Tour d’Central Tablelands of NSW Part 2 of 2

07 Oct Tour d’Central Tablelands of NSW Part 2 of 2

September 2026

In part 1 of this adventure you saw photos of our visit to O’Connell, Ben Chifley Dam, Oberon, Kanagra Walls and Mayfield Garden.

On the morning of the 7th October all five couples in our camping group moved camp from Oberon to Blayney NSW, 84 kms to the south east.

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Blayney NSW – 7th to 10th October

Blayney, a small town in NSW, was established on its present site in 1843. It’s main industries are mining (gold and copper), food processing (Purina pet food), agriculture, forestry and logistics. As of 2021 Census the population was 2997.

Maggie and I stayed in Blayney for four nights, while the rest of the group moved south to Koorawatha NSW after three nights.

The Blayney Railway Station

As we found out in the afternoon of 7th September, Blayney’s logistic capabilities can be quickly compromised by the failure of the railway boom gates, at the main street level crossing (Adelaide Street / Mid-Western Highway). Waiting to exit Blayney were many laden trucks, busses and cars (including Maggie and I in our Mazda), queued back several blocks from the level railway crossing for over an hour. Side streets were also blocked with traffic trying enter Adelaide Street. And on the Mid-Western Highway, to the north side of the tracks, a similar line up of vehicles waited to enter Blayney.

Apparently a technical fault had caused the boom gates to be locked in the down position and the red traffic lights locked on. With no railway technicians in Blayney at the time, qualified railway technicians had to be sent from Bathurst (37 kms away) to rectify the problem.

We managed to take a side street to leave the queue and returned to camp. Unknown to us until much later, our travelling companions, Martin & Rita, were stuck in the traffic on the Mid-Western Highway side of the railway and couldn’t leave the queue until the fault was rectified.

Public Buildings, Churches and Pubs in Blayney

Note the sky and interesting light in the following photos of Blayney. No AI or sky replacement was used. All were taken on the afternoon of Wednesday 9th September between 4 and 4.30 pm.

There are five churches we saw on Adelaide Street (the main street). Apparently there is a sixth church somewhere in town, but there are only three pubs.

And the award for the church with the best location goes to the Baptists.

The next photo is included to show a wide angle shot of the sky (in case you haven’t seen enough of this sky already).

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Millthorpe NSW 8th and 9th September

Millthorpe is a beautiful small town of just 1347 residents, 11.9 kms north West of Blayney. All of the camping mob visited Millthorpe on Tuesday the 8th. However most of the shops were closed, even the hotels.

Maggie and I returned to Millthorpe on Wednesday 9th when the shops were open and we had a lovely lunch at The Old Mill Cafe.

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Carcoar Dam and Wind Farm NSW

All of the camping mob visited the dam, the wind farm and the township in the afternoon of the 8th September. All of these locations are within 15 kms south west of Blayney.

Carcoar Township

Despite its small size, Carcoar was one of the most important towns in this region, prior to the development of Blayney. It currently has a population of 271 people.

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Here endeth Part 2 (of 2) of our Tour d’Central Tablelands of NSW.

This was a very worthwhile adventure for us and we intend to spend more time visiting small country towns in the future.

Thanks once again to Rita and Martin for organising this trip. Thanks to all of our camping friends, whose company we appreciated during this trip. Thanks also to all the friendly people we encountered along the way.

If you feel inclined, please leave a comment in the space below.

Until next time stay safe and well.