Sweet Wayfaring

We passed through Bakers Swamp without noticing anything.  Then reached our last dot on the map for this trip - Larras Lee and saw this.  The roadside monument says: In Memory of  WILLIAM LEE  (1794 - 1870)  of "Larras Lake"  a pioneer of the sheep  and cattle industry  and first member for  Roxburgh under responsible  government (1856 - 1859).  This stone was erected  by his descendants.  --- 1938 --- This is a repost from a few days ago. Thinking I would use this for this week’s Taphophile Tragics post I dug a little further into William Lee’s story, it’s a very colonial Australian one. William was born of convict parents, living his childhood years around the Sydney region. In his early 20s he was issued with some government cattle, recommended as a suitable settler and granted 134 acres at Kelso near Bathurst. He was one of the first in the area and did well. A few years later he was granted a ram and an inc...

I thought the little church at Neurea looked lovely nestled in the grass.  There is not much else to mark this spot on the map. I've added  Neurea as locality at 100 Towns

It's raining again!  And we discovered that we left some things back that the motel in Wellington.  So it's back up the road to collect them.  The upside is we can use a different road and tick off a few more towns.

In old towns we are used to old churches with old cemeteries but at Mullion Creek this simple old galvanised tin shed church has a new cemetery!  The first burial occurred in 2007. Apparently the town never had a cemetery and  it was a bit of a struggle getting the approval for this one.  I'm not surprised.  It's in the very centre of this tiny town. See more of  Mullion Creek at 100 Towns. My contribution to Taphophile Tragics this week.

We stopped at this intersection a to take a photo of a decaying shed and I realised I had photographed that building before.  So I took a photo of the house over the road instead before heading the 1km up the road to see what was on offer. Visit Euchareena at 100 Towns.

Stuart Town is the kind of place where the ghosts of the past are visible. See more of Stuart Town at 100 Towns.

Next we rolled down the road to Stuart Town, yet another railway town, but unlike most (and the sign left on the chalk board) this one is visited daily by the Sydney-Dubbo XPT passenger service. I was interested in the unusual church-like portico on the railway station.  Closer inspection revealed that it is only ever visited by spiders and pigeons.

Here we go, Lake Burrendong as it is today.  That's much better than the miserable 25% full puddle of a few years ago. We also saw another town.   Visit Mumbil at 100 Towns .

We are heading south along the road that leads from Wellington past Lake Burrendong. I wanted to see how the water level was rising. I was also keen to go along this road because I remembered this photogenic abandoned church beside the road. What is didn't realise until I saw the sign "Dripstone 1km" there might be small town up the road. Visit Dripstone at 100 Towns.     You'll see the church in a dryer season over there,

As we were leaving Wellington the local cemetery caught my eye. All those graves watching the crops come and go year after year. A contribution for tomorrow's Taphophile Tragics meme .

At Twelve Mile we headed west towards Wellington where we were spent the night.  I really like rocky outcrops like this. We have visited Wellington on a number of occasions.   You can visit Wellington at 100 Towns.

We bump along a while longer and come to an intersection which is another dot on the map called "Twelve Mile". It's just a sign post to Wellington and a couple of other places.  Oh well that is two "towns" I can cross off my list. A bit of googling when I got home revealed on page 10 that Yarrabin was once a small village with a shop, school, hall and church but there is nothing there now. I'm so glad I didn't look that up beforehand, we would have missed this delightful drive. I've added  Localities at 100 Towns

Plenty of shearing sheds around here but still no sign of Yarrabin.  I'm getting worried because we have been driving quite a long time and what if this road ends up at a farm gate and we have to go back the way we came. I dig out Madam Tom Tom who reassures me that we are not heading towards a dead end but also that Yarrabin was way back there somewhere.

A great new addition to the abandoned collection. [I've reposted this because the original image was crocked and drove me nuts every time I saw it.]

It's not Paterson's Curse, it is purple top Verbena.  I don't know if it is a troublesome weed. There were certainly quite big patches of it. Visit Obley at 100 Towns .

For those who like rust.

Alpacas, horses, cattle and the odd black faced sheep (Ok I didn't get a photo of the sheep). And still no sign of Yarrabin but I am enjoying this drive.

We have to drive carefully. Not because the track is dirt (it is in good nick), more because much of it is unfenced so there are animals wandering about all over the place. There are cattle grids at the properly dividing lines.  We are going over a lot of grids but no sign of Yarrabin. Visit Cudal at 100 Towns (After a brief trial with Wordpress I've decided I prefer Blogger so 100 Towns has moved.)

Goodie, an abandoned building with a windmill thrown in for good measure.

We passed by a shady creek.  OOo I like rocky creeks like this. This road has promise.

With my new 100 towns project in mind we set off on a new track west of Mudgee looking for Yarrabin ... not sure if it is a town or just a dot on the map.  It didn't take me long to ask the car to stop for photo of an old building which in the end was not so good but this old tree growing by the fence interested me.  Are these pears?

Railway Station, Mudgee. Now a gallery and restaurant. Today I am starting a new project - to visit and photograph 100 towns in Central NSW.  It's not so much a blog as a gallery of selected images from towns I have already visited and motivation to go see the rest. I will be posting once of twice a week and will  drop a note at the bottom of my Sweet Wayfaring post when a new town has been added to the gallery.  You will find more about it over there. Visit Sofala  at 100 Towns

Lake Windemere Over the past couple of years I've been watching this scene change from dried out puddles to a lovely lake.   Check out how it looked from this spot 18 months ago .  Its water storage is now around 50%

Shed, Apple Tree Flat, near Mudgee The sun shone this weekend and it was wonderful.  But last weekend, after yet another week of living in the clouds I just had to go and try and find a place that was a little less damp, dull and grey so we took off west for the weekend.  A circuit via Mudgee to Wellington where we stayed the night and then back home via Orange and Bathurst.  Territory we have covered before but we took a few less travelled tracks on the way.

On the road to Sofala Time to go home, more rain clouds gathering.

Near Wattle Flat I think they may have switched to email.

Wattle Flat The weather might not be hot this year but the red hot pokers are.

Wattle Flat And of course I had to get an abandoned building into the series too.  I've passed this one a few times when it has not been convenient to get a photograph so have been itching to get a shot of it.

Mail boxes somewhere between Rockley and Perthville When I look at this today I think I should have used it as my Australia Day shot. And it's time to pop over to the Royal Collection again. Gemma from Morning Peninsula has sent in the Royal from her lovely spot by the sea.