Scone
Scone is 280km north of Sydney in the Upper Hunter Valley. Famous for its horse breeding and agriculture, Scone has many historic buildings, making it s beautiful town to visit.
Scone Visitor Information and Elizabeth Park
Located on Kelly Street, the Visitor Information Centre and Elizabeth Park are a great place to start your visit to town. The park is shady, making it a nice place to relax after your drive. There is a statue of a mare and foal, representing the importance of the horse breeding industry to the area.
A bronze bust of Captain John Hunter, the former Governor of New South Wales sits in the park. The Hunter Valley was named after him in honour of his achievements in exploration around Australia.
Across Susan Street is the Visitor information Centre, where you can find out about any interesting events or places to see that are not generally known about or have just become available.
Kelly Street
Running through the centre of town, Kelly Street contains many old and important buildings. You will also find cafes, restaurants and pubs along this street, so if you are looking for something to eat, wander around here.
Kingdon Street
There are some great old buildings on Kingdon Street, including the first Catholic Church (now an arts centre) and the original court house (now a theatre).
Washpools Water Hole
Washpools Water Hole is 20 km north of Scone in the Towarri National Park. There are two area that you can stop in, the camp ground and picnic area. The picnic area is next to the wash pools and unless you plan an overnight stay is the best place to go. It has picnic areas and shaded seats to eat at, so is well set up.
The wash pools are a nice series of water holes in the local creek and are picturesque, being set amongst trees and bushes and reflecting the blue sky. We spend an hour wandering around them taking photos and admiring the bush setting.
While we were there a pair of kookaburras sat in a tree watching us, probably hoping we would drop some food for them.
Farming
Farming is important to the Scone district and you will see evidence of it as you drive around. The most obvious industry as seen from the New England Highway is horse breeding. You will pass many horse studs as you drive into and out of town. On the side roads you will some across other agriculture, ranging from cropping to cattle and sheep. In some fields you will see some old abandoned farm equipment, which makes for an interesting photo.
Burning Mountain
Burning Mountain is 25 km north of Scone. The walk begins in the Burning Mountain Rest Area, where you will find toilets and plenty of parking. For the full story of our Burning Mountain walk, please follow the link.
To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.