Henri and Blake's Adventures

Alicudi is one of seven inhabited islands in the Aeolian Islands archipelago (Isole Eolie or Isole Lipari in Italian), off the coasts of Sicily and mainland Italy. Alicudi is the most remote and has the smallest population of the islands, with its peace broken only by infrequent ferry arrivals, and by the braying of the donkeys which are the island’s mode of transport.

The island is a simple and basic place, with an absolutely unique atmosphere and fewer than 100 inhabitants. Its rugged charm and isolation attract a particular brand of voyager: adventurers, artists, writers and loners looking for some peace to reflect or to work.

Alicudi is also the name Ron and Sue gave their property just outside of Orange. It is a simple basic place with an absolutely unique atmosphere and fewer than 3 inhabitants. Its rugged charm and isolation attract a particular brand of voyager: adventurers, artists, writers, italians and caravanners looking for some peace to reflect or to work. The property of just over 3 acres is undeveloped, as Ron and Sue are currently making preparations to commence building

Ron and Sue were generous in allowing us to set up camp on Alicudi as our base for exploration of the southern section of the Central west. It is a beautiful property with a splendid aspect.

Ron and Sue are currently residing in Bathurst, but came to Alicudi on a few occassions to clear and cut and stack trees whilst we’ve been here.

Whilst on Alicudi we provided Jake with a call sign on his back. That way we’ll know more easily when someone is calling us on the 2-way.

Today at Alicudi the 4 of us got stuck into more cutting and stacking of timber from trees felled by the installers of overhead power between each of the properties. ’twas a great day.

You all know which town that is…… Gulgong of course. Well, it was the town on the first ten dollar note. It no longer appears on the current polymer notes.

Before getting to Orange, we made Gulgong our base for exploring the northern end of the Central West. Gulgong is a superb historic town with heritage buildings and really friendly locals.  We did several side trips whilst there, including Mudgee and Wellington Caves. Wellington Caves were excellent, with us doing three guided cave tours, on two of which CarolandI were the only visitors. Mudgee was a little ho-hum for our tastes. Gulgong beat it hands down for charm and history.

One place not to be missed whilst in Gulgong is the Pioneer Museum, a sprawling labyrinth of well organised memorabilia and historic artefacts and buildings.

 

Having made the decision that we would spend a few months in the central west of NSW, it’s amazing what there is to see if you have the time to seek it out. There’s an interesting loop joining the towns of Bathurst, Mudgee, Gulgong, Wellington, Molong and Orange, with some quaint towns in between and just a short distance away.  We will continue to explore that loop for a little while yet.

We spent 5 days in Gulgong, camped at the Gulgong Showground, just 1.3km from the centre of town, making it an easy cycle for sightseeing and shopping.

Leaving Gulgong on Wednesday 14th we headed south through Bathurst then west to Orange to stay on the property of Ron and Sue’s, at Clifton Grove just 8km or so out of Orange, which is where we are now.

Turning back our clock, here are a few more images of Hill End

In the early 1900s the town of Kandos (between Lithgow and Mudgee) was established to support the development of a cement works. In the 1920s a dam was constructed across the Cudgegong River to create a reservoir that would provide permanent water for the cement works.

The reserviour became known as Dunns Swamp, and is a popular camping area under the management of the NPWS. The Kandos Cement Works ceased operation in 2011, but the “swamp” continues to provide great recreation facilities.

We spent a lovely 3 days kayaking, walking, swimming and enjoying the area. We were there mid-week so we had the place virtually to ourselves. We left on Friday , and are now just a short distance away at Gulgong (north of Mudgee).

So much of the NSW central west was established with the discovery of gold. The most recent towns we’ve stayed at or near are no exception.

Rylstone, between Lithgow and Mudgee, is a quaint little town with a beautiful streetscape and many preserved buildings dating back to the 1800s. Of course, it also has a great hospital. We stayed 2 nights at the Rylstone showground. We had read that free camping (with water views) was allowed, so we took up the offer, along with one other camper. Upon enquiring at the Council offices the following day we were advised that “no camping is allowed there…… but you didn’t come in here to ask”.  So it seems to be allowed, or tolerated, but not officially.

From Rylstone, a short 60km drive west took us to Green Point, a free camp on the Turon River 6km east of Sofala. We were fortunate to secure a beautiful shaded spot adjacent to the river. Surrounded by towering She Oaks (Casuarina cunninghamiana (or River Oak)). Oh, what a beautiful site. No neighbours, a few metres walk to a clear, clean river (ample water supply) and birdlife.

A highlight was that we were entertained by a ballet of fireflies (family Lampyridae) each evening, after sunset, just before complete darkness. These little insects danced through the night air, swooping, disappearing and reappearing over the course of about 30 minutes, some flying close to the water so their light reflected on its surface. Purely magical. They weren’t in huge numbers, maybe 20 on the best night, but still superb.

On one of the 3 days we were at Greens Point we cycled the 6km into Sofala, one of the area’s most successful gold mining towns, bearing gold up to the 1940s. There remains a great heritage streetscape, but not much else. At its peak it supported a population of 20,000, but is likely to be less than 200 now.

Whilst at Greens Point is was time to perform a ceremonial opening of a fruit cake baked for us by our great friend Justine (her knowing my taste).  About 6 weeks had passed since its baking. Carol said upon her first bite “that is one lovely cake”. Thanks Juzzie, just stupendous.

A short 40km drive on Friday morning took us to Hill End to spend with Sandy, Rich and Sairsha who brought their van (Elwood)  up for the weekend. They arrived Friday night, and once set up we sat up chatting (and drinking a little red, as we do) till 1:00 in the morning.

A short walk on Saturday to some of the old buildings, then back to the camp for lunch before heading off to a mine tour. Back to camp for card games, conversation and a magnificent roast lamb and veges by Rich on the Webber.

Whilst packing up at Greens Point, Carol appeared to have been stung/bitten by something. Over the 2 days at Hill End a significant rash developed on her neck, arms and legs, and wasn’t getting any better. Another drive to a hospital, this time Bathurst, on Sunday. Appears to be an allergic reaction to something. A smaller rash appeared on my arms and neck, so we were both prescribed Prednisone tablets. Whilst there I had my stitches removed. We hope this will be our last hospital visit for a few years!!!!

Sandy, Rich and Sairsha headed home today (Sunday). We’ll stay another day or two before heading off the Dunns Swamp, then a few days each in Mudgee, Wellington and Orange before Bathurst for Christmas/New Year.

Now that my head is on the mend I will return to where I left off, namely in Lithgow.

Whilst at Lake Lyell we drove into Lithgow to view some of the industrial history of the city. The Small Arms Factory (no pics) is still in operation producing firearms under a French company. In its heyday when it operated as SAF, and later ADI (Australian Defence Industries), in addition to side arms, rifles and machine guns, it manufactured a diverse range of items from pencil sharpeners to Sunbeam Mixmaster parts and tracks for military tanks.

Leaving Lithgow we travelled just a few km to Glen Davis, the site of a significant shale oil industry of the early 20^th century (1938-1952). We camped in town for 3 days, as we wanted to take the tour of the facility, which occurs only on Saturday. There are 3 memorable factors of Glen Davis that outweigh the shale oil industry, being flies, hay fever and 8 stitches in the head. The flies were so bad we could not sit outside the van until after 6pm, which seemed to be when all the flies went home to bed.

There are also examples of modern industry and engineering in the Lithgow region. Lake Lyell is the site of the manufacture of an electricity free washing machine. Components: plastic funnel with carefully located holes; round timber dowel; plastic bucket.

At Glen Davis a carefully engineered caravan levelling tower was constructed to account for the slope in the long directionof the van.

After our few days at Lake Lyell we travelled north to Glen Davis in the Capertee Valley. More on that to follow in a later post.

Today we packed up from Glen Davis to travel to the Turon River just east of Sofala. We follow a regular routine during packing up, where I undertake all the exterior tasks on the van, whilst Carol does the interior. We then check each other’s work to make sure we’ve not forgotten something that could lead to a disaster of any proportion.

To enable pack-up of the interior we keep the slide-out wall extended. The slide-out sits over the rear wheel. Whilst removing the wheel chocks (crouching, looking down), I forgot about the slide-out, and with considerable force my head came in contact with the bottom corner of the slide-out. One four-letter word was utteredwith considerable vigour to which Carol promptly responded. My hand on my head was becoming rapidly red in colour.

Wound cleaned and bandaged such that I looked like a war casualty, we continued with the pack-up. During the wound clean-up, van pack-up and drive out of Glen Davis, Carol continually insisted that I should have it seen to at a hospital. Of course I knew that was not necessary and it was just a cut that will heal quickly. A visit to hospital would be a waste of time.

I relented, considering in the scheme of things that a detour to Rylstone was not a great imposition, so we visited the Rylstone Hospital. Maybe Carol was correct…………..I had to have 8 stitches.

The staff at the hospital were lovely. Much laughter was had. Tetanus shot and antibiotics, plus a visit to a doctor in 10 days to remove the stitches will have me back to normal.

Nonetheless, the itinerary has had to change a little, as we decided to stay in Rylstone overnight. We’ll venture on to Sofala tomorrow afternoon and then Hill End for next weekend.

Oh, we’ve also made a slight amendment to the pack-up routine.

Having had a great time at the Steve and Mel’s engagement party, hosted by Mel’s parents at their house in Westleigh, we were again ready to head off (for the third time since retirement 3 weeks earlier).

One thing I forgot to mention in our last post was that whilst at Myall Lakes, we became aware that my email had been hacked.  We received a call from our financial dude to confirm that we wanted to transfer $50,000 into another account, as I had allegedly requested via email. Not me!! We then spent several hours talking to our banks to change security settings and changed my gmail settings. Note to gmail users: apparently gmail is being targeted in these financial hoaxes. Fortunately none of our bank accounts were compromised.

So, onwards and upwards over the Great Dividing Range to Lithgow. Yes, we’re spending a few days here to see what it has to offer, as we ordinarily just drive through the town on our way to somewhere else.

We spent 3 days at Lake Lyell, at the unreserved area (cheaper, no specific sites so we can spread out, and no facilities). Located 13km out of Lithgow.  It’s certainly a better view than at Lane Cove Tourist Park.

On day 2 at the Lake we headed off on an early paddle. 8am is early, isn’t it? Serious lack of wildlife and water birds. A few kangaroos, a couple of ducks, one eagle and 2 trees full of cormorants.

Another paddle the following day, further this time, up the Cox’s River. The wind picked up as we returned, to the extent that we had to pack away the awning as we were buffeted by strong winds (maybe > 40 kph) for the remainder of the day.

 

It’s been a rather slow start, since retirement and all. Well, it was only 3 weeks ago that I retired. Within just 4 days of retiring we were living in the caravan (our first start to travel the country) whilst we completed the clearing out, culling, sorting,  chucking, packing, stacking and cleaning of the unit and things within. We sold or gave away all of our furniture, which left smaller nick nacks to decide to keep or send to the op shops.

The above process took us 2 weeks, interspersed with parties, gatherings and dinners as we farewelled our family and friends. That 2 weeks was spent in the Dural Caravan Park, between an abandoned tennis court and the garbage skip storage area. We booked 3 months ahead for a site. Can’t imagine where they might have put us if we only gave 1 week’s notice.

After the clean up we could then make a second start on our adventure, albeit a short one, as we were to return to Sydney 5 days later to celebrate Steve and Mel’s engagement.

Our second start was spent in the Myall Lakes National Park at The Wells campground on the eastern shore of the Bombah Broadwater. Despite it being  mid-week, several of the sites were occupied upon our arrival, with it filling up over the coming days (there are only 12 sites)

A beautiful spot overlooking the water. We enjoyed superb weather and lazy days, plus some kayaking, cycling, exploring and swimming amidst quiet surroundings.

We expect to hit the road again (for our third start) on Monday 21 November. You’ll hear from us again whilst we tour the Central West of NSW over the coming 4 months.