New South Wales Tales Part I: Wandering Through Wagga Wagga

 After eight great days in Sydney, it was now time to explore some of the rest of the state of New South Wales. We had 16 days at liberty before the next scheduled activity, a cruise leaving Sydney on Saturday, April 16th. At first, my plans were overly ambitious. The state of New South Wales (NSW) may not look too big on the map, but Australia is about the size of the lower 48 US states, but here, there are only six states plus the Australian Capital territory  (that is 42 less if you do the math). It turns out, that makes NSW bigger than Texas and about as wide. That is BIG! And the Western 2/3's looks a lot like west Texas: a LONG way between dots on the map. I got a little more realistic, realizing I didn't want to spend 8-hour driving days.

Blue Mountains- Everyone agrees, the first stop out of Sydney to the west has to be the Blue Mountains, so we rented a car and hit the road. Two hours to the west, it is a completely different environment, cool with mists wafting in and out. The road climbs up about 3,300 ft. on top of ancient limestone ridges, with clefts looking into prehistoric valleys, as wide but not as deep and much older than the Grand Canyon. A train was also built through here, making it a popular vacation spot for the last 150 years. Towns like Katoomba are picturesque and verdant, and the views and trails are outstanding. The most famous formation is called The Three Sisters, which they say was named after a local legend. Three beautiful princesses were turned into pillars of stone by an evil sorcerer. Their father was turned into a lyrebird who roams the area seeking to release the spell. I did manage to spot said lyrebird,

Lyrebird

so named because when the male's tail-feathers open peacock-like they resemble the ancient stringed instrument. The bird is also a very skilled vocal mimic One guide said he heard one perfectly imitate the sound of a 1962 VW van engine. 

One popular local attraction is cleverly called "Scenic World". You can take the "world's steepest funicular railroad", with its 52 degree incline, into the valley. The railway is a remnant of coal mining in the 19th and 20th centuries. At the bottom, there is a nicely done elevated walkway through the rainforest, with plenty of flora and fauna to appreciate.

Magpie

A cable car will take you back up, and for good measure, a gondola will sweep you across the gorge with literally a birds-eye view of Katoomba Falls.

Katoomba Falls

Corny, but fun, with spectacular view over the Jamison Valley.

Jamison Valley

To the north are more fantastic canyons and waterfalls. It was near here in 1994 in a remote valley, a stand of coniferous trees of a type thought to have been extinct for millions of years was found and named the Wollemi pine. The exact location is still a closely guarded secret.

Grose Valley

Bridal Veil Falls/ Govett's Leap

Continuing west, the western edge of the Blue Mountains is Lithgow, a rail stop and old mining town noted most for a few things. The first steel blast furnace in the country was here, and although it was built little over a century ago, most 3,000 year-old Egyptian sites are in better shape.

Bosh skull at ruined steel mill, Lithgow

It was also the home of Marjorie Jackson, aka "The Lithgow Flash", a gold-medal winning sprinter in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

The Lithgow Flash

We continue further west, through rolling plains to Dubbo, a farming and mining town with a fabulous zoo, the Taronga Western Plains Zoo. It is a branch of the Sydney Taronga Zoo dedicated to preservation of many endangered species presented in an open range style with lots of space and no cages. the visitor takes a several mile-long stroll, drive, or bike ride to visit the animals. At times it seems as if you might be in the Serengeti, particularly with all of the African animals. We were more interested in the Australian creatures.

Wombat

Koala

Wallaby

Short-beaked Echidna

 Dubbo is also proud of its new Western Plains Cultural Center, and also their Western outlaw past. You can take a mixed media tour of the Old Dubbo Gaol and see the hologram of the hangman and gallows.

Gaol

The whole region has a slightly twisted American west Dodge City Kansas feel, although here they seem to revere their outlaws, theives, and murderers (called bushrangers) even more than we do. At least in US Western lore, we have legendary lawmen too. Perhaps it has something to do with their penal colony past, but people are more excited about tales of  desperadoes like Ben Hall and especially Ned Kelly. Dubbo was the furthest west we would venture, choosing to now turn southward.


Parkes was content to be known as the home of the radio telescope featured in the 2000 Aussie film The Dish, but now also hosts the yearly Parkes Elvis Festival in January for his birthday, as well as a museum of Elvisiana. Why? Because he is the King, I guess ( EP never visited there, though).

Canowindra is a tiny but fascinating place, and considers itself the hot air balloon capital of Australia. We just missed the annual championship. The visitors information center also houses the irresistibly-named "Age of Fishes Museum" (irresistable to nerds like me, anyway).In the 1950's, a sharp-eyed bulldozer driver noted an unusual slab of rock that turned out to contain fossils of tens of thousands of long extinct armor-plated fishes. The town is very proud of this, and our tour was memorably guided by a particularly enthusiastic and well-informed volunteer.

Cast of fish fossil

In Cowra we learned of the August 1944 suicidal breakout of 1000 Japanese prisoners of war which resulted in 231 Japanese dead along with four Australians. Ironically it has led to a very close bond between Cowra and Japan, and a mutual dedication to the goal of world peace. There is a Japanese war cemetery and a Japanese Garden. Also, the bridge supports over the Cowra River has been painted with contemporary Aboriginal-inspired paintings. 

Another Echidna

Continuing south took us through Cootamundra which is proud to be the birthplace of the legendary Don Bradman (the Don), who as perhaps the greatest batsman in cricket history could be called that sport's Babe Ruth. (As they say, you can look it up. I had to, being previously ignorant of that fact.) 
Junee has a fun organic licorice factory tour,

and we continued on down to Wagga Wagga. This town of 47,000 is on the banks of the serpentine Murrumbidgee River and has a very pleasant mid-western feel. It is home to some nice museums, one dedicated to Aussie glass art, a botanic garden, and lovely river and lakeside walking paths.
Tumut is a short drive to the east, and is on the western side of the Snowy Mountains. Tumut was a delightful small creek side town in the foothills with good pub food and friendly people. A community effort saved the 1920's vintage movie theater which they run as a non-profit. The chairman of the board was tidying up when we popped our heads in, and he gave us an impromptu tour.

The Snowy Mountains are considered the only Alpine area in Australia, and has the continent's highest point, Mt. Kosciusko at 2228 meters (7,352 feet). There is a ski area and it is the center of the Snowy Mountain Scheme, one of Australia's largest and most ambitious public works projects. The series of dams, lakes, and hydroelectric generators took 25 years and 100,000 workers to complete in the '50's through the '70's. You may also have heard of the region from the book and movie "The Man from Snowy River", or the more recent film "Jindabyne". I found it nothing like that. Having been to the Sierras, Rockies, and New Zealand Southern Alps, I was expecting something a bit more majestic. Even the locals admit the mountains are more of the "rolling" variety than steep and craggy. It is in fact difficult to find an impressive photo of Mt. K., even in the official tourist information. Jindabyne was a small newish resort town out of season (the original town is beneath the new lake).

Statue of a Polish Explorer on the shores of Lake Jindabyne

It was an interesting stop, none the less, as we had a woodsy drive through the National Park, and an interesting meal at the local mom and pop Persian restaurant (I eschewed the camel kebabs for the lamb), and a $10 cook-your-own steak at our casino/motel (pretty good piece of beef, or at least I think it was beef).
Cooma was the headquarters of the Snowy Mountains Scheme and has a visitor's center with displays and dioramas that convey magnitude of the project.

Nanny Goat Hill, Cooma, NSW

Relief Map of the Scheme

We took a side trip about one hour away to the quiet town of Bombala to visit the Platypus Reserve. We were hoping to espy the unique and shy creatures in their natural environment. No platypodes were spotted, but we did spend a pleasantly peaceful hour or two on the riverbank.

On to Canberra, the capital.