traffic carrying skiers' on their way to the Australian Alps until 1992 when the Hume Highway opened and bypassed Mittagong and all the towns and villages of the Southern Highlands. The highway bypass was first evaluated as having a slightly negative impact on Mittagong's economy for about a year after its opening, due to the loss of traffic-serving business. Expectations were re-evaluated as mildly positive in 1994 taking into account hard-to-quantify benefits such as the increased appeal of the town as a place to live.

Mittagong is also home to a prestigious girls secondary private boarding school, Frensham, which was opened by Winifred Mary West in 1913. The school is notable for its alumni which include Dr Catherine Hamlin and former Lord Mayor of Sydney, Lucy Turnbull.

The Mittagong Farm Homes for Boys, Mittagong TSB (training school boys), as late as the 1970s became known as Renwick and catered for boys and girls, and was situated along Bong Bong Road. Two homes were located along the Old Southern Road near Diamond Fields Road. An apology was issued by the NSW Government in 2013 for the cruel practices suffered by many of the children who spent time in this institution. The institutions alumni are now in the process of having one of the homes donated by the government as a museum and dedicated building to remind of the injustices perpetrated against children.

Picton (pop 4820) is a small town in the Macarthur Region of New South Wales, in the Wollondilly Shire, in south-western Sydney. Picton was first explored by Europeans in 1798 and remained beyond the limits of legal settlement until 1821. Following the discovery of good land in the interior and the settlement of Bong Bong and the Goulburn areas, Governor Macquarie authorised the building of the new Great South Road between Sydney and the Southern Highlands in 1819. This opened up the Picton area to settlers, including Henry Colden Antill, who established a 2,000-acre property in 1822.

Picton is home to many historic buildings, including two types of bridges not found easily anymore elsewhere in the state - Victoria Bridge a timber trestle bridge that crosses Stonequarry Creek, opened in 1897, and the 'Picton Railway Viaduct' a stone viaduct opened in 1863 to also cross Stonequarry Creek.

The viaduct is still in use by the railways. Ghost tours are conducted in some of the historic buildings and inside the disused railway tunnel on Redbank Range, where residents and visitors claim to have experienced paranormal activity. The abandoned tunnel was used to store mustard gas spray tanks during World War II.

The George IV Inn, reputedly constructed in 1839, is considered to be one of the oldest hotel buildings in Australia. The cellar contains remnants of convict shackles as prisoners being transported from Sydney to Berrima prison would often be held in Picton overnight. The barn behind the hotel may date back to 1810 and is possibly the oldest building in Picton - it is used for functions such as birthday and engagement parties. The hotel is also the location of Scharer's Little Brewery, one of the first microbreweries in Australia and winner of numerous awards for its Burragorang Bock and Scharer's Lager beers.

The Oaks (pop 2525) is a town in the Macarthur Region of New South Wales, on the south western edge of the Sydney Basin.

Despite a long-standing economic dependence upon coal mining and despite the urban development inspired by its proximity to Sydney, The Oaks has essentially remained an attractive semi-rural district.

An expedition was undertaken in 1795 which included Governor Hunter and George Bass, due to the sighting of some cows which had strayed from the Government Farm at Farm Cove. The herd had increased from 8 to around 40 and the area they were found in was then named "Cow Pasture Plains". Until 1822, it was forbidden to settle in the region although it was noted as being an excellent area for cultivation as a succession of governors sought to protect the herd from exploitation or molestation as an investment in the colony's future. John Warby was appointed Superintendent of Wild Cattle at the Cowpastures in 1803 and by 1806 was also a Constable in the district; acted as a guide on a number of exploring parties and expeditions. Warby was the first to explore the Oaks region. A botanist by the name George Caley explored the area between 1802 and 1804. He penned the name "The Oaks" due to the predominance of She-oaks in the area.

In 1815 Governor Macquarie established cattle yards at "The Oaks", Cawdor (halfway between Camden and Picton), and Brownlow Hill and later at Stonequarry Creek (Picton) to which wild cattle were taken to be reclaimed for the government herds. On 7 July 1822, the Oaks station was relinquished to Major Henry Colden Antill. Many of the cattle were later moved to Bathurst. The stations were closed in 1826.

The district was surveyed between 1822 and 1827 as land grants were extended to the area. The first was issued in 1823 to John Wild a former Lieutenant and Adjutant of the 48th Regiment, who had been the superintendent of Government Stock on the cattle station at Cawdor and T.C. Harrington. Wild established a farm on the "Vanderville"' estate and built a homestead in the late 1820s with the help of Aboriginal and convict labour. Wild primarily raised cattle but he also ran sheep and pigs, grew wheat and tobacco, and established a dairy.

St. Mathews Anglican Church c.1838/39, was built at The Oaks by the families of John Wild of Vanderville and Major Russell of Orthez for their servants and families, it is constructed of local timber. The church still stands today, but has been renovated twice to preserve it. The church cemetery contains the headstone of Henry Kable Jr, son of Henry Kable and other caskets which were removed from Burragorang Valley before it was flooded for the building of Warragamba Dam.

Pastoralists from Camden, Campbelltown and The Oaks began running their cattle in the Burragorang Valley, explored by Francis Barrallier in 1802-03 when Governor King asked him to find a way through the Blue Mountains. It was most likely that the pastoralists drove their cattle along what is now called Burragorang Road. This road runs from The Oaks to the Burragorang Valley and was surveyed in 1827 by Robert Dixon. It was merely a basic bullock-dray track until the traffic generated by the silver mines required an improved surface.

Labour shortages became an issue when convict transportation to New South Wales ceased in 1840 and convicts received their ticket of leave, Free settlers with large holdings sold or let portions of their land to emancipists as they did not have or could not afford a large enough workforce to work their land. The economic focus then shifted from mixed farming to wheat from the 1840s and a wheat mill was established in the area. The 1850s became a period of economic expansion for the area. in the 1860s, wheat rust devastated the wheat industry. The farmers moved their focus to market gardening, dairy farming, hay production and the building of hay presses. Oranges and milk became staple products.

George Caley retraced Barrallier's route into the Burragorang Valley in 1806. Caley also failed to cross the Blue Mountains; however, he did find coal in the valley and discovered Thirlmere Lakes. The discovery of Galena by Billy Russell and Billy George opened a relatively brief phase of development activity at Yerranderie. The exploitation of Lead and Silver drew attention to the area in 1890, but it was only when John Vigar Bartlett began to produce payable ore in 1898 that real expansion of the silver field occurred. 1891 was the beginning of mining for iron ore, in the area between The Oaks and Picton. After economic growth in the 1920s the depression hit the community hard and people began to move away. Coal mining and timber getting were also carried out in the Burragorang Valley at Nattaion a small scale in the 1930s but it soon became the principal economic activity and, after World War II, led to a resurgence of the township although massive retrenchments from the local mines occurred in the early 1980s.

Wallacia (pop 1,700) The region was chiefly one of dairying and grazing during the 19th century, but in the early 20th century - because of its rural atmosphere and proximity to Sydney - tourism developed as people opened their homes as guest houses. After the Second World War however, the increase in car ownership and the availability of air travel saw a decline in the local tourist trade. Wallacia was once home to Bullen's Animal World, a theme park and circus, for several decades.

Growth in the area in the past few years has mainly occurred with the development of hobby farms by people seeking a retreat from city life.

Wallacia sits beside the Nepean River and landmarks include the Weir, Wallacia Bridge, Little Bondi and Wallacia Hotel - mock Tudor design by the Fowler family. It was the first place in Australia to introduce a fish ladder next to a weir. Wallacia’s tourism is centred on the day-tripper trade with the Wallacia Hotel and the Wallacia Golf Course, the chief attractions.

Mulgoa (pop 1900) is a small town near Penrith. Following the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney, there were a number of bloody battles between the British settlers and the local indigenous people in this area, however, it is believed that the Mulgoa people were generally peaceful and most of the clashes were with the Gandangara. The first government land grants in the area were made in 1810 to Edward Cox, the four-year-old son of Captain William Cox, who constructed a famous road across the Blue Mountains in 1814. William Cox built The Cottage on the land in about 1811. Fernhill, a much grander residence with associated gardens, now heritage-listed, was completed in the 1840s, although the proposed second-storey was never added. Not far away dwelt Cox's friend Sir John Jamison, who erected the colony's finest mansion, Regentville House, in 1824, on an eminence overlooking the Nepean River. In 1821, three large land grants were made on the Nepean at Mulgoa to the Norton family: James Norton, the founder of Sydney's first law firm and his father and brother, Nathaniel.

The centre of Mulgoa's spiritual life in the colonial era was St Thomas' Anglican Church, which dates from 1838. It was the first public building in the Mulgoa Valley and was constructed out of sandstone and cedar on paddocks donated by the Cox family, with Sir John Jamison serving as one of its patrons. The Reverend Thomas Cooper Makinson was St Thomas' inaugural rector.

These days, Mulgoa is still primarily a rural area.

We saw a sign to the Nepean River so went down the dirt road and found a lovely place overlooking the valley.

Penrith (pop 13,300) a city located in Greater Western Sydney, on the banks of the Nepean River, on the outskirts of the Cumberland Plain. It is acknowledged on the register of the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales as one of only four cities within the Greater Sydney metropolitan area.

The recorded history of Penrith began on 26 June 1789. Eighteen months after the landing of the First Fleet, an exploring party led by Captain Watkin Tench set out to further discoveries made by Governor Arthur Phillip earlier in the month. In the daylight hours of 27 June, Tench and his party discovered the broad expanse of the Nepean River. Tench's party became the first Europeans to see the site of what is now the City of Penrith. Tench later wrote ‘we found ourselves on the banks of a river, nearly as broad as the Thames at Putney and apparently of great depth’. Phillip later named the river after Evan Nepean, the under-secretary of state in the Home Office, who had been largely responsible for the organisation of the First Fleet. From this point, European settlement began in earnest, firstly on the Hawkesbury River, and later southward up the Nepean.

Notable People

Richie Benaud (1930-2015) cricketer and commentator

Thomas Bent (1838–1909) Premier of Victoria 1904 to 1909, born in Penrith

Nathan Bracken (b. 1977) Australian cricketer

Mick Fanning (b. 1981) surfing world champion 2007

Nic Naitanui (b. 1990) Australian rules footballer, born in Penrith

Mark Geyer (b. 1967) Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and a media identity.

Ray Watson, (1922-2010), judge who reformed family law to create no-fault divorce.

On the way to Leura in the Blue Mountains National Park we stopped at the Nepean River Lookout. The Nepean River and its associated mouth, the Hawkesbury River, almost encircles the metropolitan region of Sydney, at its confluence with the Grose River, the Nepean becomes the Hawkesbury River.

We booked in at the Fairmont Resort and Spa and had dinner in the restaurant. Because of Covid restrictions the Spa was not open and the inclusive breakfast did not have a buffet. Seating was very spread out which was nice and all staff wore masks.

Sunday 31^st January (10 kms)

The whole day was thick fog which never lifted so we stayed at the hotel relaxing and later went for a Chinese meal.

Leura (pop 4645) one of the series of small towns stretched along the Main Western railway line and Great Western Highway that bisects the Blue Mountains National Park. Leura is situated adjacent to Katoomba, the largest centre in the upper mountains, and the two towns merge along Leura's western edge.

When the western railway line was constructed across the Blue Mountains in 1867–68, a gatehouse (No 9) was erected where the line crossed the Western Road. The gatekeepers were the first permanent European residents of the area, another early presence occurred following the discovery of coal in the Jamison Valley below the present Leura golf course in the early 1880s, which led to the establishment of a colliery.

While the early focus of activity had been along the Western Road, with the construction of the Coffee Palace and the railway station, Leura Mall began to dominate. Most of its commercial buildings date from 1900 to the 1920s and today the Mall is the focus of Leura's daily business activities.

Leura's elevation of 985 metres  leads to occasional snowfall in winter and a climate that reflects all four seasons distinctly.

The village centre lies on Leura Mall which is divided at this point by a wide grassy median strip planted with flowering cherry trees. The historic streetscape has been largely preserved, although there was local concern regarding the development of a shopping complex on the site of a former distribution warehouse. Redesigned to better suit the Leura Mall ambience after consultations with the wider community, the new shopping complex is now complete, hosting a Woolworths supermarket and liquor store. The historic post office building is now home to a news agency. The Alexandra Hotel, not far from the railway station, offers panoramic views from its back veranda. There are a substantial number of restaurants, cafes and coffee shops along Leura Mall, among the boutiques, gift and antique shops.

Leura is home to many formal, English-style, cool-climate gardens, which provide elegant walks and the opportunity to visit when open to the public in early October each year.

In 2016, Leura was named in the list of top 50 most irresistible, exotic, historic and postcard-worthy small towns in Australia.

Katoomba (pop 7960) is the chief town of the City of Blue Mountains in New South Wales. Katoomba and nearby Medlow Bath were first developed as tourist destinations towards the end of the 19th century when a series of hotels were built and then repeatedly extended.

Coal and oil shale mining was also carried out in the Jamison Valley for many years, but when the seams were completely exhausted by the early 20th century, Katoomba was an established resort town. By the 1960s, Katoomba had somewhat declined, and several of its guest houses were converted for other purposes, including convalescent hospitals. In the 1980s, the guest houses and hotels again became fashionable and many were restored. However we both felt that the town was looking very shabby.

The Carrington Hotel is a heritage-listed former spa, hotel and power station and now hotel and public bar located at Katoomba Street. It is also known as Great Western Hotel. The property is privately owned and it was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. The Carrington is the only 19th century grand resort hotel still in use in New South Wales. It also retains much of the fabric of its major phases of development and continues to occupy the commanding position in Katoomba that it has done since its construction. It was built in 1883 by Harry George Rowell, a large hotel owner from Sydney, and was owned by a series of prominent families over the next century. Today it is still operating as a high class hotel providing accommodation and restaurant services.

Monday 1^st February (198kms)

The fog had lifted by 10am and the day was lovely and sunny for our exploration of Richmond, Windsor, Wentworth waterfall, The Three Sisters Lookout at Echo Point in Katoomba, Eagle Hawk Lookout, Govett’s Leap, Medlow Baths, Hargreaves Lookout and so to Sublime Point in Leura.

Richmond (pop 5480) is at the foot of the Blue Mountains, 19 metres above sea level on the alluvial Hawkesbury River flats.

The area was originally explored by British settlers in 1789 and the nearby eminence to the west of the Hawkesbury River was known by them as 'Richmond Hill'. The name was given by Governor Phillip, in honour of Charles Lennox, the third Duke of Richmond who was Master General of Ordnance in the Pitt administration. The local area was the third area to have European settlement in Australia after Sydney and Parramatta. The first 22 European settlers came to the area in 1794. They came to farm a total of 30 acres in what is now Pitt Town Bottoms. They needed good farming land to help overcome the desperate need for food in the new colony. By 1799 this region was producing about half the grain produced in the colony.

Around 1811 Macquarie established the five Macquarie Towns in the area: Windsor, Richmond, Castlereagh, Wilberforce and Pitt Town.

During WWII the RAAF operated a top secret operations bunker from somewhere in Richmond. It was either half or completely underground. The location of this bunker is unknown but it has been reported that this bunker was identical to the Bankstown Bunker which is currently buried under a public park in Bankstown. It has also been reported that this bunker could still be intact.

RAAF Base Richmond is a Royal Australian Air Force base at Richmond which was established in 1923. The air base is currently the home to the RAAF's transport squadrons. During the Vietnam War, logistic support and medical evacuations were supplied by the C-130 Hercules aircraft from RAAF Richmond.

The expansion of the Sydney suburban area has almost reached Richmond and it is now considered to be an outer suburb of Sydney. Bells Line of Road which leads into, over and across the Blue Mountains, finishing in Lithgow, starts in Richmond. We travelled along this road on our adventure.

Windsor (pop 1820) sits on the Hawkesbury River, many of the oldest surviving European buildings in Australia are located at Windsor.

Windsor is the third-oldest place of British settlement on the Australian continent. Settlement at the location was first established circa 1791, near the head of navigation on the Hawkesbury River. European settlers utilised the fertile river flats for agriculture. The area was originally called Green Hills, but renamed Windsor (after Windsor in England).

It was known as the "bread basket", ensuring the survival of the starving colony. The extensive agriculture caused major silting in the Hawkesbury River; by the 1890s the Hawkesbury River had become so blocked with silt, ships could not travel up to Windsor from the coast. By then, a railway (in 1864) and road (in 1814) had been built to compensate.

Echo Point in Katoomba is a lookout which attracts an estimated 1.5–2 million visitors each year. The lookout offers a view to Three Sisters, Mount Solitary and the rock formation known as the Ruined Castle. A short walk from Echo Point leads to The Giant Stairway which provides access to a number of nature walks through Jamison Valley.

The Three Sisters are an unusual rock formation, on the north escarpment of the Jamison Valley, and are one of the Blue Mountains' best known sites, towering above the Jamison Valley. Their names are Meehni (922 m), Wimlah (918 m), and Gunnedoo (906 m).

The Three Sisters were formed by land erosion around 200 million years ago during the Triassic period when the sandstone of the Blue Mountains was eroded over time by wind, rain and rivers, causing the cliffs surrounding the Jamison Valley to be slowly broken up.

When the Blue Mountains were covered in seawater, the ocean carried large amounts of sediment that gradually sunk to the floor in crosswise layers. These layers later created rock beds and shales. Around 200 million years ago, volcanoes erupted through the coal, sandstone and shale layers, forming the ridges and the shape of the Three Sisters.

The commonly told legend of the Three Sisters is that three sisters, Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo, lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe. They fell in love with three men from the neighbouring Nepean tribe, but marriage was forbidden by tribal law. The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to capture the three sisters. A major tribal battle ensued, and the sisters were turned to stone by an elder to protect them, but he was killed in the fighting and no one else could turn them back.

This legend is commonly claimed to be an Indigenous Australian Dreamtime legend. However, the legend as is commonly told may be traced back to non-indigenous schoolgirl Patricia Stone, who gave the formations their "indigenous" names.

The Aboriginal traditional owners, the Gundungurra, have a different legend that includes the Sisters rock formation.

Eagle Hawk Lookout is a short drive from the busy Echo Point (pay for parking). It is another view of the Three Sisters.

Govett’s Leap Falls is situated overlooking the Grose Valley in the Blue Mountains National Park. ‘Leap’ is an old Scottish word for waterfall. The falls takes its name from William Romaine Govett, a Government Surveyor who discovered the falls in c. 1831. The waterfall has a single drop of about 180 metres and is in Blackheath (pop 4398) 1065 metres above sea level, which is near the highest point in the Blue Mountains. Following European settlement of Australia, the site was originally named Hounslow. After crossing the Blue Mountains in 1815 and returning from Bathurst, Governor Lachlan Macquarie renamed the settlement as "Black-Heath", in reference to the colour and texture of the native shrubbery in the area.

The first building in Blackheath, the "Scotch Thistle Inn", was erected by Andrew Gardner in 1831 and Charles Darwin visited the inn in 1836.

Blackheath developed into a town after the Main Western railway line was built in 1869; the current station location was completed in 1883. A large dam built to supply water for railway steam engines became the public baths well before steam operations ceased upon electrification. The baths opened for public swimming in 1931 and since then have been redeveloped to include swimming pools, children's play facilities and surrounding park lands. Blackheath's original post office opened in 1910 and has now been converted into a gift shop and cafe.

Blackheath's sporting claim to fame is that Don Bradman hit a century off three overs for the Blackheath team in November 1931 at Blackheath Oval in a social match against Lithgow. He went on to make 256.

7 kms from Blackheath is Hargreaves Lookout offering super vistas from the edge of the Shipley Plateau out over the Megalong Valley.

Medlow Bath (pop 611) is set in a semi-rural area which includes fire-prone eucalypt forest, and has been subject to bushfire threats many times during its history.

The Hydro Majestic Hotel was developed by Sydney businessman, Mark Foy in the early years of the twentieth century and was the main economic activity in the area, until bushfires nearly destroyed the hotel in the summer of 2003.

There is an elaborate network of walking tracks, which were developed in the bushland between the hotel and the escarpment of the Megalong Valley.

Australia's first Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, died at the Hydro Majestic Hotel in 1920.

We made our way back to the hotel calling in a Sublime Point, just down the road. Here you can see The Three Sisters from the back and get a different view of the Jamieson Valley.

Went into Katoomba for dinner at the ‘8 Things Restaurant’

Tuesday 2^nd February (147kms)

Today we went to Frenchs Forest after checking out of The Fairmont. Danie has Uncle Leonard and Aunty Julie living there and we had a lovely visit. The suburb is north of Sydney and west of the coastal town of Dee Why.

From here we went to Baulkham Hills for the night at the Adina Aparthotel. Baulkham Hills is the administrative seat of The Hills Shire, an outer metropolitan shire within Greater Sydney. The suburb is also the most populous within the Hills Shire. It is known colloquially as “Baulko”.

Notable People :

Doug Bollinger, Australian cricketer

Tom Burton, Sailor and Olympic Gold Medalist.

Delta Goodrem, pop singer and actress.

Nick Phipps rugby union professional

Jana Pittman, Australian Olympic athlete

Mitchell Starc, Australian cricketer

Ray Warren, TV personality and football commentator

Wednesday 3^rd February (183 kms)

Left early to get to Bathurst where we stayed the night. Travelled via Windsor, North Richmond, Bilpin and Lithgow.

North Richmond is a semi-rural suburb of Richmond. It is separated from Richmond to the south-east by the Hawkesbury River.

Bilpin (pop 665) is a small town on the historic Bells Line of Road in the City of Hawkesbury local government area in the Blue Mountains. It is known as "Land of the Mountain Apple". Fruit orchards and beautiful gardens thrive in the fertile soil and the road is lined with roadside stalls selling home-made produce, especially during summer. Bilpin apples and Bilpin apple juice are well-known around Australia.

According to RP Data, Bilpin is the 'most loyal' suburb in the Sydney area, with locals staying for an average of 21 years in the same house.

We stopped at Hillbilly Cider where we did some tasting and bought some for later.

Lithgow (pop 12,970) Lithgow is a town in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, and is the administrative centre of the City of Lithgow local government area. It is located in a mountain valley named Lithgow's Valley by John Oxley in honour of William Lithgow, the first Auditor-General of New South Wales.

Lithgow is surrounded by a varied landscape which includes national parks, one of which, the Blue Mountains National Park, is a World Heritage Area. The Wollemi National Park is home to the Jurassic-age tree the Wollemi Pine, which was found growing in a remote canyon in the park.

Lithgow benefits from being the western terminus for the electric section of the Main Western railway line from Sydney, and of NSW TrainLink's Blue Mountains Line electric services. Lithgow is home to the iconic zig-zag railway.

The mountainous terrain of the Blue Mountains and the expense of building long tunnels required the construction of The Great Zig Zag railway between 1866 and 1869. The line was opened as far as Bowenfels, just to the west, in 1869, but Lithgow station was not opened until 1877. Although it was superseded in 1910 by more modern engineering methods, including ten tunnels, parts of the Zig Zag have been developed into a popular tourist attraction. Following a period of industrialisation in the late 1860s and 1870s, the town of Lithgow boomed during the 1880s, and it was incorporated as a borough in 1889.

The town is the centre of a coal mining district and there is one coal-powered power station nearby. It is the site of Australia's first commercially viable steel mill, the ruins of which are open for inspection at "Blast Furnace Park". Due to the abundance of coal and relative proximity to Sydney, in the areas surrounding Lithgow are two of the largest power stations in NSW, the Mount Piper and Wallerawang power stations. Both are operated by Energy Australia NSW. The (now demolished) Lithgow Power Station was in use from 1928 to 1964.

Notable People :

Andrew Brown – the first European settler of the Lithgow Valley and a prominent industrialist and philanthropist.

Cardinal Edward Clancy AC (1923-2014) – the seventh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Australia (1983 to 2001) was born in Lithgow.

Joseph Cook, (1860-1947) English Australian politician, resident of Lithgow and member for Hartley, and Parramatta. Sixth Prime Minister of Australia.

John Doyle AM – a comedian of the duo Roy and HG, was born in Lithgow.

Wayde Egan - rugby league player for the Penrith Panthers.

Roy Heffernan - Professional Wrestler, Tag Team Champions The Fabulous Kangaroos, Mr Australia was born in Lithgow 1925.

Nina Eva Vida Jones (1882–1966) – a socialite and motor racing driver, married to John Alexander Stammers Jones (1870-1933), brewer of Lithgow.

Laurie Oakes – journalist, was educated at Lithgow High School, being dux in 1961.

Marty Roebuck – a former Australian rugby union Wallabies fullback, was born in Lithgow.

William John Truscott (1886-1966) - Footballer for the East Fremantle Football Club from 1913 to 1927.

Bathurst (pop 37,190) is a city in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales and is the oldest inland settlement in Australia

Bathurst is often referred to as the Gold Country as it was the site of the first gold discovery and where the first gold rush occurred in Australia. Today education, tourism and manufacturing drive the economy. The internationally known racetrack Mount Panorama is a landmark of the city. Bathurst has a historic city centre with many ornate buildings remaining from the gold rush period of the mid to late 19th century.

The Macquarie River divides Bathurst with the CBD located on the western side of the river. Four road bridges and two rail bridges span the river within the city area.

Bathurst's place in Australia's history is evidenced by the large number of landmark monuments, buildings, and parks.

In the centre of the city is a square known as Kings Parade. Originally a market area from 1849 to 1906, it was redesignated as a public recreation ground and site for a soldiers memorial. Kings Parade now contains three memorials, an open space park and gardens.

The Bathurst War Memorial Carillon is a 30.5 metres (100 ft) tall tower structure located in the centre of Kings Parade. The Parade is located in the centre of Bathurst's CBD. The Carillon is a memorial to the soldiers who lost their lives in the two World Wars. The bell tower contains 49 bronze bells cast by John Taylor & Co in 1928 that are rung daily at lunchtime, and an eternal flame on the platform level of the structure. The Carillon was officially completed on Armistice Day, 11 November 1933 at a cost of £8,880. It was upgraded in 2020 to World Carillon Federation standards, making it only the third such carillon in Australia. The Evans memorial stands at the northern end of Kings Parade. Completed in 1920, the memorial commemorates the discovery of the Bathurst Plains in 1813 by George Evans, Assistant Surveyor of Lands. The Boer War memorial stands at the southern end of Kings Parade. This memorial was unveiled in 1910 by Lord Kitchener.

In the early years of settlement, Bathurst was a base for many of the early explorers of the NSW inland, including George Evans in 1815, John Oxley in 1817–1818, Allan Cunningham in 1823, and Thomas Mitchell during the 1830s.

Painting of Edward Hammond Hargraves, who is credited with the first discovery of payable gold near Bathurst in 1851

Flecks of gold were first discovered in the Fish River in February 1823, but it was 12 February 1851 in a Bathurst Hotel when Edward Hargraves announced the discovery of payable gold. Soon, gold was found at Ophir (later Sofala) and Hill End in the 1850s.

Hill End, called 'Bald Hills' in 1850, 'Forbes' in 1860 and finally Hill End in 1862 was part of the Tambaroora district. At its peak had a population of 7 000 people. Hill End's fame is the finding of the 'Holtermann Specimen (Correctly the Beyers Holtermann Specimen)' on 20 October 1871 being the largest single mass of gold ever discovered in the world, a record that still stands today. Found in 1872 this single mass of quartz and gold weighed 630 lbs and when crushed produced and est. of 3000 troy oz (93 kg) of gold, thus processed held more gold then the processed gold from largest nugget ever found, that being the Welcome Stranger from the Victorian Goldfields. Holtermann recognizing the significance of the find attempted to preserve it by buying it from the Company of which he was one of a number of directors. His efforts were in vain. It is reported that a larger mass was discovered a few days later in the same mine but was broken up underground. Absolutely reliant on Gold, the towns decline was dramatic once the Gold ran out before the 1900s.

In the 1860s, the town of Bathurst began to boom. Bathurst was to become the first gold centre of Australia. The nearby gold localities would transport their gold to Bathurst[ then to Sydney. The mail and gold transport coaches became an obvious target for bushrangers, which became a major problem for the authorities.

The Ribbon Gang and the Bathurst Rebellion occurred in 1830, when a large group of over 80 convicts roamed the Bathurst district. They were eventually captured and charged with murder, bushranging and horse-thieving. On 2 November 1830, ten members of the Ribbon Boys were hanged in Bathurst for their crimes. The site of the first and largest public hanging in Bathurst is still marked by the laneway sign Ribbon Gang Lane in the CBD. Ben Hall, who became a notorious bushranger, was married in St Michael's Church at Bathurst in 1856. In October 1863, a gang of five (including Hall) raided Bathurst, robbing a jeweller's shop, bailed up the Sportsmans Arms Hotel and tried to steal a racehorse. They returned three days later and held up more businesses. John Peisley, another bushranger, was tried and hanged for murder at Bathurst Gaol in 1862.

Bathurst's economy was transformed by the discovery of gold in 1851. One illustration of the prosperity gold brought to Bathurst is the growth and status of hotels and inns. The first licensed inn within the township was opened in 1835, the Highland Laddie. At the peak of hotel activity in 1875, coinciding with the gold rush period, there were 61 operating concurrently. A total of 89 hotel locations have been identified in the town of Bathurst, with 112 operating in the immediate district during the course of the history in Bathurst. Initially many pubs were simply a cottage with stables. As prosperity increased during the gold rush, the Hotels became typical of architecture of pubs known today.

The Cobb & Co business was a horse drawn coaching transport business originally established in Victoria but relocated to Bathurst in 1862 to follow the gold rush. The business provided gold escorts, mail services and passenger services to the towns and rural settlements. Cobb & Co. coaches were constructed in the coaching workshops located in Bathurst.

Bathurst later became the centre of an important coal-mining and manufacturing region. The Main Western railway line from Sydney reached Bathurst in 1876. From that time, the town became an important railway centre with workshops, crew base with locomotive depot and track and signal engineering offices. It remains today as the railway regional engineering headquarters with a large rail component manufacturing facility.

In 1885, Bathurst had a population of about 8,000 and an additional 20,000 people in the district. The town in 1885 was a hub for stores such as E.G. Webb & Co. with supplies and distribution occurring throughout large parts of western NSW and into Queensland and South Australia.

A famous Australian brand name of frozen foods began in Bathurst. Robert Gordon Edgell arrived in Bathurst in 1902. By 1906, he was growing pears, apples and asparagus and experimenting with canning and preserving fruit and vegetables, eventually opening a small cannery in 1926. In 1930, he formed the company Gordon Edgell & Sons which became, and still is, a famous Australian food brand, now owned by Simplot.

An Army camp was established at Bathurst in early 1940 and was intended for the Second Australian Imperial Force's 1st Armoured Division, although it was later converted to an infantry training centre due to the unsuitability of the closely settled area to armoured training. Following the war, this camp was converted to a migrant reception and training centre. The first group of migrants arrived at Bathurst in 1948; at times the centre had up to 10,000 residents.

Bathurst's population has had rapid growth periods throughout its history; during the mid to late 19th century gold rush period, then post World War 2 when migrants from the war ravaged countries were settled in the area and returning soldiers were offered farming land.

Mount Panorama Circuit is a motor racing track located in Bathurst. It is situated on a hill and is best known as the home of the Bathurst 1000 motor race held each October, and the Bathurst 12 Hour event held each February. The track is a 6.213 km long street circuit, which is used as a public road when no racing events are being run, with many residences which can only be accessed from the circuit.

The track has an unusual design by modern standards, with a 174-metre vertical difference between its highest and lowest points, and grades as steep as 1:6.13. From the start-finish line, the track can be viewed in three sections; the short pit straight and then a tight left turn into the long, steep Mountain straight; the tight, narrow section across the top of the mountain itself; and then the long, downhill section of Conrod Straight, with the very fast Chase and the turn back onto the pit straight to complete the lap.

Historically, the racetrack has been used for a wide variety of racing categories, including everything from open-wheel racers to motorcycles. However, the factors that make the track so unusual, and tighter modern safety standards, make it unlikely that major race meetings for vehicles other than closed-bodied cars will be held there again.

As a public road, on non-race days and when it is not closed off during the day as part of a racing event, Mount Panorama is open to the public. Cars can drive in both directions around the circuit for no charge. A strict speed limit of 60 km/h is enforced, and police regularly patrol the circuit. The National Motor Racing Museum is located next to the Mount Panorama Circuit. Sixteen competitors have died during racing associated with Mount Panorama, including 1967 World Drivers' Champion Denny Hulme who died after suffering a fatal heart attack while at the wheel of his car. Two spectators were also killed in 1955 after being struck by a crashing car.

We drove round the circuit which is much steeper than it looks on TV.

Thursday 4^th February (311 kms)

We left Bathurst this morning to go back to Yabtree. We went via Blaney, Cowra, Young, Cootamundra, Illabo and Nangus.

Blaney (pop 3,378) is a farming town. he arrival of the railway in 1874 boosted development and it replaced Carcoar as the major service centre to local farmlands. Blayney then became a municipality in 1882 and by 1900 a butter factory and freezing works employed many within the town. An abattoir opened in 1957 and this industry was later supplemented with tanneries and a pet food plant. The abattoirs closed in 1999.

In the late 1970s or early '80s a meat canning factory was built on farmland land East of Blayney. This produced Spam and other canned meats. This was later turned into an export meat boning facility run by Ron Jones Exports and then a pet food factory. Prior to this, the dam on the land was famous for yabbies, with Sunday school excursions frequenting there.

In 1989, Nestlé built a new pet food plant, Nestlé Purina, and purchased adjoining land including Blayney Foods. The Nestlé factory exports pet food to Asia and the Pacific.

The Cadia-Ridgeway Mine is a major employer in the area.

In 1994, Blayney became home to Australia's largest inland container terminal, which is situated beside the railway station.

The Blayney Wind Farm, launched in 2000, is the largest of its type in Australia. It consists of 15 wind turbine generators on elevated ridges between Carcoar Dam and Mount Macquarie. Capacity is 10 megawatts, sufficient energy to supply 3,500 Australian homes.

Cowra (pop 9,865) is a small town on the banks of the Lachlan River.

During World War II, Cowra was the site of a prisoner of war (POW) camp. Most of the detainees were captured Japanese and Italian military personnel. However, in July 1942, Indonesian political prisoners from the Dutch Tanahmerah prison on the Digul river, in West Papua, were transported as "prisoners-of-war" to the Cowra prison camp, at the behest of Netherlands East Indies government in exile (with others who were ill being sent to Liverpool). These Indonesian prisoners arrived in mid 1942 and were released on 7 December 1943, and subsequent to their release, played an important role in the black bans which effectively frustrated the Dutch reimposition of colonial rule in the Indies. (This was a name applied to Dutch merchant and military vessels which were prevented from sailing to the newly proclaimed independent Indonesia from Australian ports due to waterfront strikes or 'black bans' by maritime trade unions from 1945 to 1949.)

On 5 August 1944, at least 545 Japanese POWs attempted a mass breakout from the camp. Simultaneously, other Japanese prisoners committed suicide, or were killed by their countrymen, inside the camp. The actions of the POWs in storming machine gun posts, armed only with improvised weapons, showed what Prime Minister John Curtin described as a "suicidal disregard of life".

During the breakout and subsequent recapture of POWs, four Australian guards and 231 Japanese died, and 108 prisoners were wounded. The dead Japanese were buried in Cowra in the specially created Japanese War Cemetery. This is the only such cemetery in Australia, and also holds some of the dead from the World War II air raids on Darwin.

An Avenue of Honour also commemorates those who died in World War I. There is an annual ceremony to commemorate the breakout, involving local school students, council members, local dignitaries and guest Japanese visitors.

Viticulture is a significant industry in the Cowra area. The first vineyards were planted in the 1970s and were predominantly Chardonnay. Since this time, a range of varieties have had success, including Sangiovese, Mourvedre and Tempranillo.

Young (pop 7,170) is a town in the South West Slopes region and the largest town in the Hilltops Region.

Young is marketed as the Cherry Capital of Australia and every year hosts the National Cherry Festival. Every year during the summer, hundreds of backpackers and casual labourers flock to the region to work in the cherry farms. It is in a valley, with surrounding hills. The town is named after Sir John Young, the governor of NSW from 1861 to 1867.

James White was the first European settler in the district and established Burrangong Station in 1826 with a squatting claim of 260 square] His story is told in the novel ‘Brothers in Exile’. Gold was found in the district in 1860. Until that time the area was called Lambing Flat, a reference to the grazing of sheep that was the main industry until mining. The town was gazetted in 1861. The goldfields produced 15,000 kilograms of gold sent by escort from the fields. Up to 20,000 miners worked the fields including about 2,000 Chinese miners.

From November 1860 through to June 1861, anti-Chinese miners attacked Chinese gold miners in the area, now known as the infamous Lambing Flat riots. As gold became scarce, European miners began to resent what they saw as the greater success of the more industrious Chinese, and hence many Chinese miners were attacked, robbed and killed. The anti-Chinese rebels rallied in numbers of up to 3,000. Eventually the rioters were controlled, Chinese miners had their claims restored to them, but the New South Wales Parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Bill which restricted the number of Chinese that could be brought into New South Wales on any ship and imposed a tax per head on entry.

In 1889 Young was the first town in Australia to install electricity into the streets and homes of the township; Tamworth NSW had installed electricity to the streets only the previous year.

The former Young Shire was acknowledged as the first Local Government Area to institute a rural school bus system in New South Wales.

Notable People :

Charles Anderson VC, MC (1897–1988), a Member of Parliament

Donald Chalmers AO, Chief of Navy from 1997 to 1999

Rose Ann Creal, matron, recipient of the Royal Red Cross (First Class)

Peter Cusack, a rugby league footballer

Libby Gleeson, a children's author

Ron Lynch, a rugby league footballer and coach

Nathan Lyon, an Australian cricketer

Roger McDonald, an author

Kerry Saxby-Junna, double Commonwealth Games gold medal racewalker

Illabo (pop 144) is in the South West Slopes part of the Riverina.

Nangus (pop 211) is a village on the Wagga Wagga to Gundagai Road on the north side of the Murrumbidgee RiverThe nearby Nangus Station and Yabtree Station are heritage listed.

All was good at Yabtree and we fed the animals before dinner. Dean and the family returned from a successful Camp Drafting in Tamworth on Sunday so we were able to catch up with them. On Monday we went to Wagga Wagga for supplies, packed the car and then had Happy Hour with Dean, Nicole and Colby.

Tuesday 9^th February (219 kms)

We left for Forbes free camp where we had stayed before, we were there two days before moving on to Gilgandra free campsite for the night via Parkes, Peak Hill and Dubbo, we had been to the two former towns before and bypassed Dubbo (where Howard died).

The free camp was at the Gilgandra Bowling Club and we were the only ones there on a lovely grassy site. We we went to the Club Chinese restaurant for dinner which was full and no wonder as the food was delicious and very reasonably priced.

Gilgandra (pop 3,125) is a country town in the central west region and services the surrounding agricultural area where wheat is grown extensively together with other cereal crops, and sheep and beef cattle are raised. Sitting at the junction of the Newell, Oxley and Castlereagh highways, the town is located in a wide bend of the Castlereagh River downstream from its source near Coonabarabran. It is located approximately halfway on the inland route from Melbourne to Brisbane. It is known as the town of windmills and the home of the 'Coo-ees', and is a gateway to the Warrumbungles National Park.

During World War I, a recruitment march to Sydney began in Gilgandra, known as the Coo-ee March. The men who enlisted on the way became known locally as "Coo-ees". The march was given this name because the marchers shouted the old bush call of "cooee" at each town along their journey to attract recruits. Twenty-six men left Gilgandra on 10 October 1915. At each town on the route, the marchers were feted and a recruitment meeting was held. By the time they reached Sydney just over one month later on Friday 12 November 1915, the number of recruits had swelled to 263. They were welcomed on arrival in Sydney with huge crowds lining George Street near the Town Hall to welcome them and an official address given to them by the Minister for Works representing the Premier of NSW.

Notable People :

Arthur Clifford HOWARD, known as "Cliff", (1893–1971), inventor of the rotary hoe (a version of a cultivator), whose father John Howard moved in 1908 from Crookwell to a property named "Mountain View" at Biddon near Gilgandra. In 1912 when his father introduced a steam tractor engine to his farm Cliff Howard had the idea of applying the tractor's power to blades that would turn the soil instead of compacting it as a pulled plough did. In 1912 Howard created and tested the prototype of his invention on "Mountain View", leading to his patenting the rotary hoe in 1919.

Bob FORAN (1938–2018), Gilgandra-born and raised horse trainer, owner and race caller. Bob's father, Vic Foran, was a well known Gilgandra horse trainer as was, in turn, Vic's own father – Jim Foran. Bob himself was widely known across the western NSW racing region, and in January 2015 reached the incredible milestone of calling his 60th Gilgandra .

Herbert FORAN (1893–1973), born in the Gilgandra area to grazier Thomas Foran and his wife Sarah (Green), he was raised by his parents on "New Berida" with nine siblings, and was farming there when he enlisted early in WW1. Herb Foran was awarded the French Medaille Militare in 1918.

Leslie GREENLEAF (1899–1980) was a recent British immigrant who was working on 'Dick's Camp' Collie when he enlisted in October 1915 for WW1, aged only 17, as one of the original Coo-ee marchers setting out from Gilgandra. He was awarded the Military Medal for action in March–April 1918 at Villiers-Bretonneux, France. Leslie Greenleaf was the last survivor of the original 35 men who commenced the Coo-ee march at Gilgandra.

Malcolm FORAN DFC (1922–1979), was Gilgandra-born and raised, and was a bomber pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force serving in England in WWII. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1944.

Rawdon MIDDLETON VC (1916–1942), was known as Ron Middleton and was the elder son of Frank Middleton and his wife Faith, née Miller. He was raised at Gilgandra as a teenager, became a bomber pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force in 1942, serving in WWII, and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

Friday 12^th February (211 kms)

We left in the morning to go to Carrol and Red Banks Rest Area for the night travelling through Coonabarabran and Gunnadah.

Coonabarabran (pop 2,538) is a town in Warrumbungle Shire that sits on the divide between the Central West and North West Slopes. In 1817 the area was opened up by a Government-sponsored expedition. In 1818 John Oxley found Aboriginal people living here — later identified as the western language reach of the Kamilaroi clans. Kamilaroi people are still well represented in the region, having occupied Coonabarabran for approximately 7,500 years.

Coonabarabran is the closest town to the Siding Spring Observatory, which is home to the 3.9-metre Anglo-Australian Telescope, the largest optical telescope in Australia. It is operated by the Australian Astronomical Observatory (formerly the Anglo-Australian Observatory). A dozen other telescopes are on Siding Spring Mountain, a number of which are operated by the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Australian National University. Siding Spring is also home to the Uppsala Telescope where Robert H. McNaught discovered his now famous daylight comet C/2006 P1 in August 2006. The Mopra Observatory, which is home to a 22-metre radio telescope owned and operated by the CSIRO is also near the Siding Spring Observatory, but is operated remotely from Narrabri. A recent addition to the town was the construction of the world's largest virtual solar system drive, on the roads leading to the observatory. Coonabarabran markets itself as the "astronomy capital of Australia", many of the businesses and government buildings in the town feature astronomically themed information plaques.

Gunnedah (pop 9726) is a town in north-eastern New South Wales, Gunnedah is situated within the Liverpool Plains, a fertile agricultural region, with 80%!o(MISSING)f the surrounding shire area devoted to farming. The Namoi River flows west then north-west through the town providing water beneficial to agricultural operations in the area.

The Gunnedah area is a significant producer of cotton, coal, beef, lamb and pork, and cereal and oilseed grains. Gunnedah is also home to AgQuip, Australia's largest annual agricultural field day.

It claims the title "Koala Capital of World".

Dorothea Mackellar wrote her famous poem My Country (popularly known as I Love a Sunburnt Country) about her family's farm near Gunnedah. This is remembered by the annual Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards for school students held in Gunnedah.

Coal was discovered on Black Jack Hill in 1877. By 1891, 6,000 tons of coal had been raised from shafts. The Gunnedah Colliery Company was registered in May 1899 and by 22 June a private railway some 5.7 kilometres in length had been completed from the railway station to their mine. In September 1957, the Government Railway took over the working of the line.

In early 2012, Gunnedah experienced a mining boom resulting in rental properties being leased by mining companies for up to $1,350 per week

Notable Gunnedahiahs :

Sara Carrigan – Olympic Gold Medallist

Gordon Bray – Sports Commentator

John "Dallas" Donnelly – rugby league player

Tom Gleeson – Comedian

Lindsay Johnston – rugby league player

Miranda Kerr – model

Izaak Merlehan – North Sydney cricketer and WSU Campus of Origin Champion with the Parramatta Pirates

Michael Kilborn – cricketer and cardiologist

Dorothea Mackellar – poet

John O'Neill – rugby league player

Erica Packer – model and singer, ex-wife of James Packer - Australian billionaire businessman and investor

Angus Roberts – rugby union player

Ben Smith – rugby league player

Pat Studdy-Clift - author

Ron Turner – rugby league player

James Wynne – rugby league player

Phil McRackup – Comedian

Sergeant Leonard Siffleet – WWII Commando

Harry Wilson- Rugby Union player, Queensland Reds and Wallabies.

Carroll (pop 337) is a parish and small village on the Oxley Highway, 20 km east of Gunnedah. The Namoi River runs approximately parallel to the highway which is also the main street there. Periodically this river floods the town and surrounding area, forcing the closure of the Oxley Highway. The surrounding area is part of the Liverpool Plains region.

Carroll is an Irish surname coming from the Gaelic O Cearbhaill and Cearbhall, meaning "fierce in battle".

During December 1865 Captain Thunderbolt (Fred Ward) and two accomplices robbed the inn at Carroll then danced and drank until the police arrived. They wounded a policeman and escaped, abandoning three pack-horses.

The district produces cotton, wheat, other grains, fat lambs and beef cattle. The Olympic eventing horses, Kibah Tic-Tic, a noted dual gold medal winner and Kibah Sandstone (gold medallist in team & individual 1992, gold 2000) were bred on Kibah, a property close to the village.

Red Bank Rest Area is right next to the Namoi River not far out of Carroll, a very nice overnight stop.

Saturday 13^th February (90 kms)

We had rain all day and were up in the Great Dividing Range so had a few steep ascents and descents to contend with but all on the main New England Highway. We stayed the night at a free camp outside Moonbi on the First Moonbi Hill, at the Moonbi Lookout (1,300m above sea level )perched on a huge granite outcrop with some beautiful views of and the Cockburn Valley. There was plenty of space to park below the lookout and we were one of three campers. The lookout was constructed in 1938 by the Shire council to give work to people during the Depression.

Moonbi (pop 357) is a village situated on the New England Highway. It is nestled at the foot of the Moonbi Ranges.

The village is renowned as a centre for the poultry industry with many large poultry farms and associated industries located around the area. Moonbi has erected a large fibreglass chicken in recognition of the poultry industry centered here. The surrounding area has many small 'lifestyle' blocks that are often used to run horses.

William Dangar and Edward Cory crossed the ranges in 1830. "Cory's Pillar", also known as Cory's Nightcap, is a prominent balancing stone landmark seen on the right of the New England Highway when travelling northwards on the first Moonbi Hill.

A village was settled there in the 1850s when bullock teams and travellers began passing through the region in search of new land for their livestock. During this period there were two inns and one hotel there. In 1859 a post office opened at Moonbi Station and in 1882 the Moonbi Public School opened.

In August 2007 Moonbi became the centre of attention in the wake of the quarantined horses and lockdown at Moonbi Recreation Ground as a result of the equine influenza outbreak. This followed the running of dressage competitions here during the outbreak of EI. The situation was made difficult as no accommodation was available here for the horse owners.

Sunday 14^th February (44 kms)

The start of our next adventure ……………………………………

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Photos

Have to Love This
Our new friend at Yabtree West - a baby water buffalo

Yabtree West
Our view from the caravan

Yabtree West
Looking out over the paddocks from the caravan

The Nepean River
From the lookout near Mulgoa

Windsor
An historic home

Carrington Hotel, Katoomba
The power station chimney in the background

Blue Mountains National Park
A world heritage listed site

Wentworth Falls
From the lookout

Govetts Leap
From the lookout

Hargreaves Lookout
Looking over the Metalong Valley

Fairmont Resort & Spa
View from our room

Lithgow
Homes threatened by 2013 fires

Mount Panorama Sign
Taken near the entrance to the track

Mount Panorama Circuit Map
Showing the 23 bend

Mount Panorama
Challenge the Mountain

Bathurst
Boer War Memorial and The War Memorial Carillon

Young
The cherry capital of Australia

Gilgandrah
Town of windmills

Coonabarabran
War Memorial in the main street

Gunnedah
Looking over the town from Mount Porcupine

Moonbi
Looking south over the town

Moonbi Lookout
Toilet signage

Moonbi Lookout
The huge granite boulder

Moonbi Lookout
Lookin out over the Cockburn Valley

Moonbi Lookout
This tree has had an interesting life