Month: July 2024

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

27 July 2024 – Booderee NP

The weather was supposed to be sunny today , and if as warm as yesterday, I was hoping for some tanning ! 
 
This wasn’t going to be the case with and overcast and just slightly rainy start. So I went with walking the 5km Murray Trail first off. 
 
Starts through forest where there were a few cool birds to see and then along the coast – where the rain clouds gathered across the ocean .
 
Great views of some cliff caves towards the end of the hike and then I spotted a gorges little wild orchid. From what I’ve gathered it belongs to the spider orchid family .
The sun appeared and so I headed to the beach for my tanning. There was no one at Iluka Beach- bonus. Though after 1 hr of chill winds I gave up and did a drive to some other points of interest in the park !
 
My first stop was at St George Lighthouse. This lighthouse had some interesting history in that it was blown up to be destroyed as it was considered ineffective . It was made of sandstone and thus the sunlight reflected off it in the day and during full moon,the reflection also posed a problem .
Also, many horrid deaths were described on the info board. From both shipwrecks and people living at lighthouse. 
 
The few of us that were there also spotted quiet a few whales – though they were a little far away. 
 
Next stop was Moe’s Rock and Stoney Creek. Short and sweet though,and the whales couldn’t be spotted again – unfortunately. 
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Australasia Australia New South Wales

26 July 2024 – Killalea Reserve to Booderee NP

The weather was glorious today- calm and sunny! 

My first stop was in Gerringong. Went to the whale watching platform and checked out the next door cemetery which has one of the best eternal views!! 

The next stop was Seven Mile Beach NP – where I did a walk along the beach and also spotted a white bellied sea eagle. 

I went a little inland for lunch- in Berry. Great pub special- delicious chicken schnitzel , chips and salad for $15. I walked around the little town and checked out a man doing glass blowing. He makes all sorts of animals and things. I bought a few Australian creatures : echidna, kangaroo, platypus and an emu. It will be one of my around Aus souvenirs. They were very fairly priced too! 

In the latter part of the afternoon I got to Green Patch -one of the campsites in Booderee NP. The plan was to spend 3 nights there. At $19 pn now vs $70pn in high season for same campsite I wanted to see everything there was. 

Interestingly this NP and Jervis bay is in its own territory – Jervis bay Territory! Their own car registration plates etc. I need to check out more as to why this is. 

Sunset on the beach- with the whitest sand in the world. 

 

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

25 July 2024 – Kiama

Today was due to be a more relaxing day. The first plan was to do laundry. I was shocked though – 10 AUD for a small wash and 6 AUD for a dry!! That’s ridiculous really!

As the closest laundry was in Kiama – I spent most of the day in the area.

Went to the Big Blowhole- but the wind direction was in the opposite direction to what was required to have it blow. I spoke to the tourist info ladies and they let me know that the Little Blowhole faces in the opposite direction -and so would be blowing much better. Instead of driving there I walked- its about 5km return.

It’s a nice walk around the coast- and I was partially accosted by an elder, local man who was walking his dog.

Little Blowhole did a good job blowing, and upon my return to the car, I headed to Bombo Quarry- now no longer mined but a tourist attraction. The remaining lava columns that have not been mined leave like a curtain between the land and sea. It looks pretty cool.

I spent a fair bit of time sitting at a picnic table enjoying the stunning blue fairy wrens and red finches play. I also waited for a meeting with South Africa that didn’t happen. I thus finished the day off with a walk along Bombo Beach.

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

24 July 2024 – Tourist Routes 9 & 15

Lots of exploring packed in today. Took the road through Jamberoo to my first stop- Minnamurra Falls section of Budderoo NP. I thought I could do the walk without the visitor centre being open but I was wrong.

So I waited at the gate for 30minutes – and sorted out some old info and maps in my car. Was good to be the only one I the park for the first part of my walk. The walk to the falls was steep! 3.6km return on a good path.

I enjoyed my time on a bench listening to some lyrebirds before they finally surfaced and I could see them. They scrambled and one chased the other one down the road so to speak. The birds were singing a whole lot too.

The falls themselves were a bit small- only 25m drop can be seen, the further 50m drop down a chasm is not really visible. Glad that the rest of the walk was then downhill though 😊.

Next stop was Carrington Falls. These were impressive at a 90m drop! The walk is also short.

 

About this time was lunch time -just as well that I was passing through Robertson and the famous pie shop. I got a chicken, camembert & leek pie. Was tasty! There was quiet a few options to chose from.

 

Going through Robertson I continued to Fitzroy Falls- these are spectacular really- and very close by- Twin Falls.  Fitzroy drops 81m off sandstone cliffs and into a dramatic valley below. I did the walk to Twin Falls lookout. On the way back I had a very close encounter to a lyrebird who was scratching around and then also some red parrots. Somehow no people passed at this time, so they weren’t spooked!

 

My intention was to stop at Macquarie Pass NP and do a short walk to the cascades there. The Pass is very windy -as are most of the roads that go up the mountains. As I followed the GPS it wanted me to turn into this dingy road that I did not believe was maintained recently at all- so I continued and went home.

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

23 July 2024 – Coledale to Killalea Reserve

After refueling I took time to walk on Corrimal Beach. A nice, rather quiet golden sand beach. It also has a sea pool for good measure with one keen swimmer!

After this I drove to Port Kembla lookout Hill60. It overlooks Five Islands Reserve and beaches. This could all be viewed from the search and rescue tower balcony as it is open most days. The water looked so calm and inviting everywhere!

Reddal Reserve caught my eye on the drive south. So I did a short walk and photographed a few nice statues along the paths.

I stopped Shellharbour for the Tourist Info and Thai lunch special . 

Second last stop was Minnumurra lookout. This has a whale watching platform- albeit small and great views across the beach and reserve where I would camp for the next few nights.

 

As it was low tide I wanted to check out Cathedral Rock but couldn’t figure out how to access. Had an attempt from The Boneyard Beach -a pebble beach- and rock hopped until I couldn’t anymore. Then I drove up the road and followed a path and got stopped on the rocks even quicker- impassable…maybe it was from Jones Beach? But I was over it by now!

 

Then came to set up camp in Killalea Reserve. The tourist info lady had told me that there was much discussion over the last few years to stop development that was to go on here and remove the campsite all together. Glad that was the case and camp site still stands!

Only 1 other couple here from down the road as their house is getting painted 

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

22 July 2024 – Royal National Park

It was many years ago that I flew in from South Australia to Sydney and did a short 5-day road trip down a bit of the south coast. However when it came to driving over Sea Cliff Bridge I couldn’t see anything due to fog. Today was much better and the views were great.

I drove all the way up to the north of the park and did the 1km downhill, 1km uphill Winifred Falls fire trail. Tiny cascades which would be mainly good for summer swimming.

Then I drove to Bundeena to do part of costal track to Big Marley Beach via Wedding Cake Rock. This was a 8km return walk approx. Mainly flat though a few series of steps. The views were mainly coastal- which is lovely.

The Wedding Cake Rock is a white rock that has been fully fenced off as there is a large crack that borders its rear and it will probably drop soonish. However, people really liked to get their Instagram photos ON this rock- and hence all the fencing.

As I sat down overlooking Big Marley and Little Marely beaches I thought that it was disappointing that I didn’t see any whales. It wasn’t a few minutes later when a mother and calf surfaced nearby. Then I saw another 3 – all coming fairly close to the cliffs. Very exciting!

The whole hike you could see the large aeroplanes circling to land at Sydney airport. The skyline could be visible from the cliffs- as was the smog from the city that went far out into the ocean.

On my way home I stopped by several lookouts to enjoy the view of Sea cliff Bridge from various angles so to say. The ridge took 18 months to build- not bad considering simple road works south of Brisbane have not really been anywhere near completion in the 3.5 years I’ve lived there ?!?!

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

21 July 2024 – Blue Mountains NP

LITHGOW – started very fresh 3C, felt like -5C but at least mainly sunny- though strong cold wind still in the morning. I had already travelled through this area and would be doubling up a bit through the Blue Mountains NP – but lots I haven’t seen still -so I could check out places that I had not before. There would be one exception- and that it the Wentworth German bakery!! I def went back there!!

 

In Blackheath I did the short walk to Govett’s Leap lookout. The views of the valleys and sandstone cliffs is great -and Bridal Veil Falls is the cherry on top. I walked further to the falls, but it was not a good view of falls, rather of hanging swamp. Which is a rather interesting feature – I imagine that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon would have had a similar beginning.

Next stop was across the way so to speak: Hargraves lookout. A few kilometres of dirt road which I had to myself – even for lunch- before like 6 cars got there one after the other!

As I ate my takeaway black forest cake I was trying to figure out where to next and how to give Sydney a wide berth. My conclusion was to head south to Coledale for 2 nights. 

That night it was sooooo windy I thought that my tent would blow away for sure!! I put in a few more pegs and tie downs. It was still very loud and moved drastically the whole night.

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

20 July 2024 – Glen Davis to Lithgow

Terrible weather was forecast for today – though the day started out ok. Rained at night but stopped when it came time to pack up the tent and so I thought maybe it won’t be as bad as forecast- has happened so many time before. The skies had cleared pretty nicely even. I was to-and fro- between just staying here one more night if the weather was bad – its free and place to hide if need be. However, with the weather clearing I was merrily on my way.

 

This didn’t last too long and by the time I got to the main road- approx. 35km – it was raining -and didn’t really stop for the rest of the day.

 

I side tracked through Portland to see the painted silos. This work is known as “The Foundations” by Guido van Helten has several past cement workers painted on them. The work was completed in May 2018.

With the weather getting ever wetter and wind ever stronger I didn’t stop until I got to Lithgow. I did think of going to the Glow worm tunnel but this particular weekend all access shut off due to roadworks.

I stopped by the Lithgow Tourist Info -mainly to get a photo of the awesome giant miners’ lamp that they have as a cornerstone of their building! Also to find out if there were any free camps around that I had maybe missed.

As I sat in the car and it got moved around due to the wind- and then it started to sleet – I looked for a room quick smart! I got one for 60- single- above a pub! Really not a bad deal considering that several caravan parks have quoted my that price or like 55 for a powered CAMPING site!!

 

I got to the put early- had a lunch special and waited for check in! I didn’t bother leaving as the weather got windier and colder !!! weather forecast had a feel like min of -6C !

With the party going on downstair for nearly the whole night- I slept with my earplugs firmly in- but at least was warm and dry!

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

19 July 2024 – Hill End to Glen Davis

I started the day with having a look at Merlin’s Lookout- where a famous “ants nest” photo of all the miner’s claims were taken by a photographer. Great view down the valley and some old workings. 

 

In the same direction is the Bald Hill Mine Entry (you can go underground on organised mine tours). I went for the short Bald Hill walking track. Again- good explanation boards of the dams and stamp battery set ups for the gold mine. Loads of erosion gullies from the water reticulation used for gold recovery. 

After the walk I drove to the other side of town- to go to Split Rock lookout. It is named after the very thing-hehehehe- a huge split boulder. 

I headed north to check out Golden Gulley- more erosion gullies as well as the Cornish Roasting pits- about 9km out of the village. Incredibly- 1 year after construction was completed the whole site was shut down due to uneconomic ores and squandering of money!. 

I got to take a few more photos of the road between Hill End and Sofala. Its pretty scenic and the sun came out too!

The road to Glen Davis is also scenic- though not great condition and has a fair bit of road works happening. 

Glen Davis is a community- not large enough to be a town-and is at the end of a dead end road. It has breath-taking sandstone cliffs surrounding it and farmlands around. Its previous claim to fame was the first place in Australia where a huge plant was set up to get oil from shale. The government put in a lot of money into this endeavour during war times but ultimately it was not sustainable and the town shrivelled. 

The infrastructure was impressive though- based on the photos. 

I stayed in the free (by donation) campground. -toilets and showers provided as well as a free community library/ book swop that was well stocked! 

I walked around town twice to get a look at the cliffs- the second time when the sun came out during golden hour and really made the cliffs spectacular! 

It was a surprisingly warm night- no socks -no beanie and only 1 sleeping bag! 🙂 

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

18 July 2024 – Hill End

It looked like there was rain on the way -so I packed up the tent etc before making breakfast. I decided against a longer walk -and just as well as the day turned out to be fairly filled with patchy rain. 

I drove towards Bylong and the Bylong Valley Way- between Bylong (just really an intersection rather than a town 🙂 ) and Rylstone. This was a little larger and ahs some lovely old heritage buildings.  The Drive itself is also pleasant with farmlands and then some lovely dramatic sandstone cliffs. 

I tried -for quiet a while to book a NSW NP camp spot for my next destination- Hill End but the signal was really playing up and took me waaaay too much time1 Frustrating!. 

The first stop before Hill End is Sofala- also a small- nearly abandoned mining town. It was set up with some fun ärt” and signs. I had a short walk around the town and took some photos.

I loved the set up of Hill End- a historic site that has been looked after by NSW NP. Many buildings have been renovated and there are boards explaining what the town /building was like back in the gold rush days of 1850/ 1870s .

There are two camping areas and you can also rent some of the cottages that have been restored. 

I also met the artists behind La Paloma pottery and Kim explained to me that they are living in their cottage under a lifetime agreement with NSWNP. They will not own the property when they die but they are the live in caretakers in essence. 

They also make their own clay on site and have several kilns to fire the pottery.

The campsite was pretty busy and I was hopeful it wouldn’t rain as my camp spot was more a little bit of flat ground between two spoon drains !! Aaargh! luckily it didn’t rain!. 

After a lot of walking around the village, I ended the day with a red wine at the bar- much better price than in the city and love how heavy handed the bar lady was :). 

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

17 July 2024 – Goulburn River NP

After staying in Parkes longer than I had originally planned I finally left this morning. Worked out well in that I missed travelling through school holidays and some crap weather and looked after all the animals ! 

The 2 dogs, 1 cat, 1 chicken, 6 ducks, and the neighbour’s Guinea pig all survived when I house sat for Linda ! Which I’m glad about !

I headed out to Goulburn River NP, which is no where near Goulburn . It was a fairly long drive … approx. 3 hrs. I was disappointed that I only noted that pretty much all the walks were on the western side of the park – and were not mapped on my downloaded map! So ultimately I just stayed there the night . It was nice and not too any people around – just 2 cars in Spring Gully camp site . About 6 cars at Big River camp – just 1km down the road.

 

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

14 July 2024 – Cowra

This morning I decided to head south to explore Cowra – approx. 1.25 hours drive from Parkes. 

Cowra is known for a few things – but the Japanese Gardens and Cultural Centre  is probably tops. Would look amazing in the spring summer too I’m sure! 

There are several bear trees but also a fair bit of colour! 

The reason behind the Japanese Gardens was actually as a symbol of goodwill, reconciliation and peace between Australia and Japan. This was specifically in relation to a breakout that occurred in early August 1944 when Japanese prisoners of war- housed in Camp 12- just a few kilometres away- broke out of the POW Camp. 

The Japanese military men decided they would rather die in battle- or trying to get out of prison- than face the humiliation of being captured. 

1,000 Japanese prisoners escaped -231 lost their lives that night and about 100 were injured. 

The outdoors POW camp has good information boards and some remaining foundations of buildings. The tourist info centre in town also has a good summary hologram show about the breakout. 

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

12 July 2024 – Goobang NP

Still located in Parkes at my friends place and having decided to look after all the animals while the family goes on a longer weekend away I did a day trip to explore. 

PS: the animals are 2 dogs, cat, 4 ducks, chicken and the neighbour’s guinea pig :). 

 

Goobang is half accessible by tar road and the other half by decent dirt roads. Approx 1 hr drive north of Parkes. 

 

I did the Burrabadine Peak track- steady , rocky uphill track. 4km return -approx 1.5hrs. 

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

10 July 2024 – Sculptures down the Lachlan

Sculptures down the Lachlan – or SDL- is a driving art sculpture trail between Forbes (30min south of Parkes) and Condobolin. The installations are rather large and impressive with explanatory boards near them.

The Goanna- a most impressive sight- is also near several bird hides which are good for some bird watching. Especially fun was a falcon trying to steal what two pelicans were fishing for. 

When I reached Condobolin I was pleasantly surprised to find some very fun painted utes- “Utes in a paddock” as the exhibition is known. 

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

9 July 2024 – Parkes

From Orange I drove to Parkes- to visit a friend from South Africa that I last saw 16 years prior! I also went to do a mine visit. 

On this day though I had to go and see the sight that Parkes is probably most famous for- “The Dish”. 

The Dish is a CSIRO radio telescope that has assisted with communications to several space missions- including the tele signals for the moon landing. 

When it is not used for this then it is used by scientists to study radio frequencies of far away starts and pulsars and other space related matters that I cannot hardly begin to understand. 

There is a 3 in 1 ; 3D movie to explain some of the wonders of The Dish and also a museum that includes mind puzzles. 

 

Parkes is well known for its annual Elvis festival- every January. There is therefore a lot of Elvis statues, murals and all sorts of other Elvis themed “things”. 

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

4 July 2024 – Ophir

I spent the day exploring around Ophir- NSW’s first gold mining area. There are 2 tracks to choose from- i did track 1 which weaves its way between adits, shafts and old workings. There is a bit of signage around to describe what was there in the past.

In the afternoon I went to do a wine tasting at Highland Heritage- on the eastern side of Orange. 

Had a taste of a “flight” of Rieslings. This was from 1 year old to 14 year old to experience how the taste develops over those years . The young Riesling is very easy drinking but the 14 year old definitely had a depth of flavour to it. At the same price for each vintage i decided that I enjoyed the 14 year old the most and bought a bottle.

I also then had a taste of several dessert wines- which they are well known for. One of these tastings was also in a “flight” where you can taste the orange blossoms change to toffee flavours over the years. 

 

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

3 July 2024 – Orange

Today was set aside to explore the western areas around Orange. First stop was Mt Canobolas – at the summit. This is a volcanic peak. There are several walks from this peak which i decided to give a skip of as the wind was very strong and damn cold! 

I stopped by Pinnacle Lookout- about 30min return- all stairs up- but then at least the downhill is quick! 

The next stop was Lake Canobolas- with a short walk around the lake perimeter. 

I should’ve had lunch but decided to keep going and did a wine tasting at Seesaw Wines. They do $15 per tasting session and let you try many of their better range wines. This is not usual for the area. 

Some great light wines – but overall a little too dry for my liking. 

I did also try the Gamay- a french grape that several wineries are trying out – that is expected to do well with the increasing climate temperatures over the next few decades. It tasted like cranberries. 

I figured that as the Borenore Caves were on the way to the final stop for the day I would stop by. I only had a chance to walk to the Arch Cave and not to do the 7km return walk to Verandah Caves. 

The final stop for the day- and last opportunity for a pub lunch- was Molong. Got a schnitzel, chips and salad- and was lucky enough that they made it as a last dish just before the kitchen closed! 

Molong is also a small historic village with a heritage listed main street. 

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

2 July 2024 – Bathurst to Orange

I figured that i had to go to Mount Panorama Racing Circuit before leaving Bathurst. It is after all what the town is most well known for. The track is 6.2km and open as a race track for the race. It is strangely a public road- with the advertising banners etc remaining as is. It was a strange feeling to “race” around the track at 60km/h 🙂 .  I wasn’t aware that there were several houses that are surrounded by the track- it is pretty odd looking! 

I travelled to Orange through the lovely, quaint village of Millthorpe. Most of it was closed as it was not the weekend but it was still good to have a walk around! 

Once I checked in , I spent some time around Orange- at the museum and the art gallery. It wasn’t really my favourite display of art- not much really tickled my fancy or interest. 

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Australasia Australia New South Wales

1 July 2024 – Katoomba to Bathurst

Yesterday was a chill day -even though not as much rain fell during the day as expected. My favourite thing was the Lost Bear Gallery- really nicely curated with great art in an old house too.

After a yummy coffee and cake at the German bakery in Wentworth I went to walk off some of the calories at Wentworth Falls to various lookouts.

After the walks i drove to Hassans Walls- a lookout above Lithgow. 

My last stop for tonight was Bathurst- most well known for its racing track. Also some great old buildings!