18 April - Lose a century, go to Timbertown

Our first day in Port Macquarie and we left it.  We had good weather (and we knew it wouldn’t last) and it was still the NSW School Holidays.   It was obvious that there was only one thing we could do which was go to Wauchope and spend the day at Timbertown.  It was outdoors so good weather was ideal for this outing, but also I had read that not all the activities run outside school holidays.  It seemed that fate was on our side as we had two more days of the hols left. 

History alive is the slogan for Timbertown and it really came alive for us.  The element that made this attraction a great day for our family was the staff.  Everyone we dealt with was helpful and sincere.  We started the day with a spot of panning for gold (although the boys did walk away understanding that the gold buyers and shop keepers made much more money than the prospectors).

Then we moved onto a demonstration of Australia’s only full time bullock team.

Learned the skill of whip cracking.

Took a ride in a steam train.

Then a ride in a horse and cart.

 Popped into old houses, the firehouse and the working blacksmith, and then took a ride on a miniature train. 

Learned about hand crafted wooden toys of yesteryear.

Took a couple lessons away from the school.

And after all this we took ourselves tiredly off home for a dinner and a movie and a good night rest.

Some people reviewing Timbertown have said that it isn't as good as it used to be, we didn't see it back then.  Some say it needs cleaning and sprucing up, maybe - but it is supposed to be a town from 1880 BV (before vacuuums). But the people make this place special and they were great.  In short we had a ball!