It had rained during the night but had stopped by morning and it promised to be another sunny day.

We were impressed with the lovely little caravan park. There are plans to add further powered sites and cabins in the future.

We spent the morning exploring historic Rylstone. Rylstone main street is a mix of 19th century sandstone public houses, cottages and government buildings along with 1920’s era stores.

There is an eclectic mix of stores with an excellent wood-fired bakery, a famous wool shop, an unusual record store that sells vinyl records, unique boutiques and local produce stores. There are also the usual service station, a couple of pubs, a Foodworks supermarket, post office and newsagent. We whiled away a couple of hours wandering in an out of the various stores.

Rylstone is the gateway to Wollomi National Park, where we’d been for the last week, and the Bylong Valley, a gorgeous scenic drive through lush farmland. We’ve talked about the lovely Bylong Valley in previous posts as we have traveled that way quite a few times to reach the Hunter Valley and have always camped at the Bylong Recreation Ground.

Rylstone is also the entrance to the Caperteee Valley via the Glen Alice Road. Just 7km south of Rylstone is the tiny town of Kandos. We drove to Kandos to visit the IGA supermarket and their renowned Op Shop. We’d heard about the Op Shop in Kandos and I have to say, it did not disappoint. It would have to be one of the largest ones we’ve ever shopped at and we stocked up on books. Bargains!

I would have liked to do a tour at the Kandos Museum which was the old Cement Works to learn more about the industrial heritage of NSW but we were running out of time. Will have to save that for another day.

Friends of ours have bought a farm in the Capertee Valley near Glen Davis and we messaged Peter to find out what time he’d arrive at the farm so we’d know when to get there. He said he’s be there by 3 so we needed to get going. We had a quick stop along the road for a bite of lunch and then it was on to the spectacular drive through the Capertee Valley.

Capertee Valley is the world’s widest canyon. Yep, that’s right! It’s wider than the Grand Canyon however not as deep. It is also renowned in bird-watching circles as one of the top 50 places for bird-watching.

The drive through the valley is certainly breathtaking with the sandstone escarpment all around. Some of the cliff tops are 700m above sea level while the valley floor that the road is on is only 300m above sea level.

Glen Davis is the only town in the valley and was built in 1939 to service the shale oil petroleum needs of the country in WWII. It was named after the Davis Gelatine family who bankrolled the shale oil mine. Not much remains today but you can tour the mine ruins on Saturdays. Only approx 100 people call Glen Davis home now while in 1947 some 1600 people called it home. The town once had a school, post office, a bank and a police station. There was a pharmacy, a doctor, three churches, a community centre, a golf course, bowling green, tennis courts and a pub.

The end of mining in 1952 meant the end of Glen Davis and the school closed in 1962 and the post office in 1986. The large parkland reserve in the middle of the old town is now the Glen Davis Campground. Interestingly one of the most important legacies of the mining is that the village still receives its fresh water from Oberon Dam via a concrete pipeline.

We arrived at Gundangaroo around 3.30 and Peter was waiting for us. What a spectacular spot is their farm. The views are fabulous and constantly changing throughout the day as the sun moves overhead.

We quickly parked up and enjoyed a convivial evening with our great host. Thanks for having us Peter!