And the rain keeps afallin’! It appears that we have bought the rain with us from Tassie and these parts of NSW are experiencing the best rainfall for the last 10 years. The roads are a mess, either closed for trees down or flooded, not to mention the copious amounts of pot holes and landslides across the roads. Lulu has been dodging washouts and fording streams, that on reflection were a little too deep, but she is managing a treat. I’m not too sure if Bronson’s theory of increased speed makes the bumps more bearable tho, and I think Lulu is a little unsure of the merit of it too!
From Nowra and with a new set of front brake pads for Lulu we headed inland again (just so we could try out the new brakes coming back down again!). Visibility was next to none heading up the hill to Budderoo National Park, we were lucky to find the camping ground. Most cars were driving with their hazard lights on and at a snail’s pace (or just a little above Lulu’s cruising speed!). The Carrington Falls did not disappoint after a short walk from our camp to see them. The area was also thick with frogs and we managed to identify striped marsh frogs and something that we can’t remember what it was now (some sort of froglet). Brons went for a little fish until we came across a sign indicating the protected nature of the fauna in the area and we assume this included fish, so the fishing was short lived and unsuccessful.
On to the Blue Mountains (via Abercrombe River which was in flood and the national park mostly required 4WD to access it). Here we found a great camp spot which was set in the grounds of an old stone homestead. The huts were open for people to utilise them for shelter in poor weather with a big open fire. We took the opportunity to dry out our annex and camp in the shelter of an old carport. Lead and Silver used to be mined in the area and we took a stroll to an old mine a few kms down the road. Here we not only found more leeches but also some bits of rock with silvery looking bits in them. Don’t think we’ll be rich beyond our wildest dreams but we fossicked all the same. On the return journey back to camp we were stampeded by a wombat making a startled dash back to his hole. The next night was spent in Kanangra-Boyd national park just a little ways down the road, on the way we went to Janolan Caves but it was a little populated with weekenders form Sydney for our liking. A cup of tea’s worth of time after arriving at Boyd River camp site and enough time to decide we would fashion a yabby trap out of a cola bottle and a teabag to hold some tinned salmon, it started to bucket rain. Luckily we had set up camp next to a shelter with yet another lovely open fire. In dire need of a wash we took opportunity of the down pour and stripped off. We ended up washing in the overflow from the tank on the shelter. Very refreshing and very cold! The next morning before heading off to Bathurst we called into the Kanangra Walls to have a look. For once the vista was not impeded with fog and we could see the magnificent escarpment and take more than just photos of mist!
After a quick stop in Bathurst for supplies (and some non-stinky shoes for Brons) we headed onto Sofala with the hope of fishing the river. The river had been in flood only within the last week or so, the road was torn up and parts impassable due to the flooding. A quick flit with the spinning rod with no results saw us heading back into town to check out the local pub for a couple of ales. The locals were a buzz with talk of the recent shooting on the Gold Coast, after a little more eavesdropping we were able to ascertain that the suspect in the shooting was an ex local of Sofala Keith. His claim to fame up until now was that he put an axe through someone’s head back in the 70’s and there were even holes in the wall of the pub where he took shots at it with his air rifle. Hmm no wonder we didn’t sleep too soundly that night!
Needless to say we were up and out of the Sofala district the next morning headed for Wollemi national park. On the way we pulled up and picked up a long necked turtle who was destined to be cleaned up by the log truck that came past us a couple of minutes later. We dubbed her Sofie and released her in a stream a couple of kms up the road.
The town of Newnes and access to the Wollemi national park lay at the end of a very rough and rugged road. This is where we may have miss judged the depth of a couple of streams and puddles but Lulu took it all in her stride and came out bonza! We camped under enormous cliff faces that seemed to change colour every time you looked up at them as the sun was slipping away at night. We decided to forego the 4WD only ford for Lulu and went on foot to the old oil shale refinery which was in operation in the early 1900’s. Mostly ruins now it’s hard to believe so much infrastructure was set up in such a harsh place, but the bush has crumbled it back to almost nothing. Wombats and roos were aplenty at this camp site and so was a C130 Hercules that was doing low altitude laps above us.
Now we are in the other cultural hub of the universe (I know there are more than just Wynyard!) Lithgow. We camped last night at Lake Lyell where we awoke to a water feature running through the annex. Upon closer inspection of our chosen camp site we realised we had parked Lulu on the runoff channels from the near by road! All very soggy and muddy now.
We are on the home straight to coming back for a few weeks for Christmas. Only a week to go and we will be flying out of Sydney for some much needed home cooking and family time.
P.S. We see we have a new follower? Smoka2 what happened to Smoka1?
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