That morning we set off from Gundangaroo around 9am after saying a fond farewell to Peter and thanking him for his generous hospitality.

We headed out of the valley towards Capertee. Capertee is a tiny village on the Castlereagh Highway. There’s a pub, service station, police station, general store, free camp area, little school and some 145 people call the village home. The town started with the coming of the railroad in 1882.

The Capertee Valley itself had originally been home to people of the Wiradjuri nation and was settled by white settlers in the 1840’s. The valley has been mostly used as grazing for sheep and beef.

It’s one of Australia’s spectacular drives through the valley with the huge sandstone cliffs all around. The canyon is said to be the second largest in the world. It is 1 km wider than the Grand Canyon but not as deep. Just out of Capertee is Pearsons Lookout and from there you can get a really good idea of just how huge the valley is. On a clear day the view is just spectacular.

Interestingly the Capertee Valley is one of only two places in Australia recommended by Chris Santella in his book Fifty Places to go Birding Before you Die. Bird-watchers are a huge part of the tourists that visit the area.

The Castlereagh Highway meets the Great Western Highway and we turned west towards Bathurst. We commented to each other as we drove through Bathurst how much the city has grown.

Our next stop was at a park opposite the Tourist Centre in Cowra for a lunch break. Richard (Mr Have-a-Chat) got chatting with a lady who was pulled up next to us to charge her Tesla. She really loves her Tesla and was happy to show it off.

After a short discussion over lunch we decided to go via Grenfell to Barmedman so we could have a swim in the mineral pool and camp next door.

The countryside between Cowra and Grenfell was quite green with a lots of crops. Wheat still looked too green for harvest but there was a lot of crop (perhaps oats) that had been raked ready for baling. There was quite a lot of lucerne growing as well. We stopped in Grenfell for fuel and continued on arriving in Barmedman around 4 o’clock.

A quick camp setup and a change into our swimmers and we went directly to the pool for a refreshing swim. It’s a mineral pool and the water is very salty and very blue. When you are in the water and look down at your skin you look like a blue Navii from Avatar! It was very refreshing. The pool is lined with concrete and was quite slippery with a thin layer of slime on the bottom so you had to be careful not to fall over. It is very easy to float in the water due to the high salt content.

Lots of locals were using the pool and we are sure it is a favourite place over the hot summers.

The campground is for self-contained vehicles and is a $10 donation. The donation box is at the pool entrance. There are no facilities however you can use the shower and toilets at the Mineral Pool next door. The showers are coin operated.

We had a great nights sleep and then it was a short drive home to Griffith the next morning where our first stop was the Willow Park to use the Dump Point. Then it was home for us. What a relaxing two weeks. Time to give the motorhome a good wash and clean ready for our next meander.

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!

Oh what a lovely sound is rain on the roof. That’s right rain! It started raining early in the morning and I love snuggling up in our cosy bed dozing with the sound of pattering raindrops.

It didn’t rain for very long and when I finally got out of bed everything outside looked quite dry and there was blue sky.

I thought I’d better er go for a last paddle before we left the next morning so off I went with Rich settled in again with his book.

It was quite windy by the time I made it out on the water so my plan to go right from Kangaroo Beach was not a good one. The wind was pushing me to go the other way so I changed plans and headed west. I paddled around the point and past main beach before the wind became too strong and I decided to call it quits. It’s no fun paddling into a head wind.

It is so peaceful out on the water. Dunns Swamp is a haven for aquatic birds and animals. I saw divers ducks, more hens, thousands of dragon flies and all day we were companies by the noise of cicadas. The water is so clear you can see right down into the reeds and see small fish darting about.

By the time I arrived back at camp I’d been an hour and a half so probably an hour of paddling. That’s not bad for this little old lady!

Late in the afternoon it came over very overcast and gloomy. It surely looked like rain. We made the decision to pack up and head into Rylstone before the rain came. Half an hour later we were all packed up and driving out of the Ganguddy Campground. What a fabulous week it had been.

Sure enough the rain started as we were driving towards Rylstone and it was still raining when we pulled into the little caravan park and set up. Rysltone has renovated its little council run caravan park and they’ve done a fabulous job. The sites are large with power and water on bollards between each two sites. It looks like the whole area had recently been turfed and we were given a lovely grassy site. There is no caretaker on site and to book you can go online or call the office. We called and a lovely lady helped book us in. We received an email with the booking details and the code for the amenities block. The amenities block is brand new. There is a laundry for guest use and a dump point. A powered site was $36 per night. Well done Rylstone for your great little park.

As we had plenty of water and power I managed to get three loads of washing done and gave the inside of the motorhome a bit of a clean. Then the motorhome looked like a Chinese laundry with washing hanging everywhere!

We walked up into the Main Street. Passing by the Rylstone Hotel we spied a ute that looked like it might have belonged to Mick Taylor. I just had to get a photo of the bear on the bull bar. The owner of the ute saw us looking and came over for a chat. He explained that he’d found the bear in a drainage ditch, rescued it and gave it echidna spikes for hand claws and crocodile teeth for feet claws. He said he’d been a crocodile poacher, a buffalo hunter amongst other jobs and he looked and sounded like it too! What do you think of the bear?

We strolled along the street and chose the Globe Hotel for a beer and dinner. While we were a little disappointed in the meals the hospitality of that country pub was fabulous. The publican came to greet us and have a chat recognising that we weren’t locals. The bistro staff were super friendly and so we enjoyed our night out.

What a gorgeous day we awoke to on our 6th day at Dunns Swamp. There was not a cloud in the very blue sky. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day, maybe a little hot.

We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast (anyone sensing a theme here?) and then our neighbours, Alwin and Anna, called by to say goodbye. They were heading off to Rylstone for a couple of nights and then to explore the Caperteee Valley. It made me chuckle when they said they wanted to wash the van. The first thing they did when they arrived here and set up on their site was to wash the van. I think it’s only very new!

We exchanged details with them and said if ever they come our way there’s room in our paddock to camp.

I loaded up our beach wagon with my kayak gear and headed off to paddle. My objective for the day was to make it to the dam wall. It was tough going at first into a head wind but it died off and soon I was around a few bends and past the Main beach and Platypus Point. A couple of times my phone went ping ping ping and on checking messages found one from Catie Douglas to say they planned to call in to see us on their way from Sydney to Dubbo. What a nice surprise! I replied I was paddling but I’d turn around and head back to camp and see them there.

I stopped off for a swim at main beach to cool off after my strenuous paddling and arrived back at Kangaroo Beach about 12.30. I had time to change and have a bite to eat for lunch. Rich had spent the morning reading and when I told him Douglas’s were calling in he was very surprised. They would be going out of their way to call in at Dunns Swamp and we felt very honoured.

They duly arrived in their 4WD with a trailer on the back accompanied by Catie’s friend Cherie. Catie, Cherie and a bunch of their nursing friends had just arrived back in Australia after a two week trip to Japan. We were looking forward to hearing about that!

They’d stopped in Kandos to pick up some salad rolls and a cake to have when they arrived and we all settled in under the awning to eat and catch up. The trip to Japan sounded like a fantastic one and we laughed as they described the toilets, the vending machines and funny signs. The countryside sounds really beautiful and they were amazed at how clean it was everywhere, even in the huge cities. We have a trip to Japan on our bucket list, hope we can get there one day!

They stayed for an hour or so and then it was time for them to head for home. Catie was looking forward to getting home so after hugs all round we waved them goodbye. What a lovely thing to do for us to come and visit us here at our camp at Dunns Swamp. It definitely took them out of their way home and made their trip a little longer.

It was a hot afternoon so I rode down to main beach for a swim and took the collapsable container to bring back some water. Richard went back to his book. There’s nothing like being fully immersed in cool water to bring your body temperature down and I remained cool for a long while. Back at camp I too picked up my book until it was time to cook something for dinner. It was bangers in onion gravy and mash for dinner and, as this is one of Richard’s favourites, he did enjoy it. We ate outside in the cool of the evening. It was too hot to bother with a fire. There was lots of small bugs flying around and I commented that I thought it might rain. We’ll see!

It was another overcast morning so we read for while before getting up to make breakfast. By the time breakfast was over the clouds had blown away and the sun was out.

We decided we’d do the walk to Long Cave which is past the Dam Wall that we walked to the other day with David and Anni. We set off at 11.15am and walked to the main beach area where the walk commences. There was a group of lady artists set up near the boat ramp each with their easels out and pencils in hand. They were sketching the gorgeous view.

Southern Cross Kayaking crew were not there as they only come out on weekends and school holidays and it was Tuesday. A few cars were parked so we assumed there were other walkers on the track.

It was a lovely morning to be walking through the bush. The bush around Dunns Swamp is sandy dry woodland with a great variety of native plants and animals. We passed a couple of other hikers and they told us they’d just seen an echidna waddling across the track and down at the dam wall they’d seen two tortoises. We’d keep our eyes out for those.

We’d almost arrived at the dam wall when we came across our 79 year old neighbour, Alwin. He’d walked all the way on his own as Anna wasn’t feeling well. A bit further on we met more people. Goodness it was like Pitt Street!

We didn’t see an echidna but we did spy two tortoise in the pond at the bottom of the dam wall. It was too far away to get a photo. While watching the tortoise a very large lizard ran up the dam wall. It only went about half way then stopped, sunning itself against the old concrete.

Continuing on from the dam wall towards Long Cave the track became a rough gravel road and we surmised that this was the way maintenance crews come to the dam wall. The road follows the Cudgegong River which is not very wide at this point although there is evidence of higher flood waters with debris piled high against trees. In a few places the river burbles over rocks into large still pools. Perfect platypus habitat but we didnt see any of those either.

We came to Long Cave and we think it should be called Long Overhang as it is not really a cave but a very long overhang of rock. It was cool in the shade of the overhang so we stopped for a lunch break. We could see lots of birds flitting about in the trees and hear their calls to one another. It was a peaceful spot.

Back the way we came and it was 1.8km back to the beginning of the track. It had taken us two hours.

By the time we arrived back at camp we were both hot and sweaty. Rich went to have a shower in the motorhome and I came up with a bright idea. I was thinking of going by ebike to the main beach for a swim to cool off when I had a lightbulb moment. We had plenty of power but only one tank of water left so I couldn’t do any washing because we needed that tank of water to last us until Friday, another three days. BUT if I took our collapsible container on the bike I could fill it up while I had a swim. What a great idea!

I set off on my bike dressed in my kayaking clothes and water shoes, which had already been worn and could get wet, with the collapsable container in the basket on the back. It was lovely and cool in the water and I enjoyed soaking in it. Certainly helps you feel cooler and washed all the sweat off. I filled the container about 3/4 full, placed it in the basket and set off back to camp. It was heavy and the water sloshed about a bit but I was able to get back to camp with no problems. I emptied that water into my two buckets back at camp and went back for a second one. That should be enough water for one load in my little washing machine.

After putting the clothes in I poured all the water into the machine, added some Woolwash, plugged it into the inverter and turned it on. Away it went. Fantastic! And no water from our tank was used in the process. I set the machine on wash (14 mins) and when that was finished I set it on wash again. When that was finished I set it on spin (7 mins) and the washing was ready to hang out.

Richard settled in with his book for the afternoon. I enjoyed a cuppa outside under our awning and updated my blog.

The family next door to us had left while we were on our walk but then two 4WD’s with rooftop tents arrived and set up on that site and the one across from it. It’s a popular camping spot with campers coming and going all the time. I imagine that school holidays would be very busy.

Rich has discovered a flaw in the fire pits that are provided at each site. They have no air holes around the sides so it takes a bit to get the fire going because the fire can’t breathe. Out comes the trusty blower!

Our neighbours in the Jayco van next door came over and joined us for drinks and nibbles and we had a lot of laughs and good conversation before they left for dinner. We had Southern Fried Chicken Burgers and, boy, were they good.

After dinner we sat around our little fire, enjoyed a cuppa and reflected on how blessed we are.

We woke to another overcast day and this time the clouds did not blow away during the day. It remained overcast all day. It even sprinkled lightly with rain in the afternoon. Not enough to make anything wet, just a sprinkle. It was the perfect day for reading a book so that’s what we did.

The Campgound had emptied out of campers in the morning. We were almost here on our own. In the afternoon we were joined by an older couple in a van on one side and a young family with two little boys on the other. We were not alone for long!

So let me tell you a little about Dunns Swamp. How did it get that name? It has been known for thousands of years by the local indigenous language group, the Dabee, part of the larger Wiradjuri tribe, as Ganguddy. So how did it go from Ganguddy to Dunns Swamp?

Dunns Swamp was created by the damming of the Cudgegong River in the 1920’s. The Cudgegong River is the only one rising the Wollomi National Park that drains to the west and eventually makes its way to join the Macquarie River near Wellington. Interestingly, it forms part of the Murray Darling Basin that our home town of Griffith is part of.

Prior to the construction of the dam wall the river with its many deep pools was a popular place for Wiradjuri people and there is evidence of the Dabee living in the area for thousands of years.

Mt Durambang was formerly known as Dunns Mountain after a local white settler family. The creek that flowed down the mountain was known as Dunns Mountain Creek. The creek had a series of swamps on the lower end before the water made its way into the Cudgegong River. They were known as Dunns Mountain Swamp. The waterway created by the damming of the river then became known as Dunns Swamp. Dunns Mountain Creek is now called Ganguddy Creek.

After a relaxing day reading our books Rich got our camp fire going and we enjoyed drinks and nibbles outside under the awning while we waited for our Shepherds Pie to cook in the oven.

Our new neighbours invited us over after dinner and we took our chairs over and enjoyed getting to know Alwin and Anna from Coffs Harbour.

Woke to an overcast morning again. We had a low cloud cover and it looked like it might rain. However as the morning progressed the cloud cover blew away and it was a lovely sunny day.

I had a domestic morning cleaning the motorhome, doing some hand washing and generally tidying up our camp. Richard started his second book for the trip.

It came up quite windy in the afternoon so it was lovely to relax with a good book under our awning.

Went for a paddle in my fantastic inflatable kayak in the late afternoon. I’d bought the kayak on Amazon for $120 (Intex K1) and I love it because we can carry it in the motorhome packed up in its own bag. We wouldn’t be able to carry a hard shell kayak as there is nowhere to put one. Admittedly it is no performance kayak and it does ‘waggle’ a bit but then again, I’m no sports kayaker so it doesn’t really matter. It gets along the water pretty well and I find it very peaceful out on the water. This time I paddled west from Kangaroo Beach and made it around past the main picnic area to Platypus Point. Near the main beach there were a few young men mucking about on SUP’s and having fun pushing each other off into the water.

In the evening we walked up to David and Anni’s camp carrying our chairs, wine bottle and glasses. Anni had prepared a lovely cheese platter and then followed that up with Panko crusted chicken and roast vegetables. Delicious! David even made fruit salad for dessert (with no watermelon as I’m allergic). We had a great evening sitting around the fire with Anni’s music playing quietly in the background. Anni does love music!

While we were sitting around the fire the camp was visited by a family of possums. There was a mother with a baby who was still young enough to be carried on the mother’s back and another single possum. They seem to be quite used to humans as they came quite close.

Anni had spent the afternoon watching the amazing life cycle of cicadas. The trees around their camp are riddled with them. Funny that there’s none at all around our spot. Anni took great delight in watching them hatch out from their shell and finally spread their wings and fly.

We woke to an overcast and drizzling morning. It was very softly drizzling and everything was wet.

The day got better as the clouds blew away and after a late breakfast we got the ebikes off their rack and set off to explore the campground some more. We passed by David and Anni’s motorhome and called in. They’d had a late breakfast too. They are both very happy with their motorhome and it really is a lovely one with a great layout. It has everything they could want including self levelling legs, a washing machine and David has added a rack on the back for his little step through motorbike.

We rode down to the main picnic area and wow! It’s lovely there. There’s a boat ramp, picnic tables, BBQ’s and the people from Southern Cross Kayaking were there with their kayaks and Stand Up Paddleboards (SUPs) for rent. They have a great setup with a ute and a trailer to carry all their kayaks and SUPs. We had a chat with them and continued on.

One of the walks in the campground is through a collection of huge rocks. There is indigenous rock art just visible in places.

We met David and Anni on the motorbike on our way back to camp and arranged to meet up in half an hour to go for a bush walk after lunch.

We spent the next hour walking from the campground to the Dam Wall. The dam was built in the 1920’s to provide a water supply for the Kandos Cement Works. The concrete wall must have been built well as it is still holding back the river. The dam wall is not a large one but it is holding back a lot of water.

While Rich was standing there admiring the view he spied a 6’ long, fat, brown snake moving a couple of metres away. Rich just stood still and let the snake go about its day. It looked like a very healthy snake and it slithered away across the rocks and out of sight. I saw it too but wasn’t quick enough to catch a photo.

The views on the walk were spectacular. At one point we’d climbed to the top of one of the pagoda hills and the view down into the valley with the water below was picturesque. I love the gorgeous variety of flowering native plants. Let no one tell you that natives are not colourful. Some of the walk was challenging with many steps, a ladder and even a chain to help pull you up the rock face. It was not an easy stroll in the bush. On some of it you were scrambling over rocks.

Back at camp I prepared my new camp oven (that I had received for my birthday) to cook a pork roast. Rich got the fire going to make a good coal bed for the camp oven to sit on. All the veggies were peeled, ready to cook and I had gravy and broccoli bake as well.

I made a cheese platter with goodies we’d bought at the Cheese Co in Mudgee and we enjoyed a drink whilst waiting for David and Anni to arrive.

They duly arrived and the four of us enjoyed a delicious roast dinner (with crackling) sitting outside under our awning. David brought an old St Hugo red to share and it was beautiful. Lots of laughs and enjoyable conversation was had. That’s the life!