Day 127 The Final Return Home

Today we drove home from Orange. We decided to avoid Sydney and come home via Molong, Wellington, Gulgong, Bylong, Sandy Hollow, Denman and Jerry Plains then home.

It was such a shock to us driving home after all the travelling we have done where everything has been so green and lush, that the country close to our home was so brown and dry, from about Dunedoo. The contrast was extreme from all the lush country we have travelled through, and the fact that it was the wettest in year in 20 odd years that the top end has had. We feel truly blessed to have gone on this trip, when we were trying to decide whether we should do the trip after the fuel crisis had started and then the stories of the wet weather that had passed through Kakadu etc. Here we are back home never having any trouble to purchase fuel, the most expensive we paid was just outside of the Bungle Bungles on the highway at $3.25 and then $3-00 across the Nullabor Plains which given what has been happening really was not that bad. We had no car trouble of any kind, so didn't need our second or for that matter our first spare tyre, or all the spare parts we carried along the way. Kind friends also lent us there maxtrax which journeyed along with us safely without use. This also meant that we didn't need any of the water we carried or the spare food supplies. We are truly blessed to have had such an incredible journey without incident for 4 months covering 27,346km around this amazing country we call home.

So to finish the blog here are the last photos of the day.

The heritage rural town of Molong is nestled amidst the picturesque and productive agricultural lands on the edge of the Macquarie Ranges. The significant history of the region is retained in the early buildings, built and used by legendary coach company Cobb & Co and settlers.

In 1888 the original town hall was built in Molong, featuring classical design elements such as Ionic columns and a broken triangular pediment over the entrance. Following World War I, the building was expanded and rededicated as a war memorial for local service members. 1922 A new foundation stone for was laid, by Major-General Sir Charles Rosenthal. The project was funded largely through community donations.

Post Office - informal and early postal services in Molong operated well before the permanent building was constructed, alongside the town's initial growth as a government stock station and stopover in the 1820s and 1850s. In 1880 the main brick post office building with its distinctive arches was erected on Bank Street during Molong's late-19th-century agricultural and commercial boom.

Church of the Sacred Heart and St Lawrence O'Toole, featuring two historic church buildings. The older Stone Church and the original rough-stone Gothic-style Catholic church was in 1880. The newer Gothic Church, the larger church featuring buttresses, corner turrets, and a central entrance had its foundation stone laid in 1916,








Wellington is one of Australia's oldest inland settlements, established in 1823. • In 1817 Explorer John Oxley was the first European to record the valley, naming it "Wellington Valley" after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. 1823–1830 Lieutenant Percy Simpson established a government agricultural and stock station, making it the second-oldest European settlement west of the Blue Mountains. 1827–1830 The site was briefly used to isolate middle-class and educated ("special") convicts away from main population centres. The 1850s–1870s gold rushes nearby (such as at Stuart Town/Ironbarks) and historic local landmarks—including the Lion of Waterloo Inn (1842), site of Australia's last recorded pistol duel in 1854—shaped its pioneering era.

We stopped to walk through the Osawano Japanese Garden established in 1999 with 1,500 individual plant specimens being planted including 126 different species. A small garden with the beauty of the Japanese blossoms and trees around a Koi Pond and Pavillion.








Gateway Sculpture a unique visual art spectacle, is an interpretation of the identity and spirit of Wellington and its people. The main sculpture which comprises of the tripod and wind chimes is actually constructed from a significant event in Wellington's history, the Old Wellington Bridge, which collapsed on 6 January 1989 after a truck accident.



The Railway Station opened in 1880. The station building was constructed from red brick in the Victorian Gothic style. It featured waiting rooms, ticket offices, a handsome platform awning with cast-iron brackets, and an adjacent 15-room hotel and refreshment rooms (the Railway Refreshment Room or RRR) that held a liquor.



St Patrick's School was operating in the area by 1866, and the Sisters of Mercy arrived from Bathurst in 1883 to lead the school. To replace earlier or growing congregation needs, the foundation stone for the present-day St Patrick's Church was laid in 1914 and opened in November 1917, celebrated at the time as one of the finest edifices in the western region.





Dunedoo is a historic rural town in the central-west region of NSW, The area sits on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi (Gamilaroi) peoples. The word Dunedoo derives from a local Aboriginal term meaning "swan", referring to the black swans that frequently gathered on nearby lagoons.

The Dunedoo Silo side one and two have been painted by Peter Mortimore over three months during July, August and September of 2020.

Depicted on the side silo is Winx, a retired champion Australian thoroughbred racehorse and her famous rider Hugh Bowman, who was born in Dunedoo. Also featured is Chris Waller, Winx’s trainer, whom without this very famous horse may not have been the true champion that she was. Side two silo displays the local fauna and flora.





Merriwa derives from a Wiradjuri / Aboriginal term meaning "grass seeds" or flour made from grass seeds (initially known as Gummum Plains). Historically driven by fine wool sheep production and wheat, the local economy transitioned over time toward cattle, horse studs, grain, and olives.

Silo art - The mural depicts an image of sheep wearing red socks in a canola field. Every year on the June long weekend is the Merriwa Festival of the Fleeces. It is an event that generates much-needed funds for Merriwa, a Westpac Rescue Helicopter and District Volunteer Rescue Squads. The Festival is an event that the whole community can become involved in and enjoy. It has been a major Upper Hunter event since its creation in 1990. It was established to promote the best of agriculture that Merriwa has to offer with a focus on the history of the Merino Sheep and how this industry shaped a community. Each year a special parade event is held called the 'Running of the Sheep'.



We then arrived safely back home again. Until our next adventure thank you for following along and enjoying our journey with us. Kevin & Lee-Anne