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.
No comments:
Post a Comment