10th July to 15th July 2012 Bathurst and Blue Mountains

Day 07 - 10/07/12 Bathurst  ?? km

Yes, we are seeing Bathurst not at its best – overcast mostly, and chilly.

As we didn’t have any house inspections organised for the morning, we did some drive-bys, and got ourselves a bit more familiar with the various parts of Bathurst. It helps to know what the areas are like, so when we know where a house is, we have an idea of what the area is like. We have been told to avoid Kelso as it has a bad reputation, but what we’ve found is that there certainly are bad areas there, especially the older parts of it, but there are also some very nice parts.

We had a couple of inspections in the afternoon with one real estate agent, and they were OK. Two of them, though, had the rather strange plan that meant one of the bedrooms in the house had no windows! I suppose in each case there might have been valid reasons, but still…

After the inspections, it was off to McDonalds for the free wi-fi. Unlike our experience on holidays last year, the wi-fi was working, AND Les was able to get a strawberry thickshake – yes! Whilst the wi-fi might be free, it certainly isn’t fast. But at least it meant we could put up the blog and check our emails. Les did all the hard work whilst Joy passed the time trying to do a crossword.

Back at the terrace in time for the rain to start coming down. It rained on and off during the evening, but later during the night it absolutely bucketed down! We found out later that it was about 26 mm in 12 hours.

Day 08 - 11/07/12 Bathurst  0 km

Wow, did the rain come down last night! We were a bit surprised to wake this morning to find we hadn’t floated away. Whilst it was overcast in the morning, the sun came out during the day, and by the afternoon it was mostly scattered cloud. It isn’t forecast to last, though.

Today was basically full of looking at properties. You can certainly tell that what you get for your money in Bathurst is much more than you get in Mudgee. We saw a lovely house out in the new part of Kelso that had the perfect aspect to catch the winter sun in the living area, and a view across the farmland (well, it’s farmland now, but who knows how quickly that will become more housing development). The house is less than 10 years old, has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, plus a large living area, lounge, etc, etc, all for $419,000. In Mudgee, that will get you a 10-15 year old house, with 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, in a nice area.

But, the big question – do we want to live in Mudgee or Bathurst? Is the difference in house price worth it? Bathurst, whilst a nice place, appears to have a less friendly atmosphere, and more problems with the less fortunate in society.

We had tea out with Lisa at the Schnitzel Bar. Very nice and reasonable price.

Day 09 - 12/07/12 Bathurst  0 km

Well today was washing and more inspections and it was raining on and off. 3 inspections this morning starting at 9:20. Liked 2 of the 3. Then we headed to a cafe for a hot chocolate (Joy) and Milkshake (Les) plus some pastries – we are testing out a new café each time.  Next was off to another real estate agent that we had not met last time we were in Bathurst. We saw 6 houses, some higher than our budget and some we just did not like (ie pool, etc) but we really liked the last one we saw. Solar passive, meaning that nearly all the rooms face north and it has a slate floor to trap the winter sun’s heat but in summer the sun goes straight over the top of the house.

Back to the apartment for a late lunch and rest before starting to prepare to pack stuff away.

Day 10 - 13/07/12 Bathurst to Faulconbridge  140 km

Dawned a nice sunny day and we had one more inspection this morning. Average place but had an aviary, chicken and ducks as well as cat and dog!!!! Yes it was in the middle of the suburbs.

Left Bathurst 10:00 and arrived at McDonalds at Lithgow 10:45. This must be one of the busiest McDonalds in the state based on floor size. Again Joy had a coffee and Les a thickshake and YES the machine was working and so was the Wi-Fi. Spent 1 hour 10 minutes checking and sending emails (we did say it was slow). Had lunch at the pie shop at Wentworth Falls before doing the grocery shopping at Springwood. Arrived at our accommodation (Rachel’s Retreat) at 2:30.

We are spending 2 nights here along with 12 other people, being the Onley clan, partners and children to celebrate Joy’s mother’s 80^th birthday (17^th July) and Joy’s sister Jill’s 50^th birthday (14^th July). We had others arriving at all different times up to about 9:00 that night. Les and Matthew got the wood fired pizza oven fired up and cooked some pizzas made by Jill and Kate, even though Les was not having pizza for tea.

Day 11 - 14/07/12  Faulconbridge  17 km

A lazy morning today. Glenn cooked up a big breakfast for those who wanted it, which I think turned out to be a few. Weird, though, because Glenn didn’t have any of the cooked breakfast. I think Jill volunteered him to cook it.

Some of us headed out for a walk at about 11:00. Found a 1.2 km track that was listed as “medium”. First 100 metres was easy but it got progressively harder and Joy’s mum was starting to have a few problems with some of the big steps down so we took a side track back to a picnic area. What do you do with your mother for her 80^th birthday? Take her on a bush walk! Not too many 80 year olds would be able to do that.

So the 1.2 km ended up about 500 metres. Then 4 of the walkers, including Les, walked back along the roads (about 1 to 1 ½ km) to get the cars and come and collect the rest of the group. Back to the house for lunch and a lazy afternoon watching the rugby on the ABC and home-made scones, cream and jam prepared by Joy.

Headed to the Springwood Sports Club for tea and then back to the house for birthday cake and a video of Mum’s life (or at least the high points) put together by Joy and Les.

Day 12 - 15/07/12  Faulconbridge  to Ariah Park 419 km

Woke to another beautiful sunny day (well in the Blue Mountains anyway). Packed the car and said our goodbye’s and left the rest of the group to finish getting out of bed (as we left at such an early time of 9:00 am!!!!) and do their packing and look after the house.

Headed back west again, we seem to be going back and forward a bit. Have done almost 900 km since leaving home and we are only about 100 km from home now!!!

As we headed down from Mount Victoria the weather set in with cloud, fog and showers. So much for the sunny weather! Stopped in Yetholme for fuel and it was very cold and windy. Back to Bathurst for morning tea and then through Blayney and to Cowra where we had lunch at the lookout as the rain had stopped but was still cool and overcast.

After lunch drove through to the train accommodation near Ariah Park Country Carriages and unpacked and settled in. Along the way we spotted 2 camels which was quiet a surprise in this part of the country. It’s sheep and cattle, isn’t it? Not sheep and camel?

While we were sitting in our carriage, listening to the sounds of the country, we heard a sound we couldn’t identify. It turned out to be a fox! It was bold, walking calmly around the carriage and along the fence to the farm house. The woman who runs the B&B told us they have seen a lot of foxes this year, and that they are not at all shy. It’s a bit worrying as they have ewes about to drop their winter lambs.

The B&B owner also told us they have a cat plague this year – apparently something to do with having a mouse plague last year?

We had a beautiful tea cooked by the owners, of Pumpkin Soup with Garlic Bread, Shepherd’s Pie and vegies (not as good as Les’ mum used to make but still very nice) and Apple Cake with ice cream and cream for dessert.

Played 3 games of Pool and Joy won 2 of the 3. There was only 1 game that actually went to the end as the first and last was won when the other person sank the black ball at the wrong time! It is challenging playing pool in the train carriage, as the lack of space on the sides makes it difficult to make the shots.