Surroundings of Bathurst

Tuesday 22 August, 2017

Today is a wonderful day.  Not cold and not windy.  So, Vivienne suggests we go for a drive.  We take a thermos for coffee and her car this time and set out on a trip towards Mudgee.  The trip takes us through Sofala, Illford, Kandos, Rylstone, Lue, and back to Bathurst again via the Castlereagh Highway and Sofala.  See map below:

It's a beautiful road and part of it I have come down on to Bathurst.  It's the one that's lined with wattle trees and the shine like gold in the afternoon sun.  This time I have been able to take a few pictures, albeit from the car, so not the best ones again.

Hillside full of wattle trees

Further down the road we also see enormous blocks of basalt:

Wildlife we also see, as usual, but again, more dead specimen then alive.  Among the dead ones were two wombats and several sheep and kangaroos.  We saw beautiful (live) correllas and ground parrots and a kangaroo hopping across the road in front of us.

We stopped at Sofala.  I was glad about that, but will probably have to stop there again on the way back home as I didn't get a chance to take pictures.  It's an old town with very old buildings.  Almost an open air museum.  The only photo I have is that of the stream where we saw the birds.

We stop a the pub at Kandos for a counter lunch.  As usual far too much, but we take some of the food in a serviette for afternoon tea...  You don't do it to save money, because a counter lunch generally isn't that expensive.  Viv had crumbed steak and I sausages with brown onion gravy.  Delicious.  I love these simple meals.

Close to Mudgee we stopped to quickly grab a cache:

#1682 - Interesting Info (cache)

It was quite an easy cache. We had wanted to stop for more on this trip, but I had forgotten to download the NSW map on my GPS and in the country I hardly had reception for my phone.  But, I'm happy enough with just one.

We parked the car in Mudgee and did some window shopping.  I also wanted to find a watchmaker, but they are a dying breed.  There were lots of clothing shops.  Surprising for a country town.  The photos are of two churches in Mudgee.

The way back to Bathurst led past Windamere Dam, where we stopped for afternoon tea, and via the Castlereagh Highway.  By 6pm we were back home.