Nundle - Playing the Tourist

I know it is a while since our visit to Nundle, but finally I'm sharing the rest of our few days away.

Back here I shared our trip up and our first day.

On the Thursday we had a full day to play the tourist.  The day started out nice and sunny, so we decided to head into Tamworth via the scenic route.

First stop was Chaffey Dam.  This was in preparation for Mick and his mate Smithy to go fishing in the kayaks on Saturday, while all us girls were busy with needle and thread.

We noticed lots of dying trees along the shoreline and that the wall looked rather new.  It turns out that the wall was raised last year, increasing the size considerably.  It really is a lovely spot.  How did their fishing go on the Saturday?  Not well at all, as it was blowing a gale, but they had a nice day out anyway.

We were amazed at the number of mail boxes at the start of a couple of roads in the village of Woolamin.  I don't think I've ever seen so many.

Once we reached Tamworth it was time for coffee and cake - a most important ritual when travelling.  We noticed a cute looking little shop, with a parking spot nearby so tried it out.

Inside, Ruby's turned out to be full of interesting old bits and pieces.  The photo doesn't do it justice at all.  It was also a bit of a tardis, as once you went through the small coffee shop area it opened out into a delightful courtyard garden.  We really did enjoy our brief interlude.

After we had bought our few stores we headed back to Nundle, via a little antique shop in the old schoolhouse at Nemingha.  Mick was thrilled to find a cake tin similar to our bakelite one.  Ours has had a mended lid for many years, after a dropsy misshap.  This one had a fully intact lid, with a base that wasn't all that attractive and was inexpensive to boot. Here is our old cake tin with her nice new lid. One very happy Mick.

Once back at Nundle we headed out of town to visit the famous Hanging Rock lookout. What a view.

I tried to take photos of the wild flowers, but unfortunately, my camera wants to focus on everything but the flowers.

There is a picnic shelter near the lookout.  It says "No Camping", but I think that is ignored from looking at the site.  It really is delightful, particularly the poem written in charcoal on one end wall.  I wouldn't mind camping up here and sitting inf front of  a roaring fire.

Next stop was Sheba Dams, which we had never heard of until the day before.  Another lovely, peaceful spot.  There were quite a few caravans camped there, so something to keep in mind for the future.  The dams are quite small and were built for the gold mining in the 1800s. The top dam is more geared up for visitors.  I don't think the fishermen had caught anything, but I don't think that was a priority for them.

The bottom dam was quieter and not as easy to access.  The timber structure sticking out of the water would have been to do with releasing the water to the various mines.  We really enjoyed discovering this peaceful place to visit.

On our way back to Nundle we stopped to have a look at a rustic old slab hut.  This area has a surprising elevation, being about 1200m above sea level and, as such, gets snow on occasions.  Imagine trying to stay warm in a little hut like this.

We enjoyed another lovely sunset when we returned to Nundle.  A great way to end the day.

However, although we had finished our sightseeing, the weekend was just beginning, as many of the other girls arrived on Thursday for Girl's Day in the Country, beginning with dinner at the pub that night, but more on that later.

By the way, we took our push bikes with us on the back of the van.  No photos (I forgot), but they travelled really well and we had a couple of nice morning rides around the cycle path and out of town on the quiet roads.  We will certainly take them away with us most of the time.  Great fun.