Having rambled on for ages in my last post, I will try not to blather on so much this time.
Last weekend my husband and I and our two dogs (who have been renamed Beauty and the Beast) set off on a jaunt to Bathurst.
Bathurst is a town I know and love since my paternal grandparents were both born and raised there and it plays a big part in the family history. My husband was also born in Bathurst and he returned there as a young adult to attend Charles Sturt University.
To get to Bathurst from Canberra, we took the road through Gunning, Grabben Gullen, Crookwell, Binda and Tuena. It was approximately a four hour drive.
Binda, by the way, was where we lived for a few years when I was a kid.
Here is a little stone church at Tuena, where we stopped to let our doggies out for a run around.
Tuena is in a hilly little valley with the Abercrombie River running through it. The town was the site of a gold rush back in the 1850s, but it is hard to imagine the hustle and bustle of a mining settlement on a peaceful Friday evening.

Bathurst is also a gold mining town, but much larger and more prosperous than little Tuena. It is the oldest inland town in Australia, having been founded once the convict settlement in Sydney ran out of land for agricultural purposes. Explorers crossed the Blue Mountains to find rich grazing land and Bathurst was doing very well from sheep and cattle grazing before gold was discovered there in 1851. The gold rush brought prosperity to the town and also bushrangers who would rob the stagecoaches transporting the metal to Sydney.
Here is the view from the house we borrowed for the weekend. It was on the road out of Bathurst towards Orange.
Here are the iceberg roses lining the front verandah. Icebergs are not my favourite rose, but you can't beat them for a dramatic display of white blooms.

Here is the beautiful park in town.


In the afternoon we ventured out for a drive through the countryside. We went to historic Millthorpe. If you want to see some lovely photos, have a look at their website. The red marker on the map at the top of this post shows the location of Millthorpe.
Millthorpe is in a cold climate grape growing region. Here is a vineyard across from the railway station.
(L) A room at Millthorpe station. Was this the lost property department?
Well thanks for reading my blog post. If you have any questions about Bathurst, please feel free to leave them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them.
That church is stunning! I love the door photo!! Such beautiful flowers too:)
ReplyDeleteI always love these peeks into your lovely country...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tour! Wish I could visit Australia some day!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing your trip with us. I almost feel like I have visited Australia.
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