Mudgee

Mudgee was our last stop on our trip before heading back to Sydney.  This town is most famous for its surrounding vineyards.  Needless to say, we visited some of them and tasted some lovely wines.  My favourite was the Sparkling Shiraz - absolutely delicious it was.  The chap in charge of the final cellar we visited was presidedly tiddly (it was New Year's Day after all) and he allowed us to pour our own wine to taste while belting out some loud songs.  

The town itself was very attractive with some lovely buildings and churches.  On New Year's Day it was like a ghost town with everything shut except a local pub where we enjoyed a nice lunch.

Dubbo Zoo

We chose a very hot day indeed to explore the famous open plain zoo in Dubbo but had a great time cycling around checking out all the animals.  I used my big 400 mm lens and Dani borrowed my almost as big 200 mm one, so we looked like professionals.  Thanks goodness the bikes had handy baskets to keep the camera in, or our necks would have been very sore by the end of the day.  Dani's favourite animal is the Zebra and it was wonderful to see her enthusiasm when we came across them.

And the award for the cutest goes to...

... and a close runner up 

Award for the best rear end was tied three ways

The big cats were out...

... as were the buck

The last remaining African elephant in Australia

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Rhinos

And yet more animals

Wild birds we saw

Intrepid cyclist

Giraffing around

Next stop

Mudgee

New England (New South Wales)

Warrumbungles

We drove through the ancient volcanic landscape of the Warrumbungles and enjoyed the scenery but it was too hot to do a proper hike and see it up close.  We'll have to come here again with more time to do it justice.  

Local wildlife

This lizard gave us a big fright!

Galah

Friendly Emus

We met these very friendly and curious Emus in a field near the Warrumbungles.

Gunnedah

Gunnedah is marketed as the Koala capital of Australia, supposedly abounding in these cute little furry critters.  But despite searching high and low, including a very hot morning hike in the local nature reserve, we didn't see any. What a pity!

Gunnedah is also famous for being the inspiration for Dorothy Mackellar's iconic Australian poem "My Country."  She spent time on her family's farm in the Gunnedah district and wrote the poem in England when she was 19 and feeling homesick for Australia.  I have included the poem at the bottom of this post.  Dani had to memorise the whole poem at school and she read it out to me in the car as we drove.  What a beaut is is.

Statue of Dorothy Mackellar, author of "My Country"

View of the town from the local hill.

It's all a conspiracy!

My Country  (by Dorothy Mackellar)

The love of field and coppice,

Of green and shaded lanes.

Of ordered woods and gardens

Is running in your veins,

Strong love of grey-blue distance

Brown streams and soft dim skies

I know but cannot share it,

My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country, 

A land of sweeping plains, 

Of ragged mountain ranges, 

Of droughts and flooding rains. 

I love her far horizons, 

I love her jewel-sea, 

Her beauty and her terror 

The wide brown land for me! 

The stark white ring-barked forests, 

All tragic to the moon, 

The sapphire-misted mountains, 

The hot gold hush of noon, 

Green tangle of the brushes 

Where lithe lianas coil, 

And orchids deck the tree-tops, 

And ferns the warm dark soil. 

Core of my heart, my country! 

Her pitiless blue sky, 

When, sick at heart, around us 

We see the cattle die 

But then the grey clouds gather, 

And we can bless again 

The drumming of an army, 

The steady soaking rain. 

Core of my heart, my country! 

Land of the rainbow gold, 

For flood and fire and famine 

She pays us back threefold. 

Over the thirsty paddocks, 

Watch, after many days, 

The filmy veil of greenness 

That thickens as we gaze ... 

An opal-hearted country, 

A wilful, lavish land 

All you who have not loved her, 

You will not understand 

though Earth holds many splendours, 

Wherever I may die, 

I know to what brown country 

My homing thoughts will fly. 

Next stop
Dubbo Zoo


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Hiking at Cathedral Rock

Rock-hopping isn’t just for the wallaroos at Cathedral Rock National Park. We hiked to the park’s enormous boulder pile of Cathedral Rock, after camping the night in the park, and scrambled to its summit, using chains in steep parts to help us on our way. From the summit, we enjoyed the superb views across the wilderness landscape of dry eucalyptus forest and granite outcrops. Absolutely gorgeous, soul enriching stuff.

Scrambling up the rocks

The views from the top

What would hiking be without a leap?

Isn't Dani becoming an expert?   She's taking the art to a whole new level.

Kangaroo mum and daughter

This beautiful pair were chilling out in the grass as we started our hike.  Aren't they too beautiful for words?

Hardcore camping in Cathedral Rock

Camping with Dani was great fun.  The camp site was very basic with a smelly long drop toilet and no shower, so it was pretty hardcore for our first time camping together.  Hopefully, it hasn't scared Dani off camping with me for life!

Enjoying the tranquillity of the bush

Next stop on our trip

Warren Bungles and Dunnedah

New Year's Eve at the Dubbo RSL Club

The RSL might not be the most exciting venue in the world but it can always be relied on in a strange place.  We had a nice meal and then barely made it to midnight after our exhausting day of cycling about in the heat.