As part of our 6 day stay in Mudgee, we visited Ganguddy (Dunns Swamp), Rylstone and Kandos on 19th December 2021.

Its a fine day, warm again, and we are heading south to see Ganguddy – previously called Dunns Swamp – Rylstone and Kandos.

We retraced our drive around Windamere Dam and then turned left to Rylstone. It’s a very pretty drive through rolling farmlands and also around the storage lake at Windamere.

Rylstone is a lovely old town and we walked many of its streets. There are references to the town being referred to as Ryalston in the period 1846 to mid-1850s, then referred to as Ryalstone during the late 1850s. Rylstone town was laid out in 1846 and by the 1850s it was becoming a well established town with post office, hotels, school, mills, and police lock-up. Rylstone was formally proclaimed a town on 20 March 1885. We came across the police station first.

It has some lovely old buildings – here are some examples.

That church had a sitting area at the rear which had its own pizza oven.

From Rylstone we drove the 26km out to Gangguddy.

Ganguddy or Dunns Swamp, is a beautiful, serene waterway on the Cudgegong River in Wollemi National Park. The natural swamps of the area were an important resource for First Nations people, providing fresh water and food such as duck eggs, tortoise and snake meat as well as reeds for making baskets.

The lake was created when Kandos Weir was built in the late 1920s. It’s not really a swamp at all but a lake created by the dam and ideal for a wide range of watersports. One local told me they used to water-ski on the lake back in the day.

It is a very nice drive from Rylstone to Ganguddy through fresh and green looking farmlands, with occasional rocky outcrops.  But as we approach the site, high rock walls, pagoda formations and stands of grey gums close in around the last few kilometres of the gravel road that lead us to the camping area.  It’s a real feel-good arrival.

However, this turned into disappointment when we found the information panel and maps were almost useless in planning our visit. We drove around to different parts of the camp site before driving back to the start and tried to make sense of it all. We parked the car and walked around to the first beach, and kept trying to follow a track through the various campsites. It was very busy, lots of families there, but plenty of room. Afterwards I found a good map here.

The first beach was Kookaburra Beach and it is pretty impressive. Lots of people getting into the water. Very pretty spot.

We kept walking around the water where many people had set up camp and were canoeing or kayaking or just floating on a noodle. Looks so inviting but we were not prepared for a swim – clearly we had not done our research. We thought we were going there to walk. 

 

 

At one point we must have been at a First Nations art site – but we could not see the artwork.

 

We then talked to one lady who put us straight and pointed us to the Weir walk. Its a really good walk  – compacted earth – and as we move around the lake side we gradually see a line of cliffs appear in the distance. Also many people getting out in the water.

There are also beautiful rock formations full of holes and ridges and over arching cliffs. It’s amazing country.

At Platypus Point we could look across to a series of cliffs  further up the lake.

There were some lovely coloured rocks and flowers  in this area.

Then we got to the start of the track to the Pagoda Lookout track and, even though there are warnings about it difficulty, I was determined to get there. Kerry elected to find a shady place to sit out the wait. It as a relatively simple climb to start with but then I came to a couple of testing little climbs for an old bloke like me. For some, I found another way around, but for others I had to clamber up as best I could. 

Further up the little climbs got a bit harder but I was able to get over them all. And the climb was so worth it  – magnificent views from the top. Pagoda outcrops all around me. Check out the video link at the end of the post.

In the end it was not that difficult a climb. Most reasonably fit and agile people could make it without too much effort.

Back down below Kerry decided to go back to the picnic area and enjoy the action there. It was very hot and she had not been sleeping well. I thought I would keep going and see where that took me. 

I came to an area of quite sheer cliffs next to the water. The trees stopped me getting the perfect photos but the area was really impressive. 

The track followed a ledge on the cliff – there was a pipe rail for us to hang to. After that there was a set of timber steps to get to the top of the cliffs.  The views from the top were impressive.

I decided to walk on to the weir – not so far from where I was.  My only worry was that we had gone out without water. We are hopeless – if there was an Olympic event for “come without water” we would get the gold medal with ease. And as usual I pressed on.  I was soon at the weir. Except I would describe it as a small dam rather than a weir. It was great as there was so much water spilling from the dam.  The dam was originally built for Kandos Cement Works. 

I returned to the picnic area  and just before I got there I came to an oyster shell of a rock outcrop. Beautiful colours.

At the picnic area I made straight for the water bottle. We had lunch there and then made our way to Kandos. This involved driving back to Rylstone and then on to Kandos. As we left the area we came to some stunning beehive/pagoda outcrops in a magnificent red colour.  

We passed Birds Hut, once a 19 century shepherds hut belonging to a Mr Bird. 

Kandos was another an interesting little town with some wonderful old buildings.  Kandos was created in 1913 to exploit the limestone in the area. It became a huge producer of cement which gave it the nickname “The Town That Built Sydney“. Since the cement works closed in 2011 it has become a popular “tree change” destination for artists and, as such, has a number of galleries and interesting art and craft shops.

After a quick exploration, we headed back to Mudgee.