What goes up must come down! (NSW 2019 - Part 2)

After scaling the dizzy heights of Mt. Kosciusko we needed to transition from the thin air experienced at altitude and come back down to earth (too dramatic? - OK, I promise this will be the last (or near last) mention of our minor/faux mountaineering accomplishment).  

There were a couple of pubs in our Australian Bush Pubs book located relatively nearby so we thought "Where better to re-acclimatise than in a pub?".  We ensured our route took us to them!  These were the Nerriga Hotel (visited on 30th January, 2019) and the Sofala Royal Hotel (4th February 2019).  We got an autograph from the publican of each establishment on their respective pages, enjoyed the obligatory glass of beer and carried on down the road.

(L) The Sofala Royal Hotel, and (R) Bush Pub book being signed by the publican

As usual, we gave the big city, this time it was Sydney, a wide berth.  We stayed inland on the western side of the Great Dividing Range, visiting a number of towns and national parks in the Mudgee Region, renowned for it’s horses and vineyards, before heading back towards the coast via the Hunter Valley, renowned for it’s vineyards and coal mining, emerging near NSW’s second city of Newcastle.

'Carlotta Arch' - at the Jenolan Caves

Panorama with Heather 'on the edge' at Kanangra Walls

Selfie of the two of us at Kanangra Walls

'Frog Rock', near Mudgee

Munghorn Gap Nature Reserve

Looking back towards Newcastle from the breakwater at the mouth of the Hunter River

From Newcastle we meandered up the coast spending time on the beaches and in the hills.  Being in no hurry to be anywhere in particular Heather tried her luck metal detecting whenever the opportunity presented itself along the way.  In one location she had considerable success recovering multiple pre-decimal coins that included: 1921 & 1929 Half Pennies, 4 x Kangaroo pennies and what turned out to be a scarce 1919 Florin!  To say she was excited is an understatement.

H in the field with her trusty detector and;
Head and Tail of a 1929 Commonwealth of Australia Half Penny.
This field also yielded a 1921 half penny, 4 x kangaroo pennies and
a Florin (shown below).

1919 Florin.  These are made of Sterling Silver (92.5% silver).
The M below the year stamp signifies it was minted in Melbourne.
 That makes this Florin 'Scarce' in coin collector's terminology!

I did some camp oven cooking while Heather was clearing the earth of it’s lost and buried coins and managed to produce my best dessert effort to date - a lovely fruit cobbler!

You can use any fruit you like.
This one was apricot but could have been apples, peaches or pears.

We continued to camp, see the sights and do some hiking all the way up the NSW coast.

Lovely clear blue sky day for a hike in Barrington Tops National Park

Warm to hot sunny days and regular rain at night made it easy to enjoy the plentiful beach and coastal scenery as well as some waterfalls (with water falling over them).

Ellenborough Falls (inland from Pt. Macquarie)

There were also encounters with local fauna including a gang of kookaburras that stole hot sausages directly off of a hot barbecue plate, and a mob of kangaroos sleeping on a patch of grass beside the beach that could not have cared less that we were just inches from them.  The more slippery, creepy and crawly were represented too - green tree frogs, flying foxes (aka ‘fruit bats’), lizards and snakes.

L - R: Kangaroo's, Thieving Kookaburra, Python, Flying Foxes and Green Tree Frog

Our last stop in NSW was the town of Murwillumbah located in the Tweed River Valley just a few kilometres from both the border with Queensland and the coast.  This is a beautiful, mountainous, lush green, semi-tropical location It also happens to be the closest town to where my Aunt Christine (my mother’s sister) lives so we took the time to go and visit her and catch up over coffee and cake.

Mt. Warning near Murwillumbah

The Tweed Valley is beautifully green and hilly. Sunny, warm & moist conditions are perfect for growing delicious bananas and avocados!

We took advantage of the many roadside fruit stalls along the way to buy farm fresh bananas, tomatoes and avocados - the difference in taste between these and supermarket/store bought produce is remarkable.

We took well over a month to complete our route through NSW
from it's southern border with Victoria to the northern border with Queensland 

As summer turns to autumn (slowly), WTF? - Where are The Farrows? move ever so slowly northwards into the state of Queensland.  Still too hot to venture far inland and still too humid to get too far north too soon, we stay fairly close to the coast and wait for the seasons to change.