Merriwa - Singleton Day Trip

While we were at Merriwa we thought we may as well go for another day trip, this time to Singleton.  Singleton is a town that is not generally on our way to somewhere else, so this sounded like a good opportunity to have a bit of a look.

We decided to do a loop, travelling through Jerry’s Plains on the way down and then up the New England Highway to Muswellbook on the way home.

This is the Upper Hunter area and we crossed the Hunter River several times over the few days we were in the area.  However, it isn’t the grand river that is closer to the coast, rather a small river.  It was hard to get a photo, so this will have to do. You get the idea.

When we reached the Denman area we started to see lots of irrigated lucerne paddocks.  The previous day had been extremely windy, whereas the weather on this day was nice and calm, although rather warm, so lots of irrigators in action.

We arrived in Singleton and then wondered what we could see.  In our usual style, we had done no homework.  

A little search on line informed us that they have the world’s largest sundial……and as far as touristy things, that is about it.   The town has a large military base and is the service centre for a lot of coal mining, so not really a tourist destination.

It turned out that the famous sundial was quite near where we were parked.  Bonus.

After checking it out we thought it was time for a cuppa.  We hadn’t really seen any coffee shops on our way into town or driving along the main street.  There is a large shopping centre, so we went in there and found a cafe.  Other than the shopping centre, there isn’t much retail on the main drag.  

We still went for a walk and checked out the old buildings.

We decided to have a look at a couple of op shops and one was located in the Anglican Church Hall.  

It was a nice little shop, but I was rather taken with the church building and grounds, so went for a little walk around. Unfortunately, the building was locked, so I couldn’t have a bo peep inside.

The rectory was a lovely old building too.

This monument commemorates so many members of the same family.  The earliest date of death was 1861, with the monument being erected in 1862 and the latest date was 1998.  

When you read the inscription about Henry Dangar you appreciate that he was a very prominent citizen of colonial Australia.  

Once we had finished having a look around we headed back to Denman for a very late lunch.

I loved the carved Kookaburra.

Also the bird figures on the top of the street signs.

Then it was just retracing where we had been earlier in the day.  It had been an enjoyable day out exploring.

Another nice evening view from the caravan.

The next day would see us making our way home.

More soon.

Merriwa - Willowtree to Muswellbrook Day Trip

Our first morning in Merriwa had a bit of excitement when we saw flashing lights up the main street from our caravan window.  It wasn’t long before we saw the reason.

Wow!  We had heard about the blades for the wind turbines that are being built out west being transported on this route, but had forgotten all about them. What a sight to see.  Each blade is 80 metres long.  One is transported each day.  They leave Newcastle at about 1:00am to avoid the traffic.  They are not allowed to travel through a school zone during their reduced speed times, so try to get past Merriwa before 8:00am.  From there, there are few settlements for some time and the roads are fairly straight. Once the load is delivered the trucks return to Newcastle to be reloaded and a change of driver for the next trip. The mid section of the long truck concertinas to a normal truck length for the return journey.

Shortly after, another section came through.  This happened each morning that we were there, at about 7:30am.

The main reason that we were staying at Merriwa was that I wanted us to go for a drive from there to Willow Tree, located on the New England Highway and then back around to Scone.

Before we headed off, we had a short walk up and down the street at Merriwa.

We had to check out the silo art on our way out of town.  The artwork is a representation of the Running of the Sheep that is held in town each June Long Weekend.

Back to our day trip.  The reason for this is that I drove that road back in 2013, when I had to return from our gathering at Nundle for a family emergency and I was told it was the quickest way.  Well, it was shorter, I don’t know about quicker, pretty, but some was a really steep, narrow, rough goat track with lots of causeways.  I wanted to show Mick and to see it again under better circumstances.  It is the route that Google Maps sends people, and in the past many have been caught out by the condition of the road.  It has been on our wish list for years.

You drive through a really pretty valley.

Then you get to the steep bit.  We had heard that the road has had some improvements since that time I drove along it.  All I can say is “Wow”!  It is now a beautifully sealed, wide road up over the steep hill.  We would have no hesitation in taking the van this way in the future.  Also, the causeways are now in good condition. It was definitely worth going for the test run. 

The view from the top of the hill was stunning,

We stopped at one spot and there were some sweet wildflowers.

More of that wonderful view.

Another paddock of canola.

We called in to a very nice, and popular, cafe at Willow Tree for morning tea before heading along the road we travelled the previous day to Scone.  No trains holding us up this time.

This time we stopped and had a walk up and down the main street, taking in all the lovely old buildings.

It was nearly lunch time, but we weren’t really hungry after our morning tea.

So, we continued on to Muswellbook, where we went for another walk up and down the street.

We did stop for lunch this time.  Just a couple of shops down from where we ate there was a small alley, with a public loo.  It turned out that this was the site of the Niagara Cafe.  When it was being demolished they discovered that behind the wall panelling there were murals that had been painted in the 1950s, depicting Wild West scenes, as that was a very popular theme in that era.  They have now been preserved.

We noticed, high up under the ceiling that a pigeon has made its nest on top of the spikes added to deter birds roosting.  You have to give it top points for ingenuity.

From here we just drove back to Merriwa.

In the early evening, I went for a walk in that gorgeous light.

And that is the end of that day.

More soon.