19. – 23. March

Finally it was time to say good bye to Sydney again (and not only for a week…). We decided to go to country NSW so we drove through the Blue Mountains and stayed at a camp area between Bathurst and Orange. It was a huge area in a State Forest and it was for free.

In Orange we drove to the Borenore Cave which is actually just an arch but you can walk through on your own and could feel like a little explorer. You had to crawl over several stones, underneath the sometimes low ceiling… It was fun. As this arch is mostly open you can’t see many formations but it was still dropping water from the ceiling so there might be more stalactites coming…

The next stop was Lake Canobolas and Mountain  Canobolas where we camped for the night. The mountain should be the highest peak between Sydney and Perth and we had luck enjoying the view. We could see some fires burning but they were just back burning so no big  fire could start next fire season. We camped halfway up the mountain and got the fire to prepare our dinner. Next day we walked the little loop walk (3km) through the forest to the waterfall. But we just had a look at the top of the fall – not much water in that area. After the walk we went back to the lake to have a quick swim and read in the sunshine.

Our next task was gold panning – actually we didn’t pan but we could have. We drove just 20km east of Orange to the area called Ophir. The first gold in NSW was found in this area and there are still some gold mines in operation. You could even pan in the river and find little pieces. We drove along some 4WD tracks along the old gold mines and the cemetery as well as walking. The walk was done with our torches so we could explore the mine tunnels – yes you can crawl or walk (depending on the height) into some. The best part is some tunnels are connected so start at one point and end up at another depending which turn you took. In the evening we sat around the big campfire with the caretaker and his friends.

Cheers and until next time, Tom and Anja