So, we made it to Scone to get the water pump repaired on the car. The car was booked into the Isuzu dealer in Scone and after a couple of days, they informed us it would be two weeks before it could be repaired. In the end we were stuck in Scone for sixteen days. Not much we could do about the situation so we made the most of it.

Our NRMA membership gave us a seven-day rental vehicle, so we split the time over a couple of weekends and explored the area.

Our first outing was to Willow Tree and Murrurundi. Most of the shops were closed in Willow Tree as it was their race day – lots of horses and very expensive-looking studs around Scone. There is a nice restaurant at the Willow Tree pub called Graze but we missed out as they were booked out. Murrurundi is a nice little village and was a great spot for coffee.

Scone has a great aircraft museum called Hunter Warbirds. Great collection of old wartime aircraft. They have a Spitfire there that still flies and is the only one to have been fully restored to being flight-worthy outside of the UK. There are a couple of Mustangs which were actually built in Australia at the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation factory in Fishermans Bend. It’s an American aircraft, named Mustang by the British and built in Australia! The museum will soon have a two-seater Spitfire that will be able to take passengers up for joy rides. Prices are expected to be about $7,000 for a half hour flight!

We visited Singleton one day to see The Australian Infantry Museum. It’s located at Singleton’s Lone Pine Barracks and well worth a visit. Has the biggest collection of hand grenades I’ve ever seen. Even has an Australian ‘boomerang’ hand grenade – hopefully, it wouldn’t come back to you! They also have a gattling gun. It’s the only one in the southern hemisphere and one of the few surviving in the world.

Another day we travelled out to Washpools in Towarri National Park. Great swimming spot for the locals and some of the clearest water I’ve seen. Nice campground there as well which we will make use of sometime in the future. After Washpools we travelled to Burning Mountain and walked up to the top to see the burning coal seam. It’s been burning for over 6,000 years and is the longest-burning fire in the world.

Over the long weekend we travelled out to Merriwa as they were having their annual Festival of the Fleeces. The highlight was the sheep in their red socks being run up the main street. Funny that they have a ‘Blessing of the Fleece’ and Ulladulla has a ‘Blessing of the Fleet’.

The caravan park we were staying in was right beside the railway line. Coal trains used this line 24 hours a day and as there was a road crossing just down from the park they blew their horns when they were right beside us. Three locos and 82 trucks! As you can imagine we had very disturbed sleeps while staying there. 

So, after our unexpected stay in Scone, we finally got our car back and headed off to Umina Beach for a couple of nights to catch up on some much needed sleep before the drive home.

Some more photos. Click on an image for full size.