Packing up , the sun started to shine and the clouds broke up - that's a good start !! Leaving Nelson Bay , we head up the Hunter Valley , just after going through Maitland the rain started again . It was overcast with low cloud and there were intermittent showers varying in intensity .
Turning off the New England Hwy , driving through Jerry's Plains and on to Denman . This area has a lot of coal mining and a lot of horses . Horse properties seemed to be on either side of the road for quite some distance - some have their own bitumen airstrips !!
Crossing the Hunter River several times , we arrived at Denman , still with some rain . There was a wide load coming toward us , not a hint of it on the UHF radio , fortunately we could get off the road when we saw that is was protruding each side of the semi trailer by 2m !! and was about 3m off the ground !!
Sandy Hollow was next , stopping for a comfort break , we decided that this would do us for a night or 2 .
After setting up and having some lunch , it was time for a hike up the hill behind us to Giant's Leap. The walk started out as a slight incline and quickly turned into uphill , zigzagging up the hill , climbing and clambering over rocks & fallen trees . Navigating our way up was interesting - the only markers , were stacks of rocks - some of which had been knocked over by animals !
We had made it up 2/3 to 3/4 the way up when there was a rock to scale , Lyn couldn't quite get up & over it , so she had a rest there for about half an hour while I kept going to the top . We'd set a half hour limit , 15mins I'd keep going for , then turn & come back . After 15mins of puffing & panting and an increased heart rate , I'd made it to the top - good for my fitness , though the trip back down won't be so good for my knees !! Before reaching the top , I came to a section of sandstone cliff near the top where the colours came out .
The track was a little hard to find up on top of the mountain , but I found a few viewing spots that showed an awesome view of the surrounding valleys .
We'd climbed up from down near the Golden Hwy down in the valley , no wonder my heart rate was up .
This is the road bridge over the Hunter River , that leads down to Bylong and Mudgee .
That's Sandy Hollow below and the Bylong valley stretching into the distance - amazing views of the Great Dividing Range !!
I clambered back down to Lyn and we slowly made our way back down the hill to a well earned beer !! Day done .
Today we headed into Muswellbrook to have a look around , we got to have a look around a few detours as well , due to some road works near Denman . As we got closer to Muswellbrook , we commented that it would be a great view of an approaching mountain if only it wasn't raining - well we got a bit closer before realising it wasn't a natural mountain we were looking at , it was man made - all the spoil from the Mt Arthur open cut coal mine !!
We checked out the information centre in town and found a spot to have a look at the man made mountain . In the next photo you can see a peak and tower on the top left - presumably Mt Arthur , and the man made section to the top right .
This is another view , but taken when we were leaving town later .
Muswellbrook is a busy town , spread around the hills - probably worth a fortune in coal below it . The coal mines surround town - it's worth having a look at Google to see how many mines there are in this area !!!! The scary part is how rapidly they are expanding them - obviously no money in coal hahahaha .
On our way back to Sandy Hollow , we took another road that took us past Bengalla open cut mine . At a few gaps between the trees , you could see into the pit , we stopped and took the next photos of the mountain beside it . You can see a tipper in the 1st photo and a front end loader in the 2nd .
Continuing along Bywong Rd to Sandy Hollow , the road wound it's way through more valleys , past empty houses and properties that have been bought up by the mines for future digging .
That's it for today , here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZsA7ddnPW7ZFTl-8_W7bv3hcqMk&usp=sharing
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