Wednesday, April 19, 2017

NUNDLE

SUNDAY 16.04.2017: There are some days you wake up and the way you envisage the day taking shape never quite comes to fruition! Woke to find the police outside Kim and Heath's front door - established that sadly a young man and his family had been camping at another venue and in the early hours of the morning he had suffered a heart attack. With no phone reception the family had driven him to this caravan park in the hope of assistance, but unfortunately he had passed away. Needless to say, the entire community of Nundle was shaken. Kim and Heath were otherwise involved for the day so we put our hand up to assist at the festival. Information Centre - okay we can do that! Spent some time handing out pamphlets and "nagging" people for a gold coin donation, then the rest of the time in the Information booth. Still had plenty of time to take in the festival activities.
Kim and Heath had kindly invited us out to the Nundle Sport and Recreation Club for tea, with their family and a group of employees. Feeling a little jaded we thought it would be lovely to have the evening meal prepared for us. We sat down, ordered our first drink and with that everyone bar Ruth and Dell cleared out!
The story was - a local left the pub and hit the nearest tree, car was literally torn in half, but he walked away uninjured. Another group from the pub jumped in a car in pursuit of him! Our dinner party left on foot to alert people at the pub, but the group in the car had exited the vehicle and had proceeded on foot physically threatening them. Meanwhile the female driver of the car was playing dodgem with any bystanders.
 
 
Our dinner party group retreated to the nearest house for protection and Kim made it back to the club to inform us that we were now in 'lock down' till the police arrived. Carole and Sybil responded in their usual manner, we'll have a bottle of wine please, looks like a long night! Kindly, the Club staff had prepared takeaway meals before the kitchen officially closed. The lock down was called at 10.30pm and we were all allowed to return home - what can one say, a little surreal, but a great evening nonetheless! 



Tuesday, April 18, 2017

NUNDLE

NUNDLE TRANSFORMED!
SATURDAY 15.04.2017: Sun was shining, birds were singing and grass was growing as we set off for the 2017 Nundle Go For Gold Festival. The main entertainment is provided by the Australian Yau Kung Mun Association and the Traditional Chinese Dancers. Did we mention the market stalls - lots of stalls and as per usual there were purchases to be made! We again viewed the excellent Chinese Lions Light Display and again do not have any decent photographs!
SAX SUMMIT
HEATH ATKINSON & THE
MAYOR OF TAMWORTH




CAROLE SEEKING GOOD FORTUNE - YES, THE DRAGON HAS TONSILS!
JOHN 'K' KRSULJA














RACHEL WEBSTER &
MATT THOMPSON
 
YEP - ANOTHER TYPE OF FORTUNE SEEKING!


WAITING FOR CAROLE TO TAKE A PHOTO!


NUNDLE - POPULATION: 289

THURSDAY 13 - FRIDAY 14.04.2017: Left Wallabadah and without the aid of Dolly, proceeded directly to Nundle! Great to catch up with Kim and Heath (Fossickers Caravan Park owners), and Ruth and Dell. We spent our time setting up and preparing for the "2017 Nundle Go For Gold - Chinese Easter Festival" (which equates to putting up our expensive $9.00, postage free Chinese decorations that sailed the high seas to reach us!). The festival celebrates the gold rush heritage of Nundle and District. There was a rush of miners from all over the world to the Nundle goldfields after newspaper reports of gold being discovered at Hanging Rock in 1852 and later at Oakenville Creek, Happy Valley, and the Peel River at Bowling Alley Point. Among the rush of people were numerous Chinese, most were looking for gold.

WALLABADAH - POPULATION: 746

WEDNESDAY 12.04.2017: After 40 days and 40 nights of rain at downtown LTP we finally saw the slightest ray of sunshine and decided today was the day to leave on our trip - we also delayed it a day due to Carole and Sybil's absolute loathing of housework! Finally finished our domestic chores and set sail for the First Fleet Memorial Park camping grounds. Nav decided that we should be guided by the Tom Tom (Dolly as we endearingly call her). What a scenic journey she took us on, up hill, down dale, bypassed all the main roads and showed us part of the countryside that we believe only the residents of that area ever experience! It was very rustic - BUT, we did have plans to make the camp site before dark!

HOMEWARD BOUND!

MONDAY 27.03.2017: We said our goodbyes to Gale and Roger, took time to sit in their garden, then hit the road headed for LTP. As always we have enjoyed our time with friends and the beautiful scenery that is on offer in our country.

Monday, April 17, 2017

LEURA - POPULATION: 4,385

SUNDAY 26.03.2017: Gale and Roger kindly offered to take us up to Leura for the day. We had lunch at the appropriately named "The Red Car Door CafĂ©". Gale and Roger own The Black Queen which was part of "The Red Car Door" tour at Lightning Ridge. The name Leura is supposedly derived from an Aboriginal word meaning "lava". However, this seems unlikely as no volcanoes have erupted in New South Wales for at least 10 million years. Leura has many beautiful shops with many beautiful wares with many beautiful price tags! Finished the day with a drive through the Blue Mountains - great day.

COBBITTY - POPULATION: 1,600

FRIDAY 24 - SATURDAY 25.03.2017: Next stop - Cobbitty, to visit our friends Gale and Roger Collins. At the southern end of the suburb, bordering the Nepean River is Camden Airport, a site for gliding and skydiving. The area now known as Cobbitty was originally home to the Muringong, southernmost of the Darug people. Settlement began in the early 19th century following the establishment of John Macarthur's Camden Park Estate nearby. Cobbitty Post Office opened on 1 May 1869 and closed in 1993.
We were puddling along trying to locate the address and of course overshot our destination. Let's do a U-turn in this nice large driveway - oh, how opportune, we have driven into Cogno Brothers - Cobbitty Wines, must stop and investigate! Took a drive to Camden on the Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed the village atmosphere.