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 :).
