SOUTHERN NEW SOUTH WALES

The drive along the Bylong Valley to Lithgow the next day was lovely, with great sandstone cliffs eroded away on both sides of the road. We had originally planned to stay overnight in the Blue Mountains so we could visit the Norman Lindsay Gallery at Faulconbridge, but we decided that we would drive in and back out all in one day. It was a good decision as there are unending road works, and it is a very busy and congested area which we were glad to leave asap.

Bylong Valley

THE NORMAN LINDSAY GALLERY

A visit to the Norman Lindsay Gallery has long been on my bucket list. Last time we tried it was closed but it is open every day now. It was well worth the detour. There are lots of his works on display and even I was surprised at the diversity and extent of his work. He produced a myriad of oil and watercolour paintings as well as etchings, sculptures, model ships, magazine and newspaper illustrations and cartoons and also wrote several novels. He was also responsible for the picture of the Rosella on the Rosella soup cans.

Seahorse Fountain

Three figure group

Woman holding breasts

We were lucky enough to be there in time for the free guided tour of the house, the painting studio and the etching studio. The guide was a local with lots of anecdotes and information about Lindsay, his life and his work. John even found the visit extremely interesting and was also surprised at the man’s extraordinary talents. The buildings and surrounding gardens alone are worth a visit. And of course I couldn’t resist buying one of his prints. Just have to find a wall to hang it on.

Wood duck family in gardens at Norman Lindsay Gallery

HEADING SOUTH

Three things were noticeable as we continued south. First, the mistletoe on the trees in this part of New South Wales is bigger than any I’ve seen anywhere. I also noticed there were lots and lots of lovely old churches and cottages. You really start to get a sense that history is all around you. The third thing was the abundance of wombats, but unfortunately they were all dead on the roads. Hopefully this is an indication that their numbers are increasing.

A beautiful old church at Taralga north of Goulburn.

From the Blue Mountains we backtracked to Oberon and drove along the beautiful Oberon Plateau to Black Springs where we pulled up at a small reserve for the night. It was really cold but we had a lovely fire and of course the diesel heater kept us warm. Leo had his first night sleeping in the back of the car as it started to rain just after dark. It was our coldest night so far and in the morning we headed off toward Goulburn in thick fog.

Looking back to the Blue Mountains from the Oberon Plateau

The foggy start from Black Springs

Goulburn was a good opportunity to fuel up, stock up the fridge and water tanks etc. before continuing on to Yass, where we turned south to Wee Jasper. There are several camping spots along the way but the best by far is the last one at Micalong Creek. We spent 3 nights here and even though we couldn’t land a trout it was a lovely spot. The walk up the creek to the waterfall was also well worth the effort.

Burrinjuck Dam - Wee Jasper

Trees everywhere were covered in blossom.

Our Micalong camp.

Micalong Creek

John hard at work fishing at Micalong.

Wood ducks are thriving down this way. These were at our camp at Micalong.

We were thrilled on our first morning here to see snow on the hills surrounding us and took a drive to have a better look. We heard on the radio that there had been extensive snow falls all along the route we had taken the previous day, including at Oberon, Goulburn and of course higher up near Kosciuszko. We were a bit disappointed that we hadn’t stayed another night at Black Springs so we could have experienced the snow but then we would have been held up as the snow had blocked the roads around Goulburn for several hours that day.

Snow covered hills around Micalong Creek.

Micalong Falls

Downstream from the falls.

The most direct route from Wee Jasper to Tumut is a narrow, winding, dirt logging road but since we were travelling on a Sunday we decided it would be pretty unlikely to meet any logging trucks and we were right. It was very picturesque and we didn’t meet one car ‘til we hit the tar again. After a quick trip to Woollies and the laundromat in Tumut, it was an easy run through Batlow to Tumbarumba and on to Paddys River Reserve, with a stop off at Paddys River Falls which were quite spectacular. Paddys River Reserve is a very popular spot and rightly so. The camps are right beside the river and lots of the campers were catching trout which was a bonus. We had no luck again but loved this spot. Again we met some really nice fellow travellers. Whoever is responsible for the reserves down here have certainly got it right. Unlike the parks etc. in Queensland, there are none of the posts, fences etc. which stop you from parking at the nicest parts of the reserves. And they all have toilets so the horrid white streamers which are so prolific at a lot of camps up north aren’t evident here.

Paddys River Falls south of Tumbarumba.

Driving south along the Maragle valley next morning we caught our first sight of Mt Kosciuszko and surrounds, covered in snow. This particular valley is absolutely beautiful, with excellent views from a roadside lookout which also provides some interesting information about the crash of the Southern Cloud, one of the planes in the ANA fleet which was set up by Kingsford-Smith and Ulm. We also learned that the valley had been split up into blocks for the soldier settlers after World War II.

The views from the Maragle Valley up towards Kosciuszko.

 

Maragle Valley

At Tooma we were undecided about which way to go and initially went over through Walwa to Jingellic and parked at the reserve behind the pub. This is quite a nice spot right on the Murray, but the camps are back from the river somewhat and it is not as picturesque as lots of the others. We decided to have lunch, and as there was internet access here, John caught up on some computer work, e-mails etc. Then we decided to backtrack and go down through Corryong to a little reserve at Staceys Bridge.