Best Made Plans Often Get Changed

After our two days in Gulgong we headed north-east to Scone (which rhymes with 'bone'). We have driven through Scone a number of times, but never stayed overnight. As we were coming in on a country road, it was strange not to drive through the town but to drive straight to the Golf Club, where we stayed for the night. The Golf Club has a fenced off area for overnight self contained camping. It is situated near the old 1870 lock up and constable's quarters. Today it houses the Scone Historical Museum and Records Centre. Next door is the old courthouse built in 1882, with the first courthouse, built in 1849 at the rear with a large stone wall that backs onto the Golf Club. Today it is a theatre.

We were fortunate that my cousin was also visiting Scone that night, so we had a lovely dinner in the Golf Club. The meal was very good, but so big. Scone is known as the Horse Capital of Australia and there are many horse sculptures throughout the small town. The area was first surveyed by Henry Dangar in 1824, and gazetted as Scone in 1837. There are many old buildings in streets around the main highway, and we may find out about them next time.

Our plan was to head to Chaffey Dam near Tamworth for a few days before our ten days at the Country Music Festival. However, our daughter was in and out of hospital with her pregnancy, so we decided to sadly skip the festival and head closer to home. There were already a number of vans camped around the dam, and we found a flat piece of ground with afternoon sun, so we set up.

I love the sunsets here at Chaffey - I love sunsets.

The next morning we paid our $5 fee and headed into Tamworth to met some friends for lunch before heading to Guyra. I did stop at Spotlight, as one does, to get some purple fabric. We had a good catch up with our friends at a cafe called Nouvelle Cafe, near the Rugby Park on Peel Street.

After lunch, and few hours drive north we came to Guyra. Guyra has a Lamb and Potato (and tomato) festival each January. We drive past the festival each year on our way to Tamworth. We set up at Mother of Ducks Lagoon (free camp), well I set up while Peter chatted to the neighbours. Peter always talks to everyone, and he does find out some interesting facts.

We had a couple of drinks while watching the golfers and then headed over to the Bowls Club for dinner. The food at the club has always been great and good value.

The next morning we went up to the main street to see what the festival was about. There were a lot of market stalls, food and crafts. It was interesting. Apparently there are a lot of local activities in different venues, but we only went to the markets. 

Next stop was our favourite Clifton, back in Queensland. Someone was in our regular spot so we set up next door. We actually liked it there.

For $10 a night for power and water, Clifton Recreation Grounds is a place we often stay before heading home, almost like we don't want to go home and we want to keep camping.

The next morning we relaxed and I got out the sewing machine to make a quick lap quilt... but, best made plans..... we packed up and headed home after only one night, so we could help at home.

This is why 💗

4 hours old.

Chaffey Dam N.S.W.

Chaffey Dam is located on the Peel River about 40km south of Tamworth, so we didn't travel very far for our next stop. We decided to travel a little way with friends we caught up with in Tamworth. It was so good to catch up, and it was like we hadn't been apart.

This is the main water supply for Tamworth, and is also used for irrigation. It appears that an extension to the dam wall has raised the level of the dam. This would explain why the water level looks high, and why some trees are now half under water.

In Queensland it is hard to find a sandwich filling called devon. It is a little like Qld luncheon, but not the same. N.S.W. has devon 🍔, so I had to buy some.

The dam is named after father, Frank, and son, Bill Chaffey, Tamworth members who served in the NSW Legislative Assembly. A proposal for the dam was suggested in 1914, but it wasn't until 1976 that construction started.

We had the most spectacular sunset, but then, aren't all sunsets spectacular.

The campground costs $5 a night and showers are $1. We are self contained, so had our showers FREE in the van 😊. The main amenities block was good. There are quiet a few trees for shade and a lot of grass. There were a lot of campers fishing and 'standing' in the water - we had temperatures of over 35 degrees each day.

After the first night, the boys decided we needed to move to get TV and internet reception - not sure why, they were probably trying to please us girls. So we moved away from the water and up the hill closer to the amenities block.

We were there with old friends, and we met, for the first time, a facebook friend. So great to met you Pat, and we will surely catch up again one one of our travels.

On the down side was the poor internet and satellite reception - and phones were hit and miss. We needed to travel to Nundle 'down the road' to get internet to pay the bills.

Being in a different location the next night, the sunset was different.

With temperatures predicted to be above 40 degrees the next few days we decided to head for a powered site - and air-conditioning.