Zig Zag Railway and Turon National Park

It isn't often that we get to pack a full adventure into a short period of time, but that is exactly what we did last weekend. With car and camper fully packed we set off on Friday morning for our friend’s house near Mudgee, via Tuena, Bathurst and Sofala. It is a very scenic drive at any time of year, and it is great to see the country so green after so many years of drought.

A great night with friends around a campfire was enjoyed by all, before an early start on Saturday morning to make it to the Zig Zag Railway near Lithgow for one of the highlights - A Day Out With Thomas. All the travelling was worth it to see the expression on the boy's faces when Thomas The Tank Engine chuffed into the station!



It doesn't get much better than a ride in a train, but when that train is Thomas The Tank Engine and it travels along some incredible viaducts with spectacular views, I don’t think we will be able to top the experience (that is until they start reading Harry Potter and we come back for the Wizards Express in a few years!) The day was very well organised, and we enjoyed meeting the Fat Controller. All in all we had a ball, well recommended for kids (and big kids too).

On the way home we stopped a night at Turon National Park at The Diggings campground. It was very pleasant to find a nice grassy spot on the Turon River, although the water was a little chilly for swimming!!!


We found the directions to the campsite on Australia4wd Forum here. It was nice and easy to get to, being only about 7km from the black top - so made an excellent diversion for a single night stop over. Also being a Sunday night we had the place to ourselves which was very pleasant.

I since found out that we wern't the first of our family to have been there. It would seem a previous generation was in the neighbourhood during the 1850's... although his talent was not in finding gold but rather sketching the diggings!

A big special thanks to all our friends who made the weekend what it was. You know who you are :)

Addendum
These sketches were by Thomas Balcombe, published in 1852 in the book "Gold pen and pencil sketches, or, The adventures of Mr. John Slasher at the Turon diggings" by G.F.P. with illustrations by T. Balcombe: