Saturday 29 June - The time finally came, after some drawn out and half-hearted packing, to launch into gear, undertake a massive laundry day, make up the bed, bathroom, hoover, wipe down the kitchen, empty and defrost the fridge to finally, have an early night and prepare ourselves for a 'stupid o'clock' get up time. And of course, we were up an hour earlier than we had to be - why oh why do we do it to ourselves? We were seated on the Western Explorer XPT at Central by 7 am and already I was fighting to keep my eyes open. Fighting to keep them from falling out of my head. Excited to be heading away for a change of scenery and almost 3 weeks in the Mudgee wine region in a fabulous house with a vehicle and a pooch - but mainly just dog tired. It was a glorious train ride up to Lithgow and the very first time we'd done the super scenic train sector between Mt Victoria and Lithgow. When we were housesitting in Mt Victoria we just used to drive up to Lithgow - but the scenery and rock formations on the rail line through Zig Zag and Bell were outstanding. Off the train and onto the TrainLink Coach, a truly seamless transfer and before we knew it we were en route for Mudgee - just a 2 hour and 15 minute scenic coach ride out west. Everything is scenic out this way it seems. The pioneer spirit was strong (albeit knackered) on Saturday.

We were both uber-impressed with the whole TrainLink experience and jumped off the coach in Mudgee and made our way through the park to reach our new home. Actually flasher and larger than the photos - which is always nice to find. The force was not strong at this point - we put a brave face on it, met the hosts, their children and the dog and headed to the hotel they'd booked us for the Saturday night - already having quite the little trip away we were. We considered going out for dinner but figured we were too tired to enjoy it and supremely not interested in being near people - so we got the lay of the land, nipped into Coles for a couple of bowl salads, a roast chook and some turkish bread - the perfect in-room picnic dinner and a decaf and local gourmet chocs for dessert. It's been a long while since we've stayed in a regular, poky little hotel room. And will probably be an even longer while until we do so again. But it wasn't on our dime. We finished dinner and dozed through a movie. It's a sad hotel stay when 'the gourmet chocs were nice' and 'the wifi works' are the only positives to be said. It was well worth reading the compendium just for a laugh - handy to know that should you be planning to steal coat hangers - that'll be $3 each and should you take all the supplied tea and coffee - that'll set you back $20 - It's tempting just to stir and take all but one tea bag and see what happens. Maybe they've been the victims of grand theft amenities in the past, however it was quite possibly the least hospitable vibe we've ever encountered.

Sunday 30 June - This being Australia (and NZ - you're as bad), checkout time was 10 am (and yes, there was a detailed list of fees in the compendium for overstaying your visa… sorry 'welcome'). There was nothing to hang about for so we wandered over to the house on Sunday morning. The pooch was certainly curious as to where her family of 5 had disappeared to but happy enough to see us for sure. It rained later on Sunday which was brilliant - It made our plan for Monday an easy one as rain was a prerequisite to make the Drip Gorge a reality.

Monday 1 July - The day dawned fine and bright (yep - we've brought the Sydney weather with us). Today was our first driving outing in a long while being car-free city dwellers. We planned the trip to allow us to stop for a photo opportunity at Frog Rock (not surprisingly it's a rock shaped like a frog - a damned big frog). Then onwards to the Drip Gorge. The walk was stunning after the rains on Sunday, although a Grade 4 track - which almost put me off. Turns out I'm fitter than I figured and we were there and back in no time - it being a Monday we had the place almost to ourselves and the peace and tranquility was divine as we meandered under the towering sandstone formations and along the track until we reached a 100% natural vertical garden - with lots of drips adding to the effect. We'd planned ahead for these sort of outings during the visit and brought two drink/food thermoses (thermi?) with us. Had our coffees and a couple of chocolates and saw 2 gorgeous birds - the Superb Fairy Wren (or more simply but still superb, a Blue Wren) and a Yellow Robin - seriously beautiful the pair of them. It's not that either of us are bird watchers generally speaking - we had the most basic of interests even when we were trotting about Africa 12 years ago - but they grow on you… especially when they are brightly coloured, unusual and a bit of a change from the pidgeons, seagulls and cockatoos of the inner city. We finished up at the Drip Gorge and continued onwards for a fleeting visit of Gulgong, which we'll put aside for a proper visit another day. We had lunch at home and took the pooch for an evening walk and a closer look at Mudgee's historic Railway Station - how historic? Last passenger train came through in November 1985. Still a glorious building though and the region has been served by coaches ever since. We are both train lovers and it would have been outstanding to take the train the whole way, but there you have it.

Tuesday 2 July - We had such a fantastic outing to the Drip Gorge we were keen to keep the momentum up and decided to take the back road (the 'not the highway') to the historic town of Rylstone. This is one of the many small and history soaked towns of the central tablelands that undoubtedly comes to life on weekends with mini-break visitors and markets. Suffice it to say it's not just historic, but also ghost-town-esque on Tuesdays. Vewy, vewy quiet indeed and no waskally wabbits (to paraphrase Elmer Fudd). But we had an enjoyable lap of the town and checked out the historic building highlights. We are trying on each outing to go one way and come back another, so took the highway home (OMG - wombats need to more of a protected species… they were littering the road in places - never ever seen so many and so dead). The purpose of this half of the trip was to visit the Windermere dam which was amazing just by being a large amount of water seemingly in the middle of nowhere. We strolled out to the centre of the dam itself and enjoyed the views… and the serenity.

Wednesday 3 July - We had it on good authority that the best Chinese food in town (and the best deal on the best Chinese food in town) was the restaurant at the Golf Club. Yessss! Incredible - the satay chicken was to die for. They only open from Wednesday to Saturday for lunch (and Sunday but no lunch special available). Suffice it to say our arrival took the average age of patrons down by 20 years. The interior vibe was 'nursing home lunch hour' so we took ourselves to an outdoors table which was undoubtedly chilly - but we were dressed for it and looking at the undulating green course, trees and birds was outstanding. The lady who brought our food out was impressed at the hardiness of the city dwellers. Little did she know. Once we finished lunch, we ordered a couple more satay chickens to stash in the freezer for emergencies and hoofed it home. Hard to feel guilty about lunch when we are walking everywhere (making a point to use Shanks's Pony all around town and only using the ute for proper driving). Our adventure after lunch was popping the pooch in the ute and taking her for an exploration of the Putta Bucca Wetlands reserve for a walk and a coffee by the water. All good. It was a quarry once upon a time, but muchly rehabilitated and enjoyable.

Thursday 4 July - Today's outing was the longest drive of the trip, a bit over an hour out to the historic mining town of Hill End. We enjoyed the drive and even though it's school holidays, there was not a lot of traffic about - must be the mid-week thing. It was a super drive and blew the cobwebs out (particularly of the pooch in the tray of the ute). We had a leg stretch upon arrival and even poked our noses into the pub to see what the lunch prices were like. If you can believe it, like Sydney's prices - except higher. Luckily we brought some eats with us. We headed off on the Bald Hill Track and it was a great loop with lots of remnants of the gold mining frenzy that gripped the area back in the day. It was so peaceful we only saw one other couple on the whole walk. It was fascinating - not just the historic remnants but the sparkling quartz and massive quartz reef lurching up out of the ground. Nature is certainly taking it all back - there are spots with dams and walls and equipment but only obvious when you see a sign pointing them out - another 10 years and we think you'd be pressed to even know some of it is still there. It was a lovely sunny day and the spirit of adventure was still upon us so we drove home home the 'other' way according to Google Maps - aahhhhh - unsealed 80% of the way - that was exciting... we were all a bit rough and tumbled and jumbled inside by the time we reached the sealed road and thankfully got home shortly thereafter.

Friday 5 July - Not surprisingly after a massive trek, drive and day out, today saw us wake up (barely) and utterly knackered. We are enjoying the novelty of driving about in the beautiful country side so went for a very quiet drive to and from Gulgong, our neighbouring town. We enjoyed the historic nature of the town. We probably should have stayed in bed but wanted to keep everything moving so it didn't seize up. This fitness caper is deceiving. Can't believe we've been here a week already - Markets tomorrow!

Saturday 6 July - St John's Church Market - Our first market in the area and probably the best. We bought some wine from a winery stall - bubbles for breakfast!, some fig paste, some homemade marmalade and tomato relish. We would rather buy from a winery at a market where we are welcome to have a taste than drive to a cellar door and have to cough up tasting fees for the privilege. We figure we are invisible tourist money simply because we are not down as hotel/B&B/AirBnB room nights… a little bit of phantom cash boosting the economy.
After the market we trundled along to visit Mudgee's two op shops - like the rival families in Romeo & Juliet, they are over the road from one another and both worth keeping an eye on. OMG - Gee Whizz - The Vinnies Garage Sale was on down behind the shop (in the garage logically enough) - how could we not know? Apparently they are held once per season and a good excuse to clear a lot of things out. It was absolute bargain central - and if I say something's a bargain then it is really, really cheap. Some insta-generation types were there, just a couple, and within minutes they'd put the word out on their socials and flocks of friends turned up to rummage through boxes with the rest of us. Think enormous, astounding pile of exciting finds and bargains with most things in the boxes costing $1 for 4 items. Yep - 25c each. James went hunting through boxes and heaven forbid - I headed for the expensive section - the four cartons of junk jewellery where 4 ziplock bags (with one or two or more items in each bag) cost $2. With a fair amount of determination we managed to spend $13 between us, albeit including a 'splurge' on a vintage costume brooch from inside the actual shop for $6. Which means all our garage sale finds came to a stonking $7 - two scented candles, an insulated water bottle, cable style luggage lock, gift bags for my tiny eBay concern, all brand new. Then there were stacks of jewellery (albeit after concerted fossicking and sitting on the cold hard ground so I could really focus - including a tiny pair of lightweight gold earrings and a massive handmade silver necklace that started it's journey in Bali). We had such a lovely day and a rest in the afternoon then trundled out for a town walk with our mentally unhinged dog who has, perhaps, been having far too much fun and was overstimulated. She was an idiot in the park and a complete idiot in town including pulling James's arm almost out of its socket and then taking off with speed and power and pulling me off my feet. Winner of World's Most Unpopular dog award that night. And for a few days thereafter - so sore I felt sick. Highly recommend not going from vertical to horizontal at full stretch on the cold hard ground in a split second. Dogs weighing in over 50 kgs with very little discipline are evil… certainly would become an unnecessary evil if we had our way.

As such, feeling ill, stiff, sore and grumpy, 7-8-9 July were very, very quiet days at home.

Wednesday 10 July - It's becoming clear that a couple of weeks in Mudgee is more than most people do who don't actually live here. Lovely winter climate though - but scorchingly hot and dry in summer. The last time we visited was 15 or more years ago when the locusts had more or less razed it to the ground, so I can see why people base themselves here in winter - but we will have no need to return. Highlight today was visiting a local thrift store that's been closed and was having a grand opening in order to empty itself out and presumably have a grand closing. We bought 3 pairs of jeans ($1 each), a shirt $2, a chunky silver chain $1 and onyx pendant $3 and then carted our finds off home to launder, polish and enjoy. We visited Putta Bucca again this afternoon, one of the few spots where we can tolerate the pooch's shenanigans, then returned to town for a final walk around the shops where I picked up a beautiful piece of Robert Wynne 'Denizen' art glass for $3. I didn't think to ask for bubble wrap - I was too keen to decipher the signature on the pontil mark - so carried it home reverently and sat it safely on a mantel while I figured out it was around 35 years old and had been blown in a studio in Manly before making its journey to the countryside - just beautiful.

Thursday 11 July - Slightly less quiet day. Another visit to Putta Bucca Wetlands with the demon dog. Albeit from two different stores, it was a real gold day, finding two pairs of gold earrings in one day is like the start of the next gold rush as far as I'm concerned. We were on tenterhooks as the afternoon progressed, waiting for the go / no go call as to weather and whether or not our anniversary hot-air ballooning experience would go ahead. Friday was the only day that was possible in the 2.5 week stay (and the Saturday option was sold out) - so it was going to be Friday or bust. The weather all week had been very damp in the mornings and Thursday morning had been wall to wall fog - so it was a joyous moment when we had the news that the pilot had confirmed the flight was a go. We laid out clothes, set the alarm, charged a back up camera and got seriously excited before pre-cutting some fruit salad to have before departure.

Friday 12 July - BALLOONING DAY! Thankfully the meeting point was only a 2 minute walk from home, so we were up at 5 am - which is a sleep in by hot air ballooning standards. We were on the mini-bus at 6.15 am and like two big kids for our very first balloon ride in Australia. There was a tiny bit of mist, but no fog and it was fascinating to see the pilot sending up a couple of test balloons (small!) to see how the wind was behaving at different levels… pretty much determined which way we drove out of town and which landing zone we'd be aiming for on the flight itself. In the other places we've ballooned there is usually a decent sized crew for inflation, deflation, packing the balloon away and setting up the champagne and breakfast post flight. Apparently all those other spots have MUCH lower labour costs. Here it was the pilot, the bus driver and one crew member who took breakfast orders and checked us in. Hang on - figured it out - We were in fact the crew! Woo hoo - Total immersion ballooning experience. We will never tire of seeing a massive balloon slowly but surely inflate and float into the air - there were some first timers on the flight and I'm not entirely sure they appreciated the (lack of) gravity of the situation. Just wow. We were aloft by sunrise and gently cruising over the wineries and taking 360 degree photos. The basket was a bit over 50% capacity so lots of room to spread out. An enjoyable trip had by all and the fun just kept coming when we landed - aside from anything else seeing kangaroos bounding through vineyards was a pretty cool experience. Once on the ground we morphed from guests to crew once more and even got to walk inside the balloon as it was deflating being helping to push the air out of it and then assist in rolling it up and stowing it in the trailer. Definitely a first for us. It was quite a good workout and lucky we'd had some fruit before departure. We jumped on the bus to head back to town for breakfast at a local cafe and sparkling cocktails - local bubbles mixed with either guava or mango juice. All was well. Not quite the romance of popping corks in the field and the pilot laying out breakfast - but given the skeleton crew - seriously yummy and not a restaurant we would go to in the usual course of affairs.

We had had such a fabulous morning at this point and it was only 10 am - so far too early in the day to head home and call it quits. We decided to try our luck at Rylstone again on the basis that it might be a bit more lively on a Friday (and it was.) We strolled the main street with a lot of people by local standards and loaded up a carton with half a dozen different home made jams and chutneys from the local thrift store. Think Fig and Ginger jam amongst others - outstanding. We enjoyed ourselves so much and were chatting away on the way home and quite in awe of the different scenery - initially putting it down to 'things look different on the way back'. As it turned out, we'd missed our turn and taken ourselves on a very long diversion (when we should have had 10 minutes left to drive - we had an hour and a half… now that's a diversion). In the end we drove over the Great Dividing Range at the Munghorn Gap. Stunning scenery and exhorbitant amounts of roadkill - we must reiterate, the Common Wombat won't be that common anymore if the good burghers of Mudgee continue to kill them in droves via vehicular homicide. We saw one in particular dearly departed Wombat of significant size in the middle of the road and and 50 metres later a ute pulled over with it's front end significantly banged up and closer to its middle bit. Sheesh… driving slowed even more at that point. Luckily the scenery was outstanding. Luckily we'd put $30 in the tank before leaving Rylstone… pretty much used that up on the extended excursion home. World's least popular pooch was definitely happy to see us as the afternoon turned to evening and her dinner bell started ring.

Saturday 13 July - Today it was our opportunity to amuse ourselves at the Lawson Park Markets in Mudgee. We'd taken a walk through this park previously (back when the dog was popular) and it was great to see it come alive with stalls. It would be reasonable to think that the markets would consist of the same vendors, setting up in different locations on different Saturdays of the month - but no. Obviously some of the faces are the same but there were also a few garage-sale type stalls at this market which was bargain-central for me - I picked up a nice silver pendant to scratch the daily shopping urge. We decided we hadn't bought nearly enough home made jam at the Rylstone shop on Friday so returned once more and selected some more flavours (our bags are going to be so much heavier on the return trip to Sydney). We also put another $30 into the tank. Prices are easily 15-18 cents cheaper per litre than buying in Mudgee town. We managed not to miss the turn and ventured home the correct route.

Sunday 14 July - The highlight of this adventure was definitely the ballooning and now that that has gone off without a hitch, the visit is certainly winding up. We had a couple of local walks around town and were generally a bit tired. Sunday afternoon in particular the pavements are rolled up in Mudgee and very little is open. Sleepy Hollow indeed. That's why God invented Netflix and it would be rude to ignore its plentiful bounty of entertainment.

Monday 15 July - We have really enjoyed this opportunity to explore and do some bush walks while we've been in the country. The last adventures on the to do list were a stroll around the old company town of Kandos - a small town built on a large scale but suffering the scourge of empty shops that hits a lot of places - still, a nice walk. The main event was the Ferntree Gully hike where the last remaining Satay Chicken in the freezer came into its own. We heated it up, rice and all and added a heap of green beans. Once piping hot we split the mixture between our two thermos food flasks, used our 25c insulated water bottle from the garage sale for hot water and took some coffee fixings with us. Prior preparation and all that jazz. The walk was the most challenging yet and luckily we'd found a blog post that showed how challenging it would be due to landslips and the trail being demolished in places - clambering up and over boulders is about as hard core as I need it to be. The only thing more outstanding than the Indiana Jones/Petra Walk to the Treasury vibe of this gully was our hot lunch when we finally completed the loop and reached the ute. Magic. The weather was perfect for our hike - it hailed on the drive back then cleared up completely - so changeable it had to be seen to be believed but luckily our walk was on dry ground.

Tuesday 16 July - It was officially packing day today. Not just having a half-hearted tidy up and putting a bit away here and there - but actual collect up everything we have brought with us and everything bought here and put it in the one spot, in the one room. Harder than one might imagine in a massive house - bad enough in a small apartment. The scented candle in the living room, the book next to the bath, the phone charger in the bedroom, the USB stick in the back of the PC. Among other things. But pack we did. We definitely brought too much with us - though a great deal was worn, we also brought the warmer Sydney weather with us - and now, finally on the last couple of days, it's chilling down to more normal winter temps and we are using our winter gear. Then of course there were the various finds and bargains from during our stay - 7 or 8 jars of homemade preserves, a large jewellery box, a stupendous piece of studio art glass from the late 1980s/early '90s. Thankfully sitting only 15 cm high, I swaddled it in two thick fur hats and tucked it into my carry on bag - once something fragile is packed, the trick is to forget it's there - there is an ongoing joke or bet as to whether or not it will make it home in one piece. I'm quietly confident. The packing was 99% finished and a bit of laundry was in progress. We dusted and started the cleaning marathon. At least the packing was dealt with - or the 'big bang in reverse' as we've come to call it. As always we vow to bring less on our next trip - but if the house hadn't sat at a solid 23 degrees all day every day, then the winter gear and hot water bottle would have come in phenomenally handy. Damned if we do, damned if we don't - never even got around to lighting a fire.

Wednesday 17 July - The time has come, the walrus said, to clean a great many things. We never set out in life to become superb housecleaners - just a side effect of taking housesits without a housekeeper/cleaner included (definitely our preference). Large homes by definition take longer to clean than small - even though there were 5 whole rooms we didn't actually use - they still needed vacuuming and mopping - altogether a great workout. The target was to do everything in the morning, have a spot of lunch, a final wipedown in the kitchen then go out for a final stroll around town. Everything accomplished and a spot of TV watching to fill in the last of the time, then we loaded ourselves up with our assorted baggages and headed around the corner, not even 5 minutes walk, to the coach stop. After many years of travelling we are 100% sure that the best time to travel anywhere is about 2 pm. It allows for a relaxed departure and still a decent part of the day to travel in. We ended up on our coach and heading out of town around 4 pm… which made the day drag on. Via a great many daft kangaroos, especially as it got darker and darker, we eventually arrived at Lithgow at 6 pm into a very chilly winter's night, hauled our bags to the furthest of 3 Chinese restaurants and had a fabulous dinner - albeit we were freezing, even inside the restaurant. The walk back to the station was slightly downhill, a blessing with the bags and only a short wait until we were onto the 7.30 pm train. We eventually made it in the door at 11 pm and (eventually) into bed by midnight. Thus ends the Mudgee 2024 adventure.