thechookrun: 2018

Lets get this road trip started.

*Click on images to see larger picture*.

I've done another mud map to show my route over the weekend and what direction I was headed. I ended up doing 897 kilometres this trip and I actually remembered to reset my speedometer before I headed off this time, always a good thing to remember instead of trying to work it out on a map.

I set out early Saturday morning around 7.30am this trip. It is always better to get away on the Friday so I get more time but sometimes it isn't possible so Saturday it is. There are times when you should also listen to that little voice in the back of your head too because I borrowed a car this trip because it has more guts than mine for being out in rougher terrain and I was questioning whether there was a jack in the car before I left. I didn't think to check because you just assume that people would have a jack in their car. One should never assume!!!!.....Ha!.You'll see what I mean a bit later. Photo is of what it looked like as I headed out of town.

The fog remained with me until I got to around just east of Tenterfield. You can keep track of my route by going back to the map if needed.

Just when you think it's gonna be a gloomy manky day the fog just lifts and I was welcoming with this glorious site once again just south of Tenterfield and once I'd turned off the main highway. To some it might just be a dirt road out in the middle of no where but to me it's beautiful and I just don't get tired of it.

First stop of the trip was back to the classic car grave yard I found my last trip. If you missed it then scroll down past this post to find my last roadtrip. I came back to film this place because I thought about it and decided that because it was abandoned, it would be cool for my youtube channel and the weather was better than last time too. I spent about an hour there and filmed it so I'll upload it to my channel eventually. So much to look at.

This is me heading out of Tenterfield. I thought I'd take a picture of this old place Stannum House built in 1888. Click on the link provided for the history of the house. http://stannumhouse.com.au/about-historic-stannum/

I had planned to stop off at Bluff rock because I thought I'd seen a road going around to the back of the rock and it looked like I might be able to climb it. Nup!! Google maps lied and I couldn't and there were gates and stuff and the road went the other direction as well. PFFFFFT!! oh well! Having researched again once I got back home it looks like a bit of a fire trail on private property anyway and they probably would have come and given me curry for being on their property. Lets keep going.

Somewhere between Bluff rock and my turn off I found this old home site that I'd never seen before. Probably because it's tucked behind a hill abit. I stopped and took some photos. *side note*
Thongs and stinging nettle are NOT a good mix.

This is what was left of the old stables/barn? It was slightly confusing because of the old copper fire place inside.

It didn't look like an old milking shed but it must have had something to do with processing livestock of by products of livestock??

Having turned off at Deepwater it wasn't long before I found what I thought were abandoned farm cottages off the road a bit so I decided to go have a look. I was wrong because the cottages were part of the historic "deepwater station" and even though they look like they are about to fall down from the outside they are actually set up for guest accommodation! Hmmp! who knew? I didn't until I googled the station.

Picture of "Deepwater station" I took from the road. The main house is hidden behind the trees somewhere. I have provided a link about the history of the property. Click on the link.It will save me plagiarising some one else's stuff. https://deepwaterstation.com/deepwater-station-history/

I found this little place tucked away behind some over grown bushes so I stopped to have a look because I wasn't having much luck so far on my trip and what the heck! I had nothing better to do.

It was cute so I snapped away not expecting much. It was hard to work out what it was because it looked like an old cottage from the front but then looked like a barn from the back.

There was this old dunny down the back of the fenced off pen so it was used for living at some point.

This is what I found inside. Maybe it was a cottage converted into a barn or the other way around but it did have some one living there once.

Interesting mix of stock shed come living space. There were boxes of belongings and a bed plus gym equipment etc that indicated it had been someones home once. Odd they lived in a barn though. Rustic!

Walking around inside wouldn't have been pleasant because of the slat floor and I didn't see any sort of heating so would have been nice and fresh in winter. Makes for interesting photos though.

I think this is the old Stannum school just as I was entering Stannum. I tried to find some history but could find anything. All boarded up and on private property they very adamantly let people know with a ridiculously big sign plus there was a house right beside it behind the trees.Next stop Torrington.

Without being rude to anyone associated with Torrington but I'd have to say what an odd place Torrington is. I found it rather bizarre I'd have to say. Without knowing it's history it seemed an odd place just plopped in the middle of the bush. After some research when I got home I discovered that it was a reasonably thriving place in it's hay day of tin production. Now it is a place of mostly empty houses whether they are holiday houses for Topaz fossickers or just abandoned completely. I'm leaning towards the latter because some of them look like no one has been around for a long time. There were some people mowing the grassy verge beside the dirt road through town when I arrived. I waved at one of them but was greeted with a stare reminiscent of one of those back woods horror movies from the 70's. There is a small caravan park still operating in the centre of town but apart from that I could not see much else happening in the town at all. The guys mowing the grass all disappeared and then it became a ghost town with no signs of life at all. there were cars around so there were obviously people there. This house was the first thing I saw when I got to town. I took this photo from the road and the mower crew were behind me on the other side of the road. The "house" was for sale and had a sold sign on it but the sign was so old it was pealing and faded. Some one owns those sheep in the next paddock but whooooo? Ha! The is a road running beside this place on the right, you can just barely see it and I counted 6 abandoned houses just on a hundred metre length of road. Have a read of the link I've provided if you want some history on Torrington. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrington,_New_South_Wales

This place was just behind the first place behind the trees. I think most of these places were built for the tin miners originally.

Another cottage up the same road. Shame I couldn't get into some of these to film and I certainly didn't want to brake in because that would be wrong.

Nice shot of the chimneys. Across the road was another place that had heaps of old junk sorta like a wreckers but hard to tell if is was or just old and rusty from no one being there. You can just see a little bit of it behind the chimneys in the distance. i forgot to take a pic of it though. Duh!!

Another abandoned house opposite the last house. The sign on the door says "please read the metre" The sign is very old and faded.

Back of the house. I think the power lines had been cut from the house from memory? It would have been nice to see what was inside these places but it was hard to see anything through the windows unfortunately. No doubt someone one day will break into these places.

close up of rose bush still trying to grow behind the house.

Whats old is new again. People are now wanting these sort of lights for their new homes. Nice to see the glass still intact.

I found these old cars behind the house still in good condition considering they been sitting out in the weather for years.

An old Ford Mainline. I never heard of it before and only know because of the emblems on the car 😎

Makes for a good graphic shot.

I really like this one and how it came out.
I'd even have this one on my wall.

I also found this truck not far from the other cars. It has be baffled as to what it was used for? The weird thing is welded onto the back of the truck. If anyone reading this knows what it was used for, leave a comment please.

I drove up the road a short way but decided not to go too far as the road started dividing and I didn't want to get side tracked too much. I didn't find this place just before I turned around and headed back into town. For some reason it was built over some odd dugout pit thing and the cabin sits on large posts that have been laid across the dug out bit. Myabe it was to try and keep the place cool when it was hot??? What ever it was for it looks creepy now. Decided not to look too closely under the cabin just in case I found something i didn't want to find LOL.

I found this odd structure right beside my car after I took photos of the cabin. I'm surprised I didn't tread on it. All I can think of is it might be some sort of ant. I thought it was pretty cool though.

I found another abandoned house in town on the other side of the first house I took a photo of. There was another one beside it but it didn't look too interesting so I didn't take a photo. There was some one living (I think) just down from this house so I didn't go to investigate it because I didn't want anyone yelling at me.

This old church was sorta beside the last house and it was open with no doors. The outside was cute but when I looked inside I saw this. It would appear someone is fixing the church up but it also looks like it's been awhile since anything has been done from the look of the settled dust on everything. There was more to see but it was getting time to get moving again because I was hanging around getting lost in looking at so many things. I could have stayed a lot longer and explored a lot more and maybe I will now I've researched a bit and it seems popular with Topaz fossickers and that's probably what is keeping the caravan park open.There were absolutely no businesses in town which was slightly odd that not even a small convenience shop was some where. The strange quietness and lack of any sort of presence of people (after the mowing crew disappeared) was unsettling since it was middle afternoon on a Saturday and there was zip apart from bango's playing in the distance LOL. Anyway! Odd place but maybe it warrants more of an explore one day. Bye Torrington.

Just south of town I saw a sign saying Thunderbolts lookout so I thought, how many bloody Thunderbolt lookouts are there for goodness sake but decided to go check it out since I was in the area because it's just what you do. Omg! I said when I got there. I've seen this place before. My youtube friend and follower here "Northern Rivers RDV Riding" did a video of one of his rides here. I had no idea this was the same place until I saw the converted hut. If you'd like to check out his videos I've provided a link. He does sorta what I do on my road trips but on a motor bike. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLOF52HtDcSs2ZGbYr2kLrw/videos

The condition and state of this place is impressive and good to see that visitors are respectful of the place and haven't trashed it. It was very well set up for visitors. Nice surprise.

Inside of the hut nicely set up for visitors to enjoy.

I set off for Thunderbolts lookout and for anyone that has no idea who Thunderbolt is, he was a bush ranger here in Australia. Google him if you want to learn more.

I set off as I said and walked the 800 metres to the granite out crop where is look out was. It was a bit hot and mostly up hill but that meant it was all down hill on the way back. Win , win!

This is the view from what I thought were the top of the stair and I went oh!..............are you kidding me? This is pretty shitty and I huffed and puffed up the hill for this!? Pffft! Thunderbolt was easily impressed I thought to myself thinking I've wasted my time. Lol!

But wait! whats this? There's more. Oh, now we talking. This could have been where Thunderbolt hid out when he was here. I could be standing right where he stood! I could be in the foot steps of a bushranger........omg! Maybe there is buried treasure hidden there? Ok Michael, lets not get too carried away, lordy! The photo doesn't really give you an idea of the scale of this cave but if I was standing down by that rock on the middle my head might just reach the top of the rock behind it and it may have been about 6 meterish longish maybe??

My huffing and puffing up to the viewing platform at the lookout. Well worth the effort. What Thunderbolt might have been looking for is beyond me. Was it camp fires from the police trying to catch him? Maybe. He ended up getting shot in a swamp down near Uralla from memory. Link below to Thunderbolts Wikipedia if you want to read about his bush ranger shenanigans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Thunderbolt.

After I left Thunderbolts lookout and got back on the road it all got a bit boring really. Not much to see and a whole lot of nothing so what's a man to do on these occasions? Do a little dancin with Kylie is what LOL! Just a little insight of what does go on behind the scenes.

Still bored.................Lol! Time goes by soooooooooooooo slowly. Ha! The things we do.

Yay! some relief from the boredom of being bored. I stopped the car at some bridge near Emmaville. It was pretty but it looked prettier from the road . No idea what river it is? probably Emmaville creek or something. ;P I stopped to get a picture, check out the river bank for possible fossicking possibilities, scratched my arse (ahhhh!) then got back on the road.

Oh my word! I'm glad I turned around after I spotted a road sign saying something about a mine. Big road signs but confusing as to whether I should go down a dirt track or was there another road? Nup! Dirt track it was. Odd considering the size of the road signs. I couldn't call it a road. Anyways. YAY! I found me an arsenic mine Woohoo! Lets go check it out. It looks a little over grown and neglected though. Look out browns snakes. Where's me stick???

I'd have to say that these so called improvements were done a looooong time ago and doesn't look like a great deal of up keep has happened since then which is a shame. I filmed this place for my youtube channel so it too will eventually be uploaded. I go on a bit of a rant on the video about funds being taken away from national parks etc but if you ever see the video you'll understand. Here is a link to the mines history. Most interesting reading.

https://www.resourcesandenergy.nsw.gov.au/landholders-and-community/minerals-and-coal/derelict-mines-program/case-studies/ottery-mine

Amazing to see this structure in the middle of the bush. Some work went into building this place. Sadly getting more and more run down now from doing a little research on google. My visit was looking very over grown.

the reason I say it's becoming over grown is because photos I've seen on the internets have a clear view up to the chimney stack up top behind those trees. Click on the pic if you want to make it large. You can also see the residue of arsenic seeping out of the bricks in the bottom right of the image. I was very tempted to grab a plastic bag and get me some scrapings of arsenic but probably best not to tempt fate really hehe!....

some sort of mechanism that had a fan belt thingy around the wheel to turn something or could have been a wheel for some rail system at the mine?? Dunno but it's now sitting rusting away neglected. I took more photos but don't need to bore you with pics of brick rubble which is pretty much all it was. There was some other bits of interested but I filmed it all so I got it all there to upload to my youtube channel eventually with the others. Time to move on and with all these stops I was starting to run behind my schedule as I wanted to be in Inverell by evening and should have been in Glen innes by now.

After passing through Emmaville and hoards of women with strollers walking up the main road without a care until I scared the bee geebers outta a couple with my car horn so they'd get outta the bloody way!@!!! Where'd they all come from for goodness sake? Blink and I'd driven through town and out again.Cows got more manners about getting off the road.......... Anyway! Just out of town I spotted this old hut so i stopped to check it out. Now either this place belonged to some arsehole that was abusing his kids or it is just bored kids spray painting shit to relieve the bordom of living in a place like Emmaville. I'm sure it's a wonderful place for some but maybe it was just me that could see nothing but nothing and swarms of females with strollers hogging the main road... Bad man if this is true btw.

Not much left inside. those bits of tin centre of the photo is covering the old chimney.

Back side view of the hut. Some one was living very basic back in it's day.

This was out the back of the hut so who ever lived there had some serious livestock happening. Not sure what it was but it looks to me like it could have been pigs. Crikey! with all that graffiti about the pedo father and being so isolated and farming pigs it's starting to look like the stuff of neck neck horror movies LOL! I'm outta here..........

The last bit of my drive to Glen Innes was uneventful and nothing to report about it apart from it was blah blah! I really had no idea where I was going to stay the night because as I said earlier I planned on being in Inverell so where to stay?? Glen innes and my mobile phone reception don't really like each other so it's hit and miss if I can get any signal to search accommodation but this time I was in luck and a convent motel pops up on my search. Hmmmmm! I thought! Should I? Why not, it is cheap and I'll be staying in an old convent for the night to add to my trip of exciting things I've done. So, after not being able to find it at first because there was no signage to inform you of your destination and going up and down the road a few times I finally found it and my first thought was oh!....... This can't be!? It looks empty. Have they closed up shop? I started becoming rather unsure as to whether I should stay or not but hay! it's all part of the experience isn't it!? *nervous giggle.... So, where do I go to check in? There were signs at the front door telling people to call a number if they wanted to book in...... um..... oooookaaay!.... Do I really want to stay here when I can get a totally nice clean room down the road for the same price. Oh, go on, call em. By this stage I'm out from getting a bit nervous and noisy and the window to the right of the entrance was open a fraction so what ya gonna do? Go for a peak is what LOL! BLOODY hell! I scared the life out of myself because no sooner did I bend down to peak in the window than there kneeling on the floor near the window is a young guy starring at me. WTF!??? I made an excuse I was bending down to read the phone number on the sign that was under the window, thank god! LOL. He told me to call the number and his dad will come get me . Yikeys, I'm getting weird vibes from this now. Not too late to turn and run LOL. Ok, now father pretty much answers the door straight away and directs me down the side of the building to a back entrance. Oooooookaaaaay!..... He'll meet me there. Oooookaaaay! Now this is getting interesting and im getting into it and going with it to see what happens because you gotta love an adventure.

I drive down a gravel driveway that is in need of some attention and is not what I'd call a driveway anymore but a track leading behind the building. I gets there and park my car and get out and I say to myself, self!, you've got to be kidding me. You're made to arrive in a back entrance that looks like it's meant for service people. No offence to service people! 😀 Now Im back to wondering if I made the right decision. The manager was pleasant and helpful and friendly and the little room on the left is where they check you in as well as where people have breakfast I think?? Thank god it wasn't raining. I shouldn't be blaspheming so much since Im staying in an old convent, blessed then no other than our first and only saint Mary Mackillop. The point really is don't go having a hospitality business where you make your guests go through a dingy back entrance to get to their rooms. No no no. As I said the owner was pleasant but I also got a feeling that he was jaded about being there and he had stated that the convent was a target for vandals a few years ago now me being noisy and googling myself senseless when I got back found out the reason for the vandalism and that was because the owner had offered the old convent to refuges from Syria and there were some locals that decided they didn't like it and took it apon themselves to attack his business so I can see he might be jaded and I think the place has be up for sale since then as will so he might just be giving up. I could be wrong but that's the feeling I got from my experience.

Here is a photo I found of what the place once looked like in comparison to what it looked like when I stayed there. Such a shame. Such a beautiful building that is now deteriorating. The owner uses the main front part as his home which is such a waste for huests who from my experience working in hospitality would love to welcomed into the main entrance and then maybe out to their rooms not shoved in a back alley door on arrival. Even if he wanted to live in some of the from part then leave the main entrance and stairs free to impress and delight your guests.

Look at how beautiful the main entrance is and how much more inviting it would be to arrive to that first.

Not being made to climb these very stark and uninviting stairs in what appeared to be a service area with washing machines and laundry stuff all around. Ok come on lets see whats up stairs then. Im not feeling good about my decision now.

Ok, this is ok. Now bad at least it looks clean. Things are looking a bit better.

If you don't mind sharing a bathroom and toilet with everyone else. Gotta love some original features eh!? Ok, so it looks a bit run down. It had a good bed in the room but that was about it really. You should have at least a mini fridge in a room if you want to call it a motel. I'm still not feelin it at all and so much potential. The owner did let me into the sacred space behind the private door so I could get a photo.

Another wasted opportunity to draw guests in in what I would think, droves to experience this place. I was at the door under the cement stairs that lead to my room and felt that I couldn't venture out any further for photo ops because I was made to feel I would be invading their space. So much to see for history buffs. The building to the left was the original wing that housed the children that lived at the convent. It is now falling into disrepair and the the original windows that lined the top veranda have been removed because they have deteriorated so much. It gave me a huge sense of sadness that this once grand and austere building is slowly falling into a state of dis repair. It would be so much of a draw card if they allowed people to see what once was and the bottom section once housed the dining rooms for the children and a separate dining room for the nuns plus the original kitchen to the very far left now just a jumbled store room. The square you see to the left is the quadrangle the children would have once assembled on. If this place still for sale I do hope it gets an owner that can pump love and money back into the place to make it a place you'd want to go back to again and again.

I've added this last photo to show where guests are expected to stay. My room was the top very far left window and all the wonderful main building was for the owner. If I was to rate this place I would do so happily as a back packers/ B&B at best. I'd still suggest checking it out because of the good beds if you don't mind back packer style accommodation.

I had to film it. Don't get me wrong, I certainly am not rubbishing this place because it is ok, I just can't see it being a motel at the moment the way it is.