Shady bush tracks and the sound and sight of birds above – a particular favourite is the Butcher Bird. Not a lovely name – they should be called ‘Songbirds” as they are world class singers. Often if you mimic him, he will answer! Then of course there are Galahs, Kookaburras, Magpies, noisy Apostle birds and Choughs in the larger birds – you should see plenty of them. The Choughs are often on the ground foraging as a noisy group of a dozen or more. Look too for eagles and Hawkes flying over. Smaller birds will be finches, grass parrots, robins like the Jacky Winter and the Willy-wag tails.
If you are a bird lover then the Mudgee Wetlands are worth a visit and they are close by the CwC route.
Encounters with native animals are sure to happen, and that is always a special moment. But remember kangaroos and wallaby’s mostly move about at dawn and dusk – and wombats at night. If the weather is hot you might see large lizards in warm places or a goanna hanging from a low branch!. There are emus too about on the tracks around Digilah near Dunedoo.
Along the way there will be plenty of farm animals to see as well such as horses, sheep, cattle, alpacas and goats!
Find that perfect picnic spot. Because you are often cycling nearby rivers and creeks you can look out for the best picnic spot on a riverbank. There are some lovely sites between Mebul and Beryl on the Cudgegong River and in Wellington town on the Bell River. Look out for Ponto Falls, out of Geurie.
There are plenty of reasons to stay an extra day such as visiting the world class Taronga Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo – a bike friendly pathway leads to the door of the zoo and you can cycle around the whole exhibit. Plenty of large animals to see there with Giraffes, lions, elephants, cheetahs and tigers. You can even sleep over at the Billabong Camp and wake to the sounds of a jungle.
Another great reason to stay an extra day is the myriad of wine cellar doors around Mudgee – you might like to take a bottle in your panniers for emergencies or send home some wine for reminiscing after the holiday – most cellar doors will be happy to arrange delivery for you!
You’ll get a sense of the Wild West in the gold rush streets of historic Gulgong. The narrow roads meander across the Red Hill where gold was discovered and the town of today still resembles the gold rush boom period of the 1870s. The Holtermann Museum in Mayne Street, (you will pass the door), provides a magnificent display of artifacts of the period amid the astonishing clarity of Merlin’s images of the gold fields. And the Gulgong Pioneer Museum in Herbert Street , which might be the best yesteryear museum in Australia.
The night sky. For any campers the night sky on clear nights in locations like Ballimore, Mendooran and Dunedoo, where the background light is low, will certainly be a great highlight.