Exploring the Capertee Valley.....

When Bill first mentioned we were coming here I had never heard of it, a reaction I have now found seems to be the same one of most people we meet.  'Where' they all say.  Of course I jumped straight on to my friend Wikipedia and was amazed.

It seems that not too many of us at all know that we have the second largest canyon in the world right here in our own backyard.  It is said to be longer than the more well known Grand Canyon by 1 km but not as deep.  It is however the widest canyon in the world.  This link will provide further information if you follow it.  http://www.tourism.lithgow.com/glendavis.html.

We left Lithgow mid morning and drove the couple of hours out to Capertee (not in the valley) to the turn off and from shortly after were in awe of the scenery around us.  We could see the sandstone cliffs rising in the distance becoming more dramatic as we came closer.  Pantoney's Crown, a monolith in size and spectacle, rises majestically out of the valley floor, and is front and centre as you drive in.  From here the views just keep getting better.

Our drive finished on the valley floor at Glen Davis Camp Ground in Glen Davis.  Once a thriving township, and the home of the Glen Davis Shale Oil works, it provided gasoline which was an important strategic resource during the war era.   The plant is now a ruin that can only be accessed by a tour each Saturday afternoon and the little town itself has just 31 residents left.

There are two places to free camp in the area and we chose the camp ground here as there were shower and toilet facilities. The locals run a community shop on weekends just to sell drinks and ice creams to tourists and it was a nice way to meet a few of them during the our time here.  Other than that you must go in prepared as the nearest supermarket is about 50 odd kms away at Kandos.

We chose a site and set ourselves up for our six day stay and spent the afternoon quietly enjoying the silence and the dramatic scenery in front of us.  

Birders worldwide are some of the few people that know of the valley as it is listed as an important bird area with some species on rare and endangered lists.  We were here to see what we could find and within a few minutes our first visitor was a beautiful little Sacred Kingfisher and he kept us entertained for the next six days.

We began our nightly ritual of a walk around the tiny town and enjoyed both the birds and the views before heading back to camp for a quite night in.  Showering that night I discovered I had a friend on the door jam - not a fan of huntsman - but it stayed where it was so all was well.  I changed showers after that!

The next day we drove back into Capertee and then came back in stopping at the various numbered locations on the bird trail. This is a drive with 19 stops across the valley from Capertee to Rylstone and a great way to see this spectacular place as well as find some of the birds known to be in the areas.  Our camp ground was no. 9 on the list and that is all we did for day one.  We did find some Galahs on our evening walk and boy did this chap have attitude!

We spent another quiet afternoon on our own as the only other camper had left that morning.  She was a 79 year old lady in a tent!  Apparently she comes here twice a year for 4 - 6 weeks at a time.  She did tell Bill that the tent is getting a bit much for her now.  And I think I'm 'roughing it' in a fully equipped caravan!  

Solitude was not to last though as a couple of fellows came in and pitched a tent closely followed by a family in a camper.   It might be a busy weekend!

Time to settle in for the night, until next time.......