Friday, February 3rd, 2017 - 'Full-On' Tourism

I am travelling with a marvelous tour guide!  Judy has done lots of research on the local sights, so for our second day in and around Scamander, we chose go travel back inland a small way to visit some peculiar places.

So if you pass a place that says 'The Shop in the Bush', what do you think you will find?

Indeed, it was a shop and yes, it was surrounded by bush (for you Americans, remember that's the woods), far away from anywhere else.

So we stopped and looked. Surprisingly it was an antique and collectibles store. Lots of china, knick nacks, crystal, silver, books and jewellry. We bought a few little things to support the business, but it was not the type of shopping I needed.

Then we went on to an area called The Blue Tier, a former tin mining settlement at the top of a mountain range. It was a most interesting drive, going from farmlands at the base, .......

.........through a rain-forest with huge tree ferns, ......

........to a mountaintop plateau with mossy undergrowth and myrtle forest. 

We went on a short walk, called the Goblin Walk, which had a few ruins and artifacts from the tin mining days.

Judy and I had a battle of the cameras at a small bridge!

The trees were small - partly due to the altitude and partly because it is reforesting itself from its former mining use.

Following that, we had a little navigation glitch, then found our way to a destination 'Pub in the Paddock', which featured a beer swilling pig! It claims to have served as a pub since 1880's. Indeed, it is in the middle of a paddock - close to nowhere. 

They said they have served the local farmers and lumberjacks throughout its history. It was a dark paneled place, with lots of pig artifacts to promote Priscilla, the pig who likes to drink beer. 

Priscilla herself, is in a pen outside the pub and for one dollar, you can take a bottle of the run off draft beer mixed with water and feed it to her. Not sure how the animal lovers would feel about this, but we managed to help her dispose of three bottles with great rapidity.

 

Several more miles up the road was a waterfall - the St. Columba Waterfall, and it was very beautiful. Well worth the short walk to see it.

More beautiful tree ferns......

Not to be outdone by nature, the final stop for the day was a cheese factory in Pyengana - a very small town. However, we found a bit of an obstacle while looking for it. First a single cow came wandering down the road, then a whole herd came cruising by. They were being herded by two men - one on foot and the other in a little front-loader. the cows looked very healthy with shiny hides. These photos were all taken from the back seat of the car!

Finally, we arrived at the cheese factory.

We arrived in time for a cheese tasting for a variety of cheddars. They also had delicious looking baked goods and somehow a slice of cheesecake slipped into my bag for dessert that night. I would say it was the best, creamiest non-baked cheesecake I have ever had. The creaminess came from just outside their back door, where you could see the cows wandering in to be milked by the robotic milker. We were fascinated that the whole operation was voluntary and hands free. 

The cows wander up from the paddock and the dairy lets them in if they have enough milk as determined by the electronic ID they wear and the amount of time since the last milking. 

If it's too soon they get turned away. Then they calmly stand in line until one of the three stalls becomes available and the robot, knowing which cow they are, is able to place the machinery precisely on their teats.

 

 After  milking, they wander out, indulge in a little back rub from a rotating scrub brush and then wander back down the hill. 

This way they get milked more frequently, which increases milk production. We found it fascinating and spent some time observing the whole process.

And that was it - the end of our tourist list for that day!

I most appreciate that rural life continues as I knew it as a child, in spite of technical updates that make life better for animals and farmers. It's that farming appears to remain in the hands of individual farmers and has not been taken over by huge enterprises. The small towns have a petrol (gas) station if you're lucky, a post office and a food store of some type - and that's about it. There are larger regional centers within an hour or so drive for other needs. It is very heartening for me to see that the whole world has not gone corporate....... and to be reminded that food from such sources does indeed taste much better than the usual supermarket fare.