Well, it’s been a while since Wherarwee has
moved off the front lawn & we were anxious for even a short trip.
When Liz arrived home from work Wednesday I
had the van packed so, after she had a quick shower & a cuppa, we hit the road. It was down the freeway
& into Sydney’s peak hour traffic. Soon we were through it & onto the
toll roads, then on to Lithgow via the Bells Line of Road. I had forgotten how
steep & winding this road is. Arriving at Lithgow around 8 P.M. we found a
quiet back street, heated up a pre-prepared dinner, watched a bit of telly
& hit the sack.
On the road by 8 o’clock next morning &
arrived at Condoblin by noon, contacted Sally & found she & David were
staying at Gum Bend Lake, about 3K out of town. All joyous reunions when we
arrived at this delightful free-camp spot. It was level, grassed, & with
plenty of trees for shade. Sally had prepared lunch for us so we sat around the
fire while we caught up on their wanderings & ate her delicious soup.
Checking out the amenities we found them to
be very clean with really hot showers, country towns look after their visitors.
They were situated on an embankment with the campground on one side & the
lake on the other so it was a pleasure to visit them.
We stayed for 3 days before having to
return home, first up in the morning had to light the fire (usually Liz) which
we then kept burning all day as the mornings were sub-zero & the temp. only
got above 15ยบ on one day although every day was sunny & bright. We went out
for a few hours each day, checking out the town, the club (where we had a
delicious dinner), the river & the surrounding area, but it was best just
sitting around the fire for happy hours each afternoon with the other tourists
there. Sally baked a leg of lamb in the camp oven on our last night & it
was so tender it melted in your mouth. It was great to catch up with them &
a pity to leave so soon but work awaits (for Liz anyway).
On the way home Sunday we detoured to Ootha
to see the ‘utes in the paddock’ display, well worth it as the artwork on the
utes is outstanding, just check out the photo’s. We left about 8 A.M. once
again & by 9 o’clock there was still lumps of ice on the side of the road.
We stopped at Macca’s for lunch arriving home at 4:30, a great little trip
& another 1000K’s on the clock.
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| S & D's rig & us at our campsite |
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| A portion of the camp area |
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| Happy hour |
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| Gum Bend Lake |
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| Lake at sunset |
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| Sunset again |
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| Morning mist on the lake |
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| Utes in the paddock, Ootha, NSW |
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| Do you know this lady? |
