We had been wanting to get away for a few days and Nundle is a destination that I have wanted to visit for many years.
Nundle is a small town at the foot of the Great Dividing Range that was declared a town in around the year 1885 after gold being discovered in nearby Hanging Rock and Swamp Creek around 1852.
I had always been told that at one point my paternal grandparents had lived in the Nundle area around 1921 and I was interested to chase up a little family history if possible.
We hooked our trusty little caravan on and headed off, travelling through the towns of Spring Ridge, Wallabadah and Quirindi. the vast open views along the way were stunning.
We set up camp at the Fossickers Caravan Park ,on the banks of the Peel River.
After all was organised we had a wander down to the river, which is very low at the moment due to the extreme drought conditions that we have been experiencing. The river edge is well cared for by the park owners.
I particularly loved the small rough layered rock formations along the river bank.
Nundle is famous for it's woollen mill, purpose built in 2001 to help sustain the wool industry.
It's beautiful old machines, mostly around the 100 year age were brought from other defunct wool mills around the country. It is believed to be the last wool spinning mill left in Australia and maybe even the last in the world working a commercial mill using machines of this age.
We visited and did the free tour and were totally amazed, would certainly do the tour all over again.
We were guided through the wool spinning process by the owner Nick and his assistant Isobelle.
After the tour we had a wander of the beautiful wool merchandise on offer for sale, and we purchased a pair each of their famous woollen socks.
One of the days we visited the Mount Misery Mine Cafe/guesthouse for lunch,
After lunch we toured the replica gold mine attached to the cafe/guesthouse.
My grandfather originally came to the Nundle area as a prospector and rumour has it that he also ran a butcher's shop in the area .
We found this old butcher's shop that was build in 1920 but there was no record of my grandfather ever being there, but we were told that in those early years there were many butcher shops in the area.
We did find however that my Grandfather, George Urquhart did join the fight in WW1 from Nundle.
There is an honour Roll on the Nundle Shire Council building with his name on it and some research at the Library verified this.
Nundle is at the foot of The Great Dividing Range and has an elevation of about 609 metres( or roughly 2,000 ft), the nearby town of Hanging Rock sits at 1100 metres (or roughly 3608 ft.) There is a large amount of logging done in the area and trucks are constantly travelling up and down the Nundle/Hanging Rock mountain road.
We went for a drive to Hanging Rock, but for some reason I had what I would describe as a panic attack and was unable to enjoy the high area great viewing spots and drives.
On the return trip we were caught behind this logging truck, which caused me a huge amount of anxiety. I hope I can overcome this fear of motion and heights as I really love the amazing views from up high.( as long as the car isn't moving)
The local Nundle pub, The Peel Inn, was a great spot for a few cool drinks or a meal, both of which we managed on a couple of occasions, we especially loved the huge outdoor table on the front verandah.
There are some lovely shops and galleries to wander through as well as a museum in the old court house.
Down near the bridge over the peel river we found this old metal piece of machinery, not sure what it was originally for but I just love taking pictures of it.
One of the days we took a trip up Tamworth way and did a surprise visit to some great old friends of ours that we haven't seen for a few years. We had a wonderful catch up at their place and then had a lovely lunch out at a nearby pub.
It really was good to see them again and hope we can organize to do it again before too long.
The caravan park was extremely well ran and was super clean. There was a great outdoor/indoor camp kitchen and fire pit area, which was very well used each night as the park was home to many families and couples over the long weekend. There were also some very friendly families of ducks wandering around the park during the day.
There were also some beautiful sunsets from the park looking over the river.
While we were there we took a drive out to the Nundle cemetery and put the drone up to take some photos of the surrounding area. The first photo shows Nundle around the centre of the picture and the second photo is more towards the Hanging Rock area.
There are a multitude of activities to do and things to see in the Nundle area and we only covered a few. We will certainly be returning to this beautiful ,interesting little town in the near future to continue the journey where we left off, armed with some more family history details to follow up on.
We hope to do a few more of these short holidays, targeting interesting towns not too far from home , just to get to know their history and what they have to offer the tourist today.
In these times of drought , it's good to call into a small country town and stay a few days, have a few meals out, stay locally and spend a few dollars in the town( it doesn't have to be a fortune, every dollar counts) Local country shopkeepers are doing it really tough too, just like our farmers!
So until we meet again,
Take care of yourself and your loved one,
Cheers
Jane and Brian.
