A Day out to Glen Davis

On all our travels to and from Turon Gates, we always passed the sign to Glen Davis at Capertee and always said "we should do that soon". Finally we did. We always knew how beautiful the Capertee Valley was by that wonderful view that can be seen on the Mudgee Road. Besides it's the second largest canyon in the world, the first being the Grand Canyon.

Glen Davis was a town built in 1932 for the oil shale industry, just like Newnes on the other side of the Wolgan Valley. Once the oil shale mine closed in 1952, basically so did the town. A lot of buildings still stand but not really historical. The main historical factor is of course the old mine but that is closed up and only available to look at at certain times. I found out later that tours run Saturday afternoons at a cost. We wondered if the ruins were fenced due to them now being unsafe or was it a way to make money - who knows.

The only movement in town was at the free campsite almost in the middle. It offered showers & toilets (give me my camp potty and camp shower any day). The occupants were mainly caravans and their grey nomads with their little dogs!!!!

Unfortunately I did not get a good feel for Glen Davis. Don't know why.

Upon leaving town there was a turn-off on your right to Wollemi National Park. The black dragon instantly needed to turn and check it out. It was a good road, except for the pot holes, but even a sedan would have had no trouble. Surprisingly this was a great way to see the ruins (on the other side of the fence of course) and lead to an open campground. This would have been our choice to stay at instead of the middle of town. We took a walk on top of a hill to check it out and to our surprise got a view of the ruins again from above. This at least made our trip to Glen Davis worth it.

Glen Davis Oil Shale Ruins

I am glad that we have now visited Glen Davis and can mark it off the list. It was a wonderful day out with the family, the valley just lovely and a drive that continued on to Dunns Swamp for lunch. I choose a day like this any day, no matter where the road takes us or the feeling I get, good or bad.

Until again...

Abercrombie River National Park

Really, how lucky are we all that we have the internet as a tool these days. I remember having to rush to the library to borrow the one and only book that related to the project that you had just been given. Now we have all the information needed right in our own home...

Which leads me to acknowledge the amount of information available to us on the net relating to 4WDing, camping and all the rest of it. It was while doing research about Abercrombie River National Park that I first realised that your visit should avoid the winter months. Upon finding a video on You Tube that a past visitor had uploaded, it revealed that today it was sunny and tomorrow it snowed or more seriously today it was sunny, during the night it rained, and tomorrow the creeks were up and you couldn't cross them!

All this aside, the National Park is a wonderful place for 4WDers to visit. A sedan would not cope at all as the roads in places are quite rough and very steep. 

Photos never seem to show the actual steepness

We took a day trip to initially check out the park but knew by the end of the day that we would go back for a camp out. Unfortunately it would be back to the tent set up with stretchers (for us anyway - the boys still would suffer the ground) as we would not have got our Swan in there, happily anyway. That would be during the month of March. Great time - pleasant days and nights.

The Park basically has a main track that circles right round. There are a few roads that veer off but they eventually all meet up on the main one. There are creek crossings and lovely views to see. Off this road are the entrances to the campgrounds. These include The Beach, Silent Creek and The Sink. Silent Creek is our favourite as it is on shady grassed river flats however The Beach is great for swimming and The Sink would be great for the kids to go exploring. Always good to be in the know, there are pit toilets at all the campgrounds.

The Beach

Silent Creek

The Sink

The creek crossings are just lovely and easy done - however after rain I'm not so sure! Along the creek beds are definitely opportunities for lovely photos.

Of course, if you know me well, there was also another positive for our trip to the Park. We stumbled across old dwellings as part of the Park's history. Certainly a tick of approval.

Abercrombie River National Park is definitely a place you should visit. It's peaceful, picturesque and priceless! 

Until again...