Easter Caving and Washpools

Good Friday we finally got our stuff together and headed up camping at Timor a farming area not far from Murrurundi, We stayed on a farm property where the landowners let our caving club use the unused shearers quarters for accommodation. Vinnie parked on the hillside near the rusty corrugated iron pit toilet. The outlook was as shown below.



When I turned up our club president was carrying out some repairs on the shearers quarters guttering I offered him some assistance after taking my youngest girl for a ride doubling her on my mountain bike up the dirt roads for a couple of kilometers. I also pulled out the chainsaw and hacked down a large section of pine tree that was hanging near the rear of the shearers quarters.
On the Saturday we went Caving in a cave behind the shearers quarters, it was very convenient and a great cave for beginners.

That night we cooked a Lamb shank stew in the camp oven but made the fatal mistake of adding the potatoes to late, firm potatoes are no good in stew.

Sunday morning the girls woke up to an easter egg hunt. Trudging through the cold damp grass collecting easter eggs, but not being phased only excited.

On the Sunday we commenced work digging out a cave behind the property owners house. It's a cave called Eyrie Cave that the club is digging sections out that have been clogged up with dirt over many years, the club has also dug out large quantities of dirt from the cave over the last 7 or more years, the members are hope to find it opening up into a lager section of passage. There has been a lot of work extracting the dirt from the cave using buckets on ropes passing through a pulley system.

In the afternoon sunday some of the club decided to pack up and head home. Instead of heading home we relocated to a new location that was kind of on the way home. We pulled up at the Washpools near Scone it was a lovely place to stay near a river 300m up the road from the camping area was a picnic area with a path that lead to the washpools. On the Monday we went up for a swim in the washpools before heading home.

Ferndale Park Camping

On the 17th of February we headed to a favorite camping area we hadn't visited since having kids. A privately owned campground at the base of the Chichester Dam, Chichester provides about a third of the lower hunters water supply. ferndalepark is a peaceful scenic campground situated on the river at the base of the Dam. We camped with a friend that I work with who also has two girls, there was lots of bike riding and swimming in the river.

 Ferndale is also good for people who like a few extra creature comforts with powered sites available and a toilet block with hot showers and flushing toilets. Our inflatable boat got a good run it was beneficial camping there in the warmer months as we spent lots of time in the refreshing clean water.

There was a caravan club there when we stayed, busting out the yoga classes early in the morning and all gathering for happy hour drinks in the evening.
Decided I wasn't a fan of the caravan club when they told us my friends dog that wasn't bothering anyone and was laying under the van should be on a lead and asked us seriously if our smouldering fire that consisted of a couple of glowing logs with about a 30m radius clear from anything that could catch on fire was under control.
Ferndale do allow you to take pets which is great for pet owners. They ask you to control your animals. So if your dog behaves like an over opinionated Caravan club organizer you may want to keep it on  a lead.
The camp stew on this trip was a bit of a flavourless failure so I don't have much to say about that.
The walk to the dam wall was worth it there are picnic areas at the base of the dam if your're a fan of a cut lunch and being organized.
There are big pipes that show the way to the dam I'm sure they serve another purpose beside that and giving something for my children

to climb all over.
The dam sounds a deep sounding bugle siren every morning that kind of sounds like the sound that is made when someone dies in the hunger games. The landscape also has that hunger games feel to it with a little less imminent death.

If you do have a phobia of anything that resemble a possibility of discomfort there is also the option of country cottages at ferndale or you could just stay at home? and at this point i'd like to invite you to stop reading this blog.
Walking out on the Dam wall is something you probably should do while you there unless you have vertigo in that case you should stay well clear. I'm sure for the photography enthusiast there would be more opportunities then I can demonstrate with my point an shoot approach but the eerie haze can create a good effect if the light is right on the dam

 I really recommend this spot for so many different reasons and I'm sure we will frequent this place in the coming years and not leave it another 9 year before our next visit.

Bringing in the New Year

Last year we camped during the new year period in a resort style caravan park. The girls loved using the resort style pool and jumping pillow and we enjoyed beers but the pool while watching them. We decided to revisit the park this year with the difference of turning up in Vinnie.

The place we stayed at was Middle Rock it at the end of one mile beach, less than an hour north of Newcastle.

It's a pretty good summer camping area,  if I was to be critical the only downside is the distance it is to the beach, about a 10-15min walk across the dunes, not a walk you want to be doing with kids on a scorching hot day. For the 4wd enthusiasts there is a track running beside the park that takes you to Samurai beach, if visiting this beach you should be aware that clothes are optional so you might come across a bunch of seedy old guy with their wangs out. 

We turned up New Year's Eve, with minimal setup we were straight into the celebratory drinking that continued into 2017. This was a brave move knowing children would be up making demands at 5am.
Having a whole Snapper cooked up for dinner was a good move, it made a rather civilised camp meal.

Staying at the park with friends meant the girls were always entertained and I also joined in with them scooting around the park on razor scooters, it only hurt a little when I stacked it on a speed bump in front of some people that were sure I was too old to be on a razor scooter.
Water bomb fights were also a popular past time at the camp site.

Disaster struck when we were due to leave, I learnt the hard way that running the fridge in Vinnie for several days off the battery system would reduce the charge to zero even compromising the charge on the vehicle battery, Trying to jump start the truck in the dark the night before we were leaving did not end well. I blew a main fuse and couldn't find where it was located the NRMA guy didn't either when he turned up the day we were leaving, he called a tow truck, moments before the tow truck turned up a muffler mechanic that was camping near by said he'd take a look, finding the fuse and showing it would start if the link was bridged. We called off the tow truck as it was back up to hook us up and took a trip to supercheap auto to get a replacement fuse. Vinnie rose from the dead and rattled us home bringing our trip to a close.