We had a great excursion today. Margaret picked us up in the trusty van a little after 9:00 a.m. and we headed toward Mudgee. Along the way, we saw the beautiful Windemere Lake, created by the Windemere Dam on the Cudgegong River.
Surprisingly, none of the locals in the van had ever actually seen the dam itself, so when we came upon the road sign for the dam, Margaret turned off the highway and very soon we were at the very large Windemere Dam. It took 10 years to build, completed in 1984. The dam is 67 meters tall (219 feet) and 852 meters long (2,795 feet long). The storage capacity in the lake is 368,000 mega-liters, which is about 100 billion gallons. Currently, the reservoir is full because they’ve been having rain over the past several weeks.
We walked to the center of the dam wall so we could see the outflow from the dam and were treated to a wonderful vista of the downstream valley.
We then headed on to our next wonderful experience, The Drip. The Dripping Wall is within the Goulburn National Park where the Goulburn River meanders through the surrounding plateaus. The rocky landscape reveals all the spectacular features of weathered sandstone terrain, undulating ridge-tops and abrupt gorges edged with ocher-colored cliffs and caves, and pagoda rock formations. The walk along the Goulburn River to The Drip was really beautiful and the high cliffs and lush vegetation provided natural air conditioning giving us a respite from the hot sun.
While we were walking along the path there was a loud cacophony of sound in the trees. It would come and go every 30 seconds or so. Daniel found a specimen of the maker of the sound, a cicada. It’s cicada season here! And, wow, do they ever make noise.
Clare is really good at taking group selfies.
The Drip is an area of significant Aboriginal heritage. With more than 300 known sites, located mostly along the river, the area is very important to the local Wiradjuri Aboriginal people. You can easily see why the indigenous people would be drawn to this area. It is truly an awesome place.
The Drip is a large cliff face where water flows through the porous rock above and eventually drips out into the river. It’s very refreshing to catch some drips and cool down. Along there river, there are places where visitors cool off in the river where the river is a bit deeper.
Near The Drip there are some large boulders in the river and a small pass-through between the boulders where the water creates a tiny waterfall. It sounded great and I wanted to take a picture. I had to scramble up and around a couple of boulders to get this shot.
Shortly after I took this photo a man came along and wanted a similar shot and to shoot a video of the entire area. While he was filming, I was trying to figure out how I was going to get back to the river bank because I did a fair amount of scrambling to get to that spot. After the man stopped filming, I watched him as he stepped off the boulder we were on, onto another smaller one that was sticking up, and then to a good landing place on another. I thought that route seemed pretty good so I wanted to copy his footsteps. I stepped off the first boulder and onto the second, but my forward momentum was not sufficient (the man had very long legs!) and before I knew it I went ass over teakettle backwards right into the river. The river wasn’t deep and so I hit bottom (mine) pretty quickly with my legs up in the area and my head in the water. Fortunately, I didn’t hit anything to cause an injury, just scraped a knee. I jumped up and started dealing with my cellphone, which was in my pocket, and a hearing aide that nearly came out. Of course, everyone was very alarmed to see me fall backwards off the rock, but soon I was standing up and feeling very foolish for having fallen. We were all laughing afterwards. I was pretty soaked, but my phone survived no worse for the wear and my hearing aide only needed an airing out to dry. All’s well that ends well, but I’ve given us a lot to laugh about as everyone recalls how I fell and what they saw and thought watching me go.
Christine was taking this photo with her back to me when I fell into the river, so it was good that she didn’t actually see the event, but those four did and can tell you all about it!
I wasn’t the only one to have a mishap. Lou had two tumbles, one coming down a sandy rock where his feet slid out from under him, landing hard on his butt, and again traversing some slippery rocks falling onto his knee and hip. He skinned his knee and we were all worried because his fall was on his artificial knee, but he wasn’t badly injured. We’ll both be sore tomorrow.
After that, we headed back to the parking area and on to our next destination, Hands on Rock. A short distance from The Drip is another Aboriginal sacred spot. The walk through the bush and then up a rather steep hill to an escarpment having a cave-like area was a bit challenging due to loose stones the higher up we went, but it was a wonderful site when we arrived at the area where the Hands were.
Hands on Rock is a very culturally significant and idiosyncratic Aboriginal site for the Wiradjuri people. This was a crucial meeting point for trading goods, tribal ceremonies and corroborees (dance ceremonies) that happened at different times of the year. This sacred site consists of over one hundred hand stencils of women and children, emu feet and other motifs. It is a very fine example of the stencil style of rock painting. The magnificent sandstone rock cliff is the canvas for the images that are created by blowing wet paint from the mouth over and around a held object. Age and wear of the stone have removed many of the stencils, but there are several still visible.
We hiked back to the car, with Daniel and Clare being Christine’s guardian angels while she came down the steep, slippery rocks. They have been so attentive to us old ladies traversing the landscape. On the drive back to Mudgee, we went through a charming town, Gulgong, a 19th-century gold rush town. Many of the older buildings have been preserved. We tried to find someplace for a late lunch, but nothing was open late afternoon. Before leaving Gulgong, we drove up Flirtation Hill which provided a 360 degree panoramic view of the central tablelands area.
We did stop for a bite to eat in Mudgee and then made our way back to Lou’s. It was another fun-filled, wonderful day exploring this fantastic and beautiful area. Again, surprisingly, Lou and Margaret had never been to either The Drip or Hands on Rock, but Clare and Daniel had. I told Margaret we need to keep coming back to visit so she’ll see the area’s attractions.
What an adventure!