Blayney and Carcoar


Monday morning the 26th August finally came around. We did not try for an early start as I needed a good night sleep from a lot of night shift that I had been doing.

We got away at 10am and headed out to the M7 toward Bathurst. We made it to Bathurst for lunch in Berry Park. We remembered Berry Park as it was our first free camp on the first trip we ever did which was to Lake Eyre.

As we have only got ten days we wanted to do a lot of kilometres to get to the point where we were on virgin territory and then slow down and check things out. So we moved on through Blayney to Carcoar Dam. The dam is 13 kilometres south of Blayney and is a great free camp with clean toilets. From there we could check out Balyney and Carcoar.

The water level is down a lot but it is very pretty and we had phone and TV reception. I can’t understand why people would want to stay in a caravan park and pay, in this case, $32 at Blayney when we had this at the dam for free. This is our campsite at Carcoar Dam:










 It was a very relaxing first night away.



The next morning bacon and eggs went down well in our beautiful setting. We left the van and drove back the 13km to Blayney. We had a coffee beside the information centre, which wasn’t open. It is run on a voluntary basis and I guess they didn’t make it today. Right next door is the council and so we got some info there.

Following coffee and a bit of shopping we went up to the lookout. Blayney is a pretty town (as they all are pretty much) and it is set in a lovely, gently sloping valley:





While we were taking in the view the XPT came winding through the valley and stopped at Blayney. So if you like trains these are for you:






The old railway station was very impressive and is well kept:





There was not much in the way of impressive colonial buildings so we headed off to Carcoar where we knew we would find plenty. Carcoar is advertised as the ‘Town that Time Forgot’. Coming in from the northern end you are confronted with this view of the main street with its old buildings and that billing rings true immediately:

The town was established in 1843 by a wealthy landowner called Icey. He had many thousands of acres in the rich farming area and bred racehorses as you did in those days if you were a wealthy landowner. The Ben Hall gang and other bushrangers raided his property a few times and stole a thoroughbred or two which were must faster horses than the Police had. They let one of the thoroughbreds go at one time which made its way back to the station.

From the other end of town where the railway station is you get this view back over the town:

This is the old railway station:




In this old photo you see the railway station on the left and the rest of town in the background. Some of the existing buildings are also seen in the old photo:

Probably the oldest existing building is the 1849 convict built ‘Stoke Stable’:




There were no vehicles parked in the streets apart from outside the school. That was partly because the bistro at the pub is shut Mondays to Wednesdays, much to our disappointment:

I am sure that on weekends it would be a different story with tourists and locals enjoying the place. Here are some more photos of the character buildings:














We had our hearts set on a counter lunch at the pub, or at least I did, so it was back to Blayney for lunch. Had a great burger and chips at the Tattersals Hotel and then went back to camp.

On arrival back to the Dam we went and checked out the dam wall. You could drive over this one as it served as a bridge for the farming communities on the other side.







Back at camp and it was time to enjoy a fire.







It was another beautiful evening and following the fire we settled in to relax with a couple of favourite TV shows. Next morning we will be leaving the Dam and heading to Cowra.




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