We’re back on the
highway again and at Goulburn stop for lunch beside the Big Merino
 |
| The Big Merino - Goulburn |
It doesn’t take a
genius to work out what the main type of farm activity used to be in this
region. Today, along with the sheep,
many farms have a diverse range of stock and crops. It’s here we leave the mad Melbourne to
Sydney freeway behind and travel the less frequented (and mountainous) road
north to Lithgow west of the Great Dividing Range. We free camp overnight beside the Abercrombie
River in the National Park before continuing north. At midday a sign entices us to detour to a
lookout over the Capertee Valley. We
figure it will be a good place to stop for lunch and take in the view. Unbeknowns to us the parking area at the
lookout is the size of a postage stamp with no thought given about what to do
about crazy caravanners who ‘heaven forbid’ may need to be able to turn around
to get back out again. Wok parks beside
a barrier and we survey the situation.
We have two options ; reverse back down the 500 metre long steep access
road that we took to get up to the lookout ; or wait for the family in the only
other car at the lookout to leave and try and jiggle back and forth until we
can turn around to get out. While we
ponder on what way is best we figure we may as well read the information board
and take in the view.
 |
| Capertee Valley |
We’ve always thought
that the Capertee Valley was a picturesque place but someone has actually
thought it necessary to compare it in width to the Grand Canyon. Honestly – why bother?
It’s special in its own unique way as is the
Grand Canyon.
Ahh! The other family has hopped in their car and
left the lookout. Wok decides that with
a bit of help from Robyn standing in the middle of the road with a walkie
talkie and guiding him backwards and forwards, he should be able to turn
around. After about fifteen minutes of
precision maneuvering Mitzi and the Van are turned around and facing the
exit. We beat a hasty retreat down the
access road before any other vehicle turned up and find a much more convenient
spot to park and have some lunch. By mid
afternoon we are pulling into the small caravan park at Rylstone. The facilities are basic (but clean) and with
only two other campers on site we virtually have the place to ourselves. The reason we have come to Rylstone is to do
a bit of family research and spend some time exploring the area. Robyn’s great Grandfather came from Wales to
Australia in 1852 and settled on the land near Rylstone after spending a couple
of years as a police constable in the town and then trying his luck on the
nearby goldfields. The next day we took
a walk around town – stopping to read the plaques outside the historical
colonial buildings. The following photos
are just a selection from the many that we took :-
 |
| Police Residence |
 |
| James Nash House |
 |
| Slab cottage |
 |
| St James Church of England |
After a couple of
days relaxing we took a drive to the east of Rylstone, stopping for a look at
Dunn’s Swamp.
 |
| Dunn's Swamp |
The name does not do
this beautiful lake justice. Probably
before the weir was built this may have been nothing more than a marshy swamp
but now it is a lovely waterway. There
is quite a substantial campground beside the water and we watched as two
fishermen launched their boat and disappeared out of sight upstream. Lots of water birds were also enjoying
themselves along the shore. The waterway
is part of Wollemi National Park which is known for its fascinating rock
formations – such as these ‘pagodas’.
 |
| Pagoda rock formations - Wollemi National Park |
Further east of Dunn’s
Swamp we descended into the Capertee Valley and at Glen Alice stopped for a
walk around the cemetery and took a photo of the Presbyterian Church built in
1874.
 |
| Glen Alice church 1874 |
The church was
originally of timber slab construction which was later clad in pressed metal. Although small, the church is still used by
the Anglican and Uniting church on alternate Sundays. We continued on through the valley stopping
at Glen Davis which along with Glen Alice were the main sheep stations in the
valley. Then it was time to take a
circular route out of the valley exiting near the lookout and finally arriving
back at Rylstone late in the afternoon.
The area around
Rylstone still has many sheep farms, but over the past couple of decades a
thriving vineyard industry has grown up around the towns of Mudgee, Rylestone
and Kandos. Of course in the middle part
of the nineteenth century the area was a hive of activity with gold having been
discovered. A drive to the west takes us
to the town of Gulgong with its narrow main street and heritage listed
buildings.
 |
| Main Street of Gulgong |
We decided that a pub
lunch would be in order and the Commercial Hotel looked like a good choice.
 |
| Commercial Hotel Gulgong (on left) - Real Estate Office (on corner) |
As we walked through
the front door Wok noticed that the proprietor’s surname was ‘Honeysett’ and as
Robyn’s grandmother was a ‘Honeysett’ we wondered if there was a family
connection. To our surprise the lady
behind the bar who took our lunch order (Kim) said she had married an Andrew
Honeysett and while we were having lunch she came and sat with us and pulled
out a large file which was full of family history records. After checking a few ancestors in the family
tree we confirmed that Andrew was indeed a distant relative and we had a lovely
chat with Kim and promised to email her some of the relevant stories and
information we had on the ‘Honeysett’ side of the family.
While staying at
Rylstone we couldn’t miss the chance to visit the nearby town of Kandos. Established in 1915 the town was purpose
built for employees of the Kandos Lime and Cement Company’s quarry. The works site and the town is situated on
part of Robyn’s great Grandfather’s (John Lloyd) property which was called ‘Ferndale’. After John Lloyd died in 1910 the land for
the town and works site was separated from the farm and sold to the cement
company. The cement works operated for
nearly 100 years and has only recently closed a few years ago. We visit the museum which is operated by
volunteers and undergoing renovations to the building and its displays. The railway was an important part in the
development of this area and goods and passenger trains made frequent runs to
Sydney. Today the track is only open to
Kandos and special event trains run infrequently – eg. maybe once or twice a
year. We stop in at the Kandos Railway
Station which has been converted into a restaurant/gift/coffee/ice cream
parlour for a late lunch.  |
| Whistle Stop Café in old railway station at Kandos |
The ‘Whistle Stop Café’
is also run by another pair of distant ‘Honeysett’ relatives – David and Sue
Honeysett. David was surprised to learn
that he was distantly related to Andrew Honeysett of Gulgong as he had always
believed they were not related. Should
make for some interesting conversation when they meet up again.
After a week of
exploring the countryside and ‘digging up’ lost relatives we hitched up the van
and headed north again. Christmas was
not far off and we had arranged to meet up with Wok’s sister Gwen and her
husband Roger at Scone for one night.
They were headed off to Moree to spend Christmas with their daughter
while we were heading off in another direction to spend Christmas with our
daughter. We had a great meet up in
Scone and even managed to win a leg of ham in a raffle. We’ll put it in the frig and take it with us
back to the sunshine coast for Christmas.
We don’t often see too many caravans decorated up for Christmas but this
one at Scone Caravan Park was worthy of a photo in the blog. |
| Christmas Lights at Scone Caravan Park |
The following day we
waved goodbye to Roger and Gwen at the turnoff to Quirindi and that afternoon
pulled into a free camp at the ‘Mother of Ducks Lagoon’ in Guyra.
 |
| Free camp at Mother of Ducks Lagoon in Guyra |
It’s a great place
for an overnight stop as it is away from the noisy highway and has a nice outlook
over the pond (which is part of the water catchment area) and across the golf
course. Wok goes for a walk around the
pond and finds a patch of mushrooms growing wild.
 |
| Looks like steak with mushroom sauce for dinner |
We move on the next
morning and arrive at Tina and Paul’s home on the Sunshine Coast a few days
before Christmas. With our son Trent flying in from Newcastle to join us it
will be the first time in two years that the family has all been together. We wish all our family and friends a very
merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.
We’ll catch up with you all in 2015 …
