Day trip 18/7: Snow in the Central West!

In a freezing and wet week in July, the weather warnings rang out loud "...snow expected in Central West, Illawarra, South Coast etc..."

I eagerly woke many times through the night to see if snow had fallen onto our home in the Southern Highlands. It hadn't! But it did snow 30km's down the road and very heavily on the Central West Tablelands.

"Chris it has snowed on our property!" I cried after seeing pictures posted from Wyangala Waters on Facebook of knee deep in snow!
Needless to say, another day trip was on the horizon!
We rang the Real Estate to ask for permission to enter the land since we hadn't fully settled yet.
"Not a problem, don't get bogged they've had 100m of rain up there!"
Super excited we headed out at 6am Saturday morning for the 3hr drive to Wyangala. It was our dog, Rosie-Belles first time down there and she was just as excited!

Hot coffees in hand and a bag packed with some munchies for the road, we gazed over the fields of snow through the Southern Highlands and then again in another small town called Frogmore. It was a full coverage of snow and just beautiful!

We stopped and took photos while in the thickest oart we found then eagerly set off to see snow on our property.

I set the dashcam as we drove through the first gate. We were discussi g how much snow had melted and how the ground wasn't "boggy". All off a sudden the car visciously dropped to its left side and the engine cut out..... "Just like that....." Chris exclaimed as we realised we weren't going anywhere.
We both got out and I instantly started lookinh for rocks and logs to pack around the tyres for traction. Nothing worked. After an hour we realised our only way out was with a Iron Man winch that came with the car. We didn't even know if it worked!
Chris pulled it entirely out and managed to just  wrap it around a tree that by some chance was planted in the right spot 100 years ago!
Chris set the winch going and it was just relief to see it being dragged out of the mud, the poor tree creaking the entire time. It took 15 minutes but we got it out!

We decided to park the Colorado high and dry and walk the rest of the way.
We quickly realised if we had kept going by car we wouldn't have gotten much further!  There was so much water about from melting snow!

We followed the flowing creek to the waterfall where we were met with the most amazing display of bright green moss and 1000's litres water travelling over the falls. Well worth the effort!

Speaking to the locals, they have told us it was the first snowfall in 20 years and most likely won't be seen again for another 20!

Getting bogged - Dash Cam

The Recovery

Waterfall in full flow

Searching for the perfect rural escape!

Years and years of looking at rural properties, gazing out the windows on country drives and feeling jealous of friends beautiful land holdings, it gave me so much inspiration in what to look for in the perfect rural escape. It seems there is very little information out there on those who purchase small holdings as a means of escape and not for Small or Hobby Farming.

My prerequisites:

• Good elevated shed/home sites
• Dam or Permanent creek essential
• Hidden from the road
• Shed preferred but not essential
• Fences and gates
• No easements or access running through
• Not able to see neighbors
• Fertile soil for a fruit orchard
• Character
• 4x4 and motorbike fun with some challenging terrain
• Within 3hrs from home.

These were a few of my prerequisites. After missing out on a 40 acre block in Crookwell some years back, then a 43 acre block in the Hunter Valley, we went to the bank to see what we could do to purchase exactly what we wanted without a big debt.
After much research an equity loan was perfect for us, and it even dropped the Home mortgage interest rate by 0.50%.
We finally had a budget!

There had been a few NSW properties that had kept popping up in my searches. One 40 acre property in Mudgee, a 300 acre property in Taylors Flat and a 130 acre property in Wyangala. I rang all 3 Real Estate agents however all 3 had offers accepted. I was bummed! All new search results returned nothing that fit what we wanted.
That afternoon, the Real Estate agent for Wyangala rang and said new properties were on the Market around Wyangala Dam. I booked an immediate appointment for the next day!

May 18 2015
We met the Agent "Chris" in Wyangala and he handed me 5 brochures of the properties we were looking at. One was the original property I inquired about. "The sale fell through" rung through my ears like it was a dream! Really? The beautiful bouldery valley with it's own waterfall?
He showed us through the first 2 but my mind was just on that one property. "Hidden Valley" was the 3rd property he showed us, and it was breathtaking! Open landscape with views to the McDonald Ranges. Private secluded with 6 seasonal creeks, a dam and its own waterfall that flowed into a Hidden Valley. Boulders scattered around the edges, luscious green grass and beautiful mature gum trees scattered throughout. The agent showed us the boundaries through binoculars. We were sold. It was just beautiful!

He showed us through the next 2 properties, one was a shearing shed and the other was a 92 acre bouldery hill! Our "Hidden Valley" was just outstanding from the rest.
We started talking offers and he said it had "activity" since the sale fell through Friday. An Indian solar company was hoping to purchase the land for setting up a 10 year solar project. I couldn't comprehend how anyone could do that to the landscape. We matched the offer the solar company put forward and the vendors accepted.

May 19: Property purchased!

See the views from the highest point of our property: