Over the Easter break we took Toots on her first camping trip since the new struts installation. We visited Hill End in NSW's Central West region. Hill End was once famous as a gold rush town. It now attracts visitors for its notoriety as a ghost town. The first time I visited Hill End was in primary school for school camp as we'd been studying the gold rush in history. About seven or eight years ago mrshill and I visited on a day trip from Sofala but this time we went for a relaxing three-night stay. We drove from Katoomba in the Blue Mountains as we'd spent a few days there with my parents for Easter. The road in to Hill End from Sofala, although sealed, is very tricky for its undulating and windy terrain alongside cliff edges. We brought our cat Collie along for the trip and he didn't appreciate the drive much at all.
Toots' home for a few days
The campsite was a close walk into town and there were a few other shortish hikes close-by so once we parked Toots we just left her there for our entire stay. We did a lot of walking in the day but that was fine with us - it was a nice way to pass time.
A common sight in Hill End - roos in a field.
Hill End is definitely a step back in time. The Historic Centre in town is full of fascinating artefacts and stories from its glory days of the gold rush. The pub is about the only place to get a meal (the meals are just average) but that didn't matter too much to us because we'd brought our own supplies. We just ate out on the last night. There's a general store/cafe. The coffee is good but the staff are quite rude.
Our new JetBoil - the iPhone of camping! (cameo appearance from Collie). The JetBoil was another awesome upgrade! Boiling water in less than a minute - who would've thought. Previously we were using either the camp stove (annoying to get it out just to boil water for a cuppa) or our 9V kettle which took forever.
Feathered friend. This little guy joined us while we were eating breakfast one morning. It was super-tame. Collie was pretty captivated.
Sight-seeing at nearby Golden Gully. We walked a few of kilometres from town along the road to get here. It was pretty cool though.