DENMAN TO TAMWORTH

Sunday, 2 June 2019

Part of a coal mine

Another part

Waiting for fairy bread

Playing in the autumn leaves

Billabong in the Denman Caravan Park

Heading into the New England Ranges

It was a mild four degrees and sunny as we packed up and departed Mudgee on Friday morning, heading for Denman, with a slight detour to Gulgong first.  The road was very busy with lots of trucks and a very slow caravan (not us!!!) which was trying for the world record of the longest time to travel from Mudgee to Gulgong.  After Gulgong, we continued through lovely grazing country until we arrived at Ulan and its massive coal mines.  It was incredible just how far these extended.  Once we turned onto the Golden Highway, it was back to the heavier traffic, with many, many trucks and caravans.

We arrived at Denman, a small town of approximately 1,200 residents situated in the Upper Hunter region.  We are staying overnight at the Denman Van Park, an interesting little park on the edge of town which has a very friendly and helpful manager, not to mention his two year old assistant, Xavier!  During a walk around town after lunch, we came across an old church, the local bowls club (two grass greens) and the main drag, with two hotels, numerous coffee shops, small supermarket and health centre.  With the temperature reaching sixteen degrees, Cat even agreed to partake of a little fresh air, but was rather apprehensive of all the fairies at the bottom of the garden!

Saturday morning we definitely made a left hand turn and headed due north, along with many trucks and other vehicles.  We passed through a massive coal mine not far from Musselbrook – hard to believe how big some of these holes in the ground are!  The countryside around the Scone area was very pretty, with all the large horse properties and the mountains in the distance.  We climbed and wound our way along the New England Ranges, seeming to have left the trucks behind somewhere, before we arrived at Tamworth, our stop for two nights.

Amazingly, the temperature was twenty degrees and we were able sit outside and share our lunch with the flies.  We are staying at the Big4 Paradise, which is literally next door to the Country Music Hall of Fame and only a block from Woolworths and a short distance from the CBD.  A long walk down the main street after lunch saw us ready for a foot massage.  A surprise was the large number of fruit bats/flying foxes that appeared at sunset.  Sunday started out fine and warm, brunch on the “patio” for he who clung to his bed and then we enjoyed the local bowls club’s $10 lunch special.  Storm clouds are building to the north and rain is expected in the very near future.