Nundle Here We Come

After work yesterday we left home for an early start to our weekend in Nundle for Girls Day in the Country. The weather wasn't nice and sunny, with the interesting hills behind Rylstone being shrouded in cloud. 

I was looking forward to seeing the big cliff going down into my favouring Bylong Valley bathed in beautiful afternoon light. Maybe next time. 

Our destination for the night was the little village of Bylong. The setting is rather picturesque. There is a popular rest area there with plenty of room for camping. There were two other vans there as well. 

The neighbours weren't too noisy. The only disturbance during the night was coal trains in the distance. 

Another view of our campsite. 

We had to stop and take another photo as the area is so scenic. 

While we were stopped we noticed a cave high up in the cliffs. The Valley is littered with caves. 

We even got to see one of the coal trains.  

Yes, we waved to the driver and he waved back. We lost count of the carriages at about 75. 

We enjoyed a picnic lunch at Wallabadah. There is a pretty picnic and camping ground near the creek. It would be a nice place to camp overnight. 

The campground is right next to the First Fleet Memorial Garden.  The camping fees go towards the upkeep of the garden. 

Firstly there is a list of everyone who came out on the First Fleet. 

Then there is a plaque for each ship. 

Finally each passenger on a ship is listed on tablets. It took one man five years to carve all the names. I found my two First Fleet ancestors. 

We finally arrived at Nundle at about three o'clock. It was a very leisurely trip up. 

I've never seen the mill running on my previous visits, so it was good to see this time. I may have also purchased a cardy. There is nothing like wool to keep you toasty warm. 

The grounds of the mill are nice too, with an interesting old Chev truck similar to the one my grandparents had.

Wool presses were also a work of art in the past.

And that just about filled up our day. We are now settled in at the caravan park. The weather is cool and we had some gentle rain in the early evening. 

I'll leave you with the rainbow we saw at tea time. I wonder if there is a pot of gold at the end of it?  You never know, as Nundle was founded because of gold. 

Guess What?

It was a bit exciting here this evening.....

We had some rain!  A big storm went across town. We only got the edge of it, but that wasn't such a bad thing. We did receive 6mm of rain, which was better than a poke in the eye.

This where Mick and Joey are at the moment.......it must be the first game of footy for the year.  I really think Joey is a big footy fan, as whenever Mick sits down to watch a game he is straight onto his lap.

I'll just leave them to it.

Random

While preparing my last post I came across some random photos from February, so thought I would share.

We bought two hanging petunia plants on the chuck out table at Bunnings on Boxing Day.  They looked fine, but had now flowers on them.  We then spent quite a bit on pots and potting mix and hoped for the best.  They started flowering about a week later and haven't stopped since.  As long as I keep the water up to them they thrive, even in the extreme heat.  They have filled out beautifully.  Once it gets cold we will move them further under the roof for protection and hopefully they will last till next summer.

Our little border of alyssum are looking lovely and surprisingly, have handle the hot weather well, despite being on the western side of the house.  We'll certainly plant them again.

There have been more stunning sunsets.

Years ago we bought an indigo plant, also known as summer wisteria.  It is hardy but dies down in winter.  We moved some into our little garden at our in between house and then moved it again.  We are happy that it has survived and now is finally flowering.

On Friday, when I went to the Post Office to collect the mail there was quite a racket.  It's not every day that you see sulphur crested cockatoos sitting on the church steeple in the middle of town.

The sky was looking rather ominous looking over our house on Sunday, but we didn't get anything out of it.  You can see here how our back garden has filled out.  The beans are growing well on one side of the arch (blackbirds destroyed the other side).  They are flowering well, but unfortunately aren't setting any beans.  I've been told that can happen in extreme heat.

One Saturday I walked down to get the papers and the sun was just coming up.

Just a bit further along it had changed to silver.  I never tire of watching the sky.