Days 1 to 3 of Western NSW+ Trip (Broke, Wonnarua Country) 5/5/20

Finally, we have set off from Sydney for our relatively unplanned Western NSW+ trip, our first destination Broke, a town in the Hunter Valley known for its wine.  There is a great free camp in the town where we are winding down for a few days before we begin adventuring.

We are spending our time here catching up on some paperwork, sharing photos from Pete's Dad's 90th and walking and cycling around the area.  We have skipped the wine tasting this time, although we did buy a bottle of local Margan wine from the general store.

Broke is a town of guest houses, old cars and wineries and today, it seems, helicopters.  Appears there is some sort of search on. I'm sure the helicopter took a very good look at us as we walked the streets today ...

 Our setup on a misty morning at the free camp

 Broke War Memorial




 Campground decoration

 Ironbark flowers

 Beautiful ironbarks line some Broke streets

Of course, I have explore the local fauna as well.  If you are interested, browse the link below.
Broke Fauna, Flora and Fungi

The Broken Back Range provides a wonderful backdrop to Broke, and a mountain called Yellow Rock in particular overlooks the village. It appears there may have been a recent landslide on the rock - we are sure that brown 'path' wasn't there early last year.

 Yellow Rock

Of course, given that we are in the Hunter Valley and there has been recent rain, lush rural scenery abounds. Even the local primary school has vines!

 School vineyard

 Pigs!

 Water buffalo

Looking over paddocks to the Broken Back Range

 Hay shed

I've decided I'm going to try and find out a little of the history of each of the places we go to, but finding out about the Aboriginal history of Broke is proving difficult.  There is Baiame Cave nearby, which we visited last year. It has some Aboriginal drawings of Baiame, the Sky Father who was involved in creation, in it, but that is about all I can discover.   Broke was 'discovered' by white people in 1818 and settled by them from the mid 1820s. Even the name Broke is a kick in the teeth to the indigenous people. The town was named after a friend of the surveyor-general, that friend never having even been to the colony, not unusual but ridiculous. Some buildings survive from the late 1800s.

 The Anglican Church The old Police Station - I think


   Bicentennial memorial to colonial times


 Potted history of  early colonial times

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