Sydney Nimble Tours has continued its quest to identify new locations to visit outside of Sydney. Our goal is to find the best places within four hours of Sydney.

This extended radius opens up many areas we have not previously considered.

With this in mind we visited the Capertee Valley and stayed two nights.

The Capertee Valley is the world’s second largest canyon, and can only be described as extraordinary.

When you drive through it you will see numerous majestic mountains, cliffs and stone pagodas. I thought to myself why haven’t I been here before?

The valley also includes the remarkable butte, Pantoneys Crown.

We were fortunate enough to stay with friends who really knew the area and took us on bushwalks that showed just how beautiful this region is. Many thanks to Duncan!

The Capertee Valley is bordered by and encompasses several national parks. The valley is a highly rated bird watching area and we were treated to the sight of a soaring wedge tailed eagle.

You may also come across kangaroos, wallabies and wombats in one of the valley’s national parks.

In addition to the flora and fauna the region also has some delightful small caves, pure freshwater streams and creeks plus many ‘out there’ geological formations.

We plan to include a visit to the Capertee Valley in our next extended tour which will focus on the Mudgee region.

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get ready to rock scramble if you want to reach the summit

Alison showing no fear

they may look harmless but these two hikers set a cracking pace

a cave with well rounded formations and valley views

flannel flower

This weekend Sydney Nimble went outside of its usual patch and visited the Southern Tablelands.

A group of like minded individuals bonded by their sense of humour and children stayed at a working sheep station, known as Markdale. www.markdale.com/ The patriarch of Markdale, Mark, took the group on an outstanding tour of the sheep shearing shed on the farm.

There was no marking time on this outing and Mark’s explanation of the shearing process and sheep husbandry business generally was refreshing and enlightening for a group of city slickers. There is another world outside of the Sydney bubble.

Markdale has an outstanding garden which includes a small lake with a tiny island and row boat, arched timber bridge, stone retaining walls and an assortment of trees. The garden was designed by acclaimed Australian landscape artist, Edna Walling.

The layout of the trees which include golden elms, aspens, silver birch, and eucalypts frame the garden in a way that allows the delightful heritage homestead to be seen from the surrounding countryside.

The property has significant history with the previous owners (the Ashtons) having held it for four generations.

On the drive to Markdale from Goulburn several places of interest were observed: Pejar Dam, Crookwell Windfarm, and some pretty stone cottages in Binda and beyond. The closeness of the road to the wind turbines provides many vantage points from which to appreciate the massive structure of these winged warriors.

The Crookwell area has plenty of wind and clean air. The shire is known for its fine wool, fat lambs, beef cattle and potato cultivation. The drive to Markdale takes around 3-3.5 hours and this duration excludes it from being within the day tour range of Sydney Nimble Tours.

If you would like to visit the Southern Tablelands we recommend a minimum of three nights, which allows two full days to explore this charming region.

Crookwell windfarm late in the afternoon

There’s sheep in them thar hills.

they always have to touch

baa

The Edna Walling Garden at Markdale is one of Australia’s great country gardens.