A Weekend Away - Friday Fun Day and FNWF

Our plan for Friday was to play the tourist - AKA Friday Fun Day.

The morning dawned clear and the river was so still.

Aren't the reflections beautiful.  The river is quite a bit larger here that at home in Bathurst.

We had popped into the visitor information centre on Thursday afternoon and picked up a couple of brochures of things to see and do.

Our plan was to travel out to have a look at Burrendong Dam, visit the Arboretum, travel on to Stuart Town and then back to the Caves for a tour.  Let's see how we went.

One little brochure was for a tourist drive out to Stuart Town via the village of Dripstone.

There isn't a lot to see at Dripstone.  Apparently, there was a quarry of grey limestone, which was used for some of the buildings in Canberra.  There are a couple of buildings in the village using this stone.  This was the old butchers shop.

The old Anglican church is looking a bit worse for wear.  It looks so sad with no windows or doors.  What a pity it hasn't been used for something.  It is in a lovely setting.

Our next stop was Burrendong Dam. The building of the dam commenced in 1946, but due to budget restraints etc, it wasn't completed until 1967.  

I remember going for a drive to see the new dam.  Quite a few dams were built or enlarged in my early years and we went to see a few.  We have several photos in the family album of dams, and not a great deal of family.  I found it incredibly boring at the time. 

This is also on the Macquarie River and supplies water for a huge region of New South Wales.  Here is a bit about the dam. It is currently at 112%, but has recently been up to 124% full.  It was down to 4% only a couple of years ago.  What a contrast.  You used to be able to drive across the dam wall to the spillway, but like so many dams, vehicular access has been stopped, to prevent terrorist attack.  It is now a 6.4km return walk to get to the spillway.  It would have been ideal to ride our bikes to have a look, but they were on the back of the van, back at the caravan park. We know that next time we come this way, to have the caravan in tow, complete with bikes.

By the way, if you click on my motorcycles page here and scroll down, the photo of "Sophia" and her little red trailer was taken on the wall of the dam, back in the days when you could drive across it and the water level was quite a bit lower.

Our next port of call was the Burrendong Arboretum.  We had heard of it, and would have thought it started in the 1980s.  However, it started back in 1964.

Mick was very happy to "spotto" a couple of bottle trees near the entrance.

After reading some information boards, we went for a drive around.  The Arboretum covers 164 ha, so quite a bit to see.

A feature is Fern Gully.  Anyone who knows Wellington, knows that it is generally hot and dry in the summer, so not really the climate for ferns.  Looking at the photo board above, you can see what they started with.  The main feature is the huge canopy of mesh and brush to create a microclimate.  There are also sprinklers throughout.

They must have struggled so much during the recent drought years.  

It is looking quite lush now, but you can see that it has suffered.  What is amazing, is that everything is done by volunteers.

Early March was probably not the ideal time to visit the Arboretum, as there is very little in flower.  We would like to visit again in spring.

Back in the car we kept on our way, travelling through the village of Mumbil.  No photos, as it wasn't terribly photogenic.  The village was created in the 1940s to house the workers building the dam.  There are several small fibro houses, which were for the married workers and a larger fibro building, which was the dormitory for the single men. 

Our destination for the day was Stuart Town.  The village was originally named "Ironbarks" and came into being due to the gold rush in the mid 1800s. There were lots of ironbark trees in the area, so I could see where the name came from. It was made famous by Banjo Patterson's humorous poem "The Man From Ironbark".  Jack Thompson reads the classic poems so well.  Have a listen here.

Firstly we had a picnic lunch in the park, before going for a wander.  Our little brochure was very helpful in telling us what we were looking at.

Next to the park is the Post Office in a lovely old building, which was originally the Railway Hotel.

It had some lovely features.

This cutey was "Mrs Crick's Drapery". Wouldn't you like to have popped in there, back in the day, to have a browse.

The railway station has been restored and is maintained by the locals.  The XPT passenger train does stop here upon request.

There was an interesting art installation, creating a ghost building on the footprint of one of the old railway buildings.  Very clever.

Other than the post office, the Ironbark Hotel, formerly the Australian Hotel, is the only business still trading in the village.

Here are a few of the other interesting buildings in the main street.

The village, on the whole was nice and tidy.  We guessed that they may have a progress association, or something similar, that keeps all the grass on the footpaths and public areas mowed.  There is a free camp at the Recreation Ground, which also has a hall dating from the gold rush era, which is maintained by the community.  We didn't get over to see that.

There is a "Man From Ironbark Festival" held in Stuart Town each April.  It would be fun to go along one year and see the village full of life.

Our original plan was to then go and visit the Wellington Caves, but we were about touristed out and it was quite hot.  Therefore, we headed back into town, a drive of 30kms.

The previous day we had noticed a retro milk bar "Milky Daze".  It was the perfect weather to call in and sample their ice cream cones.  Definitely a big tick.  Just what we needed.  The decor was fun, too.

Then it was back to the van to have an easy remainder of the afternoon and evening.......well that was the plan.......

Firstly, I popped down to visit the goats again.  The two friendly ones came running up to the fence.  The white one with the big horns stuck its head through the fence, so I gave it a tentative scratch on the nose and ended up giving a good old scratch behind the horns.  How it liked that!!  Not something I ever thought I would be doing.

It was the first Friday of the month so Friday Night With Friends, hosted by Cheryll.  I still don't have my hand stitching organised, so grabbed this little kit that has been hanging around my sewing room for I don't know how long.  I got myself settled in my chair in the shade and started stitching......but.....

Remember I said we had lovely neighbours.  Well, we got chatting and not much stitching was done.  Yep, that is all I achieved.  Oh well, it's better than nothing and now I have a project I can pick up when I want.

Once we got chatting, we decided that the four of us would go out to dinner together at the Lion of Waterloo Hotel, which was built back in 1841 and licensed in 1842. It is the oldest trading hotel west of the Blue Mountains.  You can read some of its history here.  It was an easy walk from the caravan park.

It is a lovely old rustic building, of slab construction.

The bar had lots of character.

The meal was delicious.  Just as well we could walk it off on the way home.

For a relatively small town, there was certainly lots to see and do, and naturally, we didn't get to see it all.  

I'll be back shortly with the last couple of days of our weekend away.

A Weekend Away - Thursday

As planned, we headed off on Thursday for a long weekend away with our caravan, travelling all the way to Wellington, about two hours up the road from home.  It took us five hours to get there, as we stopped in Orange to have a poke around and delicious morning tea of coffee and cake - our weakness.

We then had a poke around Molong as well.  That is the beauty of these weekends, rather than just driving straight through on our way to somewhere further afield, we can have a nice look around places closer to home.

As we neared Wellington, we called in to the Wellington Caves complex.  

We have stayed at the caravan park here on a few occasions with a group of people.  It was always a good choice, as you could bring your tent (that was us), your caravan, or stay in a motel room.  We had some great nights with big camp oven cook ups.  I had been through the Phosphate Mine on one of those occasions, but it is many, many years since we have visited the actual cave.

Firstly, we popped into the visitors centre.  I forgot to take a photo, but it is a nice, modern, new building.  Very different to the older kiosk, which is rather cute.  The times are a changing.

Our plan was to find out what time tours are, so that we could come back the following day and go on a cave tour.  Something we haven't done for a very long time.

While we were there, we had a look through the new centre telling all about the fossils found in the area.  The main one featured is the Diprotodon.

There has always been a model of one outside the caves.  It has moved location, but was still there.  The plan was to take more photos the next day.

We then visited the Japanese Gardens within the complex.  We had visited here when we came with our group of friends, although that is some years ago.

The gardens have changed a bit since our last visit.  Under all those small trees there is a nice rocky feature, but it is nearly impossible to see now.

The pond is still nice and peaceful, with lots of large koi carp.  However, you couldn't stand near the edge of the pagoda overlooking the lake, as it is roped off, due to the floor needing replacing.

Mick is standing on a very low concrete bridge.  Last time we were here, there was a lovely red arched bridge.  I have a really nice photo of Mick standing on it.......somewhere.

Among all the greenery, there was this one branch on the Japanese Maple that has already changed colour.

The entrance gates are lovely, but from the outside, there are lots of COVID and safety notices that somewhat detract from the overall effect.

Overall, although they are still lovely, the gardens are looking a little neglected and overgrown. It was sad to see the red bridge no longer there, as it was a real feature. I hope they will get the attention they need, although it looks like the red bridge will never be replaced. 

When we went back over to the van to have our lunch, some movement on the ground caught my eye.  This trapdoor spider sat and posed as I took its photo.  The hole is about an inch in diameter.  No, I didn't get down close.  Zoom is a wonderful thing.

Our next stop was to check into the caravan park.  Fortunately, we had booked, as all the powered sites and cabins were fully booked.

The sites were lovely and grassy, as well as being nice and roomy, both in width and length.  

The view from the back of the van was overlooking the Macquarie River and the beautiful old railway bridge, which is still in use.

And looking the other way.  Such a nice outlook.

There are three goats down by the river.  These two were very friendly, particularly the white one, despite the long horns.

This one stood back and was a bit more reserved.

We ended our day just relaxing at the van.  The couple in the van next to us, along with their little pug dog, were really nice, so we had quite a chat with them.  

It was a very laid back day to start our weekend.

My Goals for March

I can't quite believe how fast this year is going.  It is now only four months until I finish up work.

In the meantime, it is time to set my goals for the coming month, which will probably be a bit busy.

STITCHING GOALS

1.    ONE MONTHLY GOAL

After a bit of thought, my goal for this month is to complete the Ruby Cushion that I have been slowly working on.

The applique is completed and I won't be worrying about adding the broderie perse section in the middle.

I need this to be completed before attending Scrub Stitchin at Baradine in early April.

2.    RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

I'm waiting eagerly for the big reveal of the colour for March.  A couple more butterflies and nine patches will be added to the pile.

3.    ONE PROJECT A MONTH

Hopefully, the cushion will tick this box.

4.    FRIDAY NIGHT WITH FRIENDS

I'm not sure how I will go with this.  We will be away and it will all depend on what I have prepared that can be worked on in the van.  At the moment, there is not much.

5.    PLAY WITH MONIQUE

Hopefully, I will find some time to play with "Monique", my mid arm machine, now that I have the correct thread and some new needles.  The first priority is to get the tension worked out.  

6.    SWOON

 I'd like to continue to make progress with the blocks, but we will just have to see how they fit in with everything else going on.

 7.    THE BLUE QUILT

Now that I have pulled out the project box, I hope to continue to work on creating a kit for me to be able to pick up and work on without too much thought, and so that I will have some portable hand stitching.

I'm sure that I won't achieve all of that, but would like to put a bit of a dent in it.

Thanks to the girls who host these challenges.  I don't think I would achieve nearly as much without them.

Now for my non-stitching goals.

Autumn is about the busiest time of the year in these parts.  Now that COVID restrictions are easing, a lot of events are taking place after a two year break and the public are getting out and enjoying them.  Of course, we have always enjoyed participating in things in our area and exploring a bit further when we can.  Therefore, this month will be a bit busy for us.

So, without further ado, here are my goals for March.

1.    READ A BOOK

I'll pick up something off the pile beside my chair.

2.    TRY A NEW RECIPE

I give one of my work colleagues some egg plants each year and she has just given me some of her favourite middle eastern egg plant recipes.  They will be tried very soon.

3.    HAVE A FRIDAY FUN DAY

If this doesn't happen, I will be very disappointed.  Fingers crossed, there will be a couple.

4.    HAVE A WEEKEND AWAY IN THE CARAVAN

As I alluded to earlier, we will be away this weekend.  I can't wait.

I look forward to reporting back in a few weeks with an update on how we go.