DNLAROUNDOZ: 26th to 28th April

We’re off again, headed to Trish and Randy’s place at Burrell Creek. We had a stop at Gloucester for a couple of hours before heading to Burrell Creek via Krambach. The road gets worse, obviously not a priority to maintain these little country roads in NSW.

Gloucester is situated in a picturesque valley on the Gloucester River - bounded to the west by hills "The Buckets" and to the east by the Mograni range. North of the townn is the junction of the Avon, Glocester and Barrington Rivers. Gloucester is traditionally the centre of a rich beef, dairying and timber district and is close by to several World Heritage wilderness areas in National Parks and State Forests. A view of Gloucester, with The Buckets on right.

One of a series of tiled murals on the walls of the Channells Newsagency in Gloucester, each has a significant story depicting history of this district. This one is of Thunderbolt, the bushranger, who rode this country. He is said to have never killed a man and was gentle with women. A pretty nice guy then. His real name was Fred Ward and was akin to the Kelly Gang. Gloucester boasts Thunderbolt's cave and stables towards the south end of the Bucketts Mountains near Baldy Knob.

My Darl always finds a mate where 'ere he goes, this one I don't think will talk back to you Darl.....at the pub in Gloucester. The young barman here not too flash on it, had his ear elbowed in a local footy match, 15 odd stitched later and it looks like he's been mauled by a pit bull.. Now that would make for a good story and pic for the blog - but I was a little shy to ask.

Randy is at work over at Singleton for the week, Trish is laid up with a broken leg from a slip on the step in the pool, so we cooked her dinner and plied her with a few reds, we had a good yak and heaps of laughs. They have a magic spot here, in a valley right by Burrell Creek which runs in to the Manning River.

Another view of the Gloucester valley at Mograni lookout, 5kms out of town on Bucketts Way.

The craft and gift shop Open but not..... Had all the wares on the foot path, the Open sign out front but the door was locked, yes it was Thursday and it was before 2pm (closing time) so it should be open. However, I discovered the owner was across the road at a ladies luncheon at the Krambach pub. You'd think she would close up shop for the day.....I guess that goes on in these little country villages.

Settled in - the dogs Toby and Rosey are wondering what's going on....

Tara, Brendan and kids Willow, Seth and Eva turned up for the week-end. Darl and I went in to Taree then decided to take the scenic drive over to Wingham. We went for a walk around Wingham Brush Nature Reserve right on the edge of town. It was a nice cool walk, lots of giant Moreton Bay figs, flying foxes and brush turkeys here.

This lovely tiled seat is dedicated to Mick Tuck memorial just in the park by the Wingham Brush reserve. Mick Tuck was mayor here for a period.

The old town wharf at Wingham is one of the few remaining remnants of the Manning River's historic past. The original wharf was constructed from turpentine timbers in the 1830's. The wharf became a major shipping port in 1835. It was used for the transportation of timber,farming and agricultural produce, at first by punt then sailing vessel, to Sydney. Later steamers and other coastal vessels used the river. All was very quiet and calm on the river today.

Wingham Brush is a tiny remnant of the vast riverine rainforest which stretched unbroken along the Manning floodplain from Mount George to the river's mouth. The Brush is a major maternity site for the Grey-headed Flying Fox. The mature Moreton Bay fig trees form part of a diverse floristic community. The flying foxes were a little noisy, we couldn't really see them high up in the trees.

This gives an idea of how the Moreton Bay figs strangle the host tree once it takes hold. Tiny seeds are deposited in the fork of a tree by a roosting bird or bat, the figs grow year by year down to the ground eventually taking over the host. Massive buttress roots support the weight of the trees in the shallow rainforest soils.

In the middle of town, this building caught my eye. Gibson, Skinner Butchers Shop was constructed in 1911. The interesting detail includes the awning and the parapet featuring a cow's head in relief work. Use of the shop has changed recently with the inclusion of a cookery school and commercial uses.

Central Park, this site is recognised of great significance in the history of Australian Rugby League. In a rugby union match played here in July 1907, popular NSW and Australian forward Alec Burdon, suffered a serious shoulder injury. Player unrest at rugby Officialdom's indifference to the plight of Burdon and other injured footballers was a major factor in the formation of the NSW Rugby League on 8 August 1907.

There you go, you learn something new every day.

We spent the rest of the week-end exploring the property – Willow wanted to take us for a walk to a waterfall, so Seth come too. Over the creek and up a hill through the bush, the track got narrower, then the leeches attacked!! Funny little things they are, move really quickly and boy do they suck on. Willow lost the way a bit - how long ago were you here Willow? - about a couple years ago…. Willow recognised the path on the way back down but it was also pretty overgrown and the leeches kind of took the edge of this little adventure, so we continued back to the house to rid ourselves of any leeches catching a ride.

My Darl making another friend, Eva looking awfully like a Sea Eagles supporter in her new jersey. I hope you are not encouraging Eva to drink Darl??

Darl helps Willow and Seth get rid of the leeches. But we missed a couple Tiger leeches and boy did they have a good suck, both Willow and Seth got one on their legs. We found out that salt is the best thing for getting them off, it also kills them dead.

A bit of boy talk going on.......Seth decides he's a bit bored with that

Randy took us for a drive up another hill, via the cows right up to the top of the property, the views fantastic. We went picking pumpkins and pimply squash, never heard of that one, it’s a squash like vegetable with a really nobby, hard thick skin.

Yeehah! Willow has a climb up onto Maisey. Seth had a go too.

My Darl the farmer Joe, pickin pumpkins and pimply squash

View from the top of property.....

It’s a great spot Randy and Trish have here, we always love coming to visit. We left with a cache of fresh herbs (chilli, basil, lemongrass, curry leaf, chives), mandarins, avos, pumpkin and one of those pimply squash. We are now starting to feel in very familiar territory, getting closer to home.

I can't leave out the girls, I don't recall all their names but I do know the brown one is "Sorry Chook" cause it played up and had to be segregated for a whiles. I think the others are Silver Chook and Speckled Chook and??? Then again I could be wrong.

Watch out for Purroo the big black cat, if you let your guard down like my Darl did the night we arrived you could get a bit of a fright. Purroo managed to get into the lower opening on tent door, when Darl tried to get into tent, Purroo went bolistic trying to get out. Darl thought he had a tassie tiger on his hands. Don't know who got the biggest fright.