Over the great dividing range to Mudgee

 Sunday 11 April

Someone turned the winter switch on. While we were warm in our heated cell, I mean room, the outside dropped to below zero. This morning all people who were not either locals or old were dressed for the snow. Again we pulled out the coats, beanies , wool sox and scarfs just to get to the car! 

But we felt we definitely couldn’t complain as the group of eight, mid 40’s couples who arrived at the pub after us last night were just finishing their breakfast in the communal kitchen so curiosity got the better of Lady P and she asked where they had come from and by what means of transport. Turns out they had ridden- that’s pedaled pushbikes,  44kms from Morouya on the Saturday and were heading back there today. With 30 knot winds it was likely to be a long and bitterly cold ride. They didn’t even have the benefit of slip stream lycra as they were all in puffer jackers to keep warm. 

We are heading for Mudgee today, which is a three plus hour drive, depending on which back track we take, so a quick piece of toast and a cup of tea in the hotel kitchenette and we were off to Mayfield Gardens, about an hour away. This is an amazing place and I’ll let Lady P describe it as she is the photographer, designer and expert on botany. 

We arrived at 9.30 and the café was already booked out. However, the pretty las with the tattoos and piercings got us a table on stools in the window. The smoked salmon, eggs benne and mushrooms (a side of country bacon) were delicious. 

We needed to walk to keep warm and to work off at least some of the large breakfast so after discovering we were in fact lucky enough to have timed our visit for one of the special openings of the whole garden (including the private family garden, we met Brenda from the local Rotary Club who advised us of the quickest way to get up to the Chook Hilton – a must see place as we too had built a Chook Hilton in Bingal Bay. 

We were also greeted through the car window by one of the property managers, who was married to the daughter of the original visionaries and developers, the Hawkins family. Everyone was was welcoming and friendly (although he didn’t offer us a lift up the hill in his nice warm car!!) 

After 9,000 steps and 80m climbing around ‘one of the world’s best cold climate gardens,’ we continued on towards Mudgee. A last minute decision to divert to Sofala, the oldest gold mining town in Australia – reminiscent of the cowboy town of Auburn in California – saw us in the front bar of the pub having a schooner of Toohey’s. Must keep the hydration up. 

This tiny town was like stepping back in time – a real Sovereign Hill, not a created one- and small enough to just wander and chat to the locals including the delightful gentleman sitting in the sun on the veranda of the old Post Office doing sudoku. His parents ran the post office when he was growing up and he has lived his whole life in Sofala – population 208. 

We arrived in Mudgee around 3.30pm and checked into the Woolpack Hotel in the main street. We have a nice en-suite room for three nights and have already had a cocktail in the bar.