We are staying at Lake Lyell which is 10km outside of Lithgow. It was built in 1982 to supply water to the Wallerawang & Mt Piper Power Stations. Nice spot.
The Small Arms Factory Museum at Lithgow has a stunning collection of guns. It opened in 1912 to manufacture the No. 1 Short Magazine Lee–Enfield Mk III. During WW2 it manufactured Vickers Machine Gun & Bren Gun. Today it is owned by Thales & continues to manufacture the F88 Austeyr rifle and F89 Minimi currently used by the Australian military.
This is a photo of Lithgow my Grandfather took in 1945. The one below it is one I took from nearly the same spot 73 years later. The water tank is no longer there & the trees have grown so a lot of the landmarks cannot be seen.
The Zig Zag Railway is currently closed after a bushfire a few years ago so we decided to explore & found # 8, 9 & 10 tunnels. It’s NSW so the train was late.
Marjorie Jackson. The Lithgow Flash.
State Mine Heritage Park at Lithgow.
Ulrika enjoyed her lap of Mt Panorama. The Ranger is not as aerodynamic (especially with kayak on top) as a Supercar so slightly slower laptime.
The National Motor Racing Museum is right next to the track. Some great cars on display
This is my favourite. Alan Moffat’s 1977 Bathurst winning XC Ford Falcon
Many years ago I did an Advanced Driver Course with this guy. He had no fear. He went too young.
On the way south dropped into the Cowra Rail Heritage Centre. The volunteers are doing a great job of maintaining the old Loco Depot (which closed in 1985). Hopefully in the near future they will get their trains running.
Next stop was Gogeldrie Weir on the Murrumbidgee River just the other side of Leeton. Built in 1959 as part of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation area. Nice relaxing spot.
Altina Zoo is a privately owned zoo at Darlington Point. It has been operating since 2004. You get taken around on Clydesdale drawn cart (Bluey pulled our cart). Lots of baby animals. One of the better zoos we have visited. The photos below is only a small sample of the animals they have.
Found this on a plinth at Griffith. It is a Fairey Firefly. It was built in England in 1950. A two seater carrier based anti submarine reconnaissance fighter. The Firefly flew off the HMAS Sydney in the Korean War.
A few of the animals around the campsite.
Junee was a surprise. Nice town with lots of its original architecture in place, well looked after gardens & friendly people.
It did have six pubs but they are now down to three.
Can’t believe they have a statue of Ray (Rabbits) Warren in the middle of town.
It’s a struggle to find churches older than 1900 in the area. My theory is that most of them prior to 1900 were timber & were eaten by white ants.
Had to stop at the Junee Licorice & Chocolate Factory. Everything is made on site (so therefore healthy). It is housed in the old Flour Mill that was built in the 1930’s.
Across the road is a locals car collection.
Random old stuff lying around in backyards.
This is the Junee Roundhouse. About a third is used by the Railway Roundhouse Museum & the other two-thirds is leased by others for real Loco maintenance. It has 45 bays.
Some of the Locomotives in the Roundhouse.
Cheese shop at Coolamon was worth a stop.
Sunset
Quote of the Day
“You need an offroad caravan when driving on NSW roads”
Peter Macrae
Such great descriptions of so many interesting places