SNOWY COUNTRY

Day 27. Weve been hanging out at Jindy. A little bit of snow the other day but otherwise weathers been pretty good. Went camping with Jude & Dave (& Heidi) SE of Tumbarumba. Stayed a couple of nights at Paddys River Flat then at Henry Angel campground, both free camps right on the river. Have to make mention of the bloke who stopped by one arvo to tell us a couple of poems by the campfire - interesting, different.

Paddys River

Craig caught his first trout at long last. Dave smoked it & it was surprisingly nice.

What a beauty!

Visited Paddys River Falls - beautiful.

Under the falls

Now back at Jindy. Not sure when or where to next. Wherever we go it will be somewhere with access to a TV on Sunday! Go Manly (his words).

STEWARTS CROSSING, MURRAMARANG NATIONAL PARK, JINDABYNE.

Day 15. So we left Yass & headed to Stewarts Crossing just north of Braidwood. Free camped for a couple of days on a creek running off the Shoalhaven River. Had one rainy night, & needed to layer up to sleep but the days were fairly good although a little windy. We had the camp to ourselves apart from a couple of day trippers.

Stewarts Crossing campground

From there we headed to the coast. Good to get back & a lot warmer. Stayed at Depot Beach Murramarang National Park, just north of Batemans Bay. 

Depot Beach

Swagged it for the first time this trip & probably had the best nights sleep thus far! The place was full of extremely friendly wildlife, a pesky possum who joined us for dinner, king parrots, bandicoots, roos & some tasty flathead.

Stayed at Depot Beach a couple of days then headed down the coast to Bega & across to Jindabyne & so here we are. Staying for a week or so at Craigs folks - not sure where to next.

WARRUMBUNGLES, DUBBO, HILL END.

So we left Tamworth & arrived in the Warrumbungles last Sunday. Magic spot! Camped at Wambelong Camp along the creek. Caught a few yabbies. Roos everywhere.

 

Good view hah?

First day went to Siding Springs Observatory-pretty interesting. Did a little bushwalk Burbie Canyon.

Following day we did the Pincham Trail-Breadknife & Grand High Tops! Big walk, about 2 hrs up hill. Last 100metres nearly killed Craig! Up nearly 3000feet. Blowing a gail as you can see but definately worth the effort. Nearly 4hr return trip and would do it again.

Made it!

Left Warrumbungles on Wednesday & spent a night at Dubbo. Went to Western Plains Zoo. Not very impressed, they seem to be doing a bit of work & not much to see.

Headed to Hill End. It was pouring rain when we arrived but what a beautful little town. Spent a night here but if the weather was better we would of stayed a few days. Wandered around town, went to the museum, bushwalking.

The main street Hill End

Craig wrestling with a beast

Iconic Royal Hotel-1872

View from Bald Hill

When we left they were talking of snow! Will definately visit here again (in better weather).

Called in to Bathurst & did a lap around Mt Panorama. Funny-up the hill in 2nd gear in the troopy! Now at Yass deciding which way to go..........

ON THE ROAD - YEEHA!

Well its day 3 & all is well. We arrived at Chaffey Dam on Thursday afternoon. Beautiful place, heaps of camping spots you just got to dodge the cow dung!Chaffey has all the mod cons - a toilet & shower so pretty luxurious.Stayed at Chaffey until this morning. Couple of lessons learnt whilst there:

Lesson 1 - Don't bring so much stuff! We have so far ditched half our clothes, an esky, books, DVDs..... and other bits & pieces we will probably never use.

Lesson 2 - If your going to travel with a laptop get one you can actually see the screen on in daylight! Our laptop use will be confined to either in the tent, in the car, or in darkness.

Lesson 3 - Don't leave the car awning up in high wind! We nearly lost the lot yesterday & consequently are now in Tamworth to do some repairs.

Lesson 4 - Always make sure you know where the keys are! We packed up everything, tied the top down, jumped in the front, where's the keys? A search for about 15 minutes found them in a jacket in the back. Lucky.....

So left Chaffey this morning & currently at the Big 4 in Tamworth for the night. Nice spot as well right on the Peel River. Had to get some new bolts to fix the awning, another spare key for the car and then first pub visit of the trip (pretty good its been 3 days!). Had a nice lunch at the Tudor Hotel & a couple of lemonades.

Off tomorrow to the Warrumbungles - maybe. Happy days!

Chaffey Dam