December 2023 - Chauncy Vale

Our November walk got bumped because of nasty weather. Lyn organised this visit to historic Chauncy Vale, just off the highway at Bagdad. Most of us have driven past the signs pointing to Chauncy Vale for years and many have wondered what this reserve and the walks here were like. We'd heard of "They Found a Cave" (children's book and movie) and that Nan Chauncy was quite a significant figure in both children's literature and conservation activism. But we'd not actually been here before. Our group today was Lyn, Prem, Di, Angie, Fin, Caroline, Bob and Wayne. Angie and Di had done some homework by reading Nan Chauncy's biography, and can recommend it as a nice easy read:

We gathered at the information shelter and read some of the well-presented displays. Lyn had phoned ahead and arranged for us to get access to Day Dawn, the actual cottage where Nan Chauncy raised her family and wrote her books, which is now a museum. The young couple who have the live-in caretaker role in the reserve came to collect us and guide us to the house.

Dominating the front of the quaint country cottage is a 105 year old pine tree - planted in 1918 to celebrate the Armistice. It is very healthy looking! The garden around the cottage is mowed by wallabies and a few early plants struggle on. The cottage was built in slipform concrete, one of the earliest examples in Australia, by Nan's engineer brother. It is because it is so solid that the cottage is basically intact, even though over a hundred years old. The livingroom was also the workroom:

and still contains her actual typewriter and book collection.

We were old enough to recognise from our childhoods quite a few objects in the house that our guides had no idea about.

The master bedroom:

and the kids slept on the verandah:

We finally managed to tear ourselves away, and headed back to the information displays.

We hopped back in our cars and drove a little way along the road to the Meeting Room, where there is a barbecue and outdoor eating facilites, also a clean and tidy lounge/meeting room that can be booked for events. We were at the "You Are Here" point in this map:

We set off to the right along the Caves Loop Track (the green track on the above map). This pretty path rises up to cut across the front of some amazing cliffs, studded with caves.

Some of us were more adventurous than others!

Angie was sent in to examine some attractive handprints, and pronounced them to be fairly young.

We returned to the main trail, the Rivulet Track (red track on the map) and turned right towards Guyvy's Lagoon (the orange track). The trail was well maintained, easy walking, and passed through some nice dry schlerophyll bush.

There were plenty of birds around, also wallabies, frogs in the ponds and some evidence of wombats. Guyvy's Lagoon was totally dry, but the lookout seat at the top of the hill was very pleasant.

Heading back we passed Eve's Bath, where Nan's grand daughter Eve liked to swim, and it does look like it would be a nice spot for a swim when there is more water about.

After that we came upon a recent installation - the Wombat Woodland Walk.

Some excellent new bridges have been built over the creek, and lots of cute carvings and wombat sculptures are dotted around the area. This would be a great place to bring kids to enjoy the bush and to learn something about the animals and plants here.

Back at the Meeting Room Bob fired up the barbie and soon the table was overflowing with food, salads and wines to share, and our end of year lunch was underway.

Wayne amazed us with a Christmas pudding cooked on the spot in his motorhome, served with custard! What a warm and heartening way to finish our walking and talking year, sharing stories and personal histories with good friends. We headed home full of good cheer.