2026-05-13
Breakfast this morning was crumpets toasted in the Wolstead multi-cooker. It doesn't actually have a toast function, but with the top element lid on, and using the steaming rack, you can crank it up to max and it'll do a fairly reasonable job of toasting crumpets.
The plan for today was to travel on the Zig Zag Railway and afterwards check out the Gloworm Tunnel in Lithgow. We aimed to be at the railway about an hour before our booked time (11:30) and given the current traffic issues and the variable nature of the roads around here, we ended up leaving a titch earlier still. We took yet another route from Oberon to Lithgow this time, and it was definitely the best in terms of road quality. (Duckmaloi Rd -> Jenolan Caves Rd -> Great Western Highway) also, how cool a name is Duckmaloi?
When we arrived they were just getting the train ready for the 10:30 departure (the shorter 45 min run), so we watched them head off and then got a sausage roll and hot chocolate each, and sat in the static dining cars out of the weather to eat them. At around 11:15 or so, we relocated out to the station platform and awaited the trains return, which meant of course I was ready to take photos as it pulled in.
The passengers alighted all except a gent and an elderly lady who was having some difficulties. The gent put the ramp down and then I stepped up to steady the ramp, and ended up steadying the lady as she crossed it. She might have been a bit dottery on her legs, but she had an iron grip, and for a second I thought I was going to be stuck escorting her to the carpark, but she did eventually release me so I could put the ramp away and board the train.
When we were ready to leave and automated announcement came on for some safety information, history of the railway and that there would be two tunnels and lights would come on automatically in the carriages. As it happened, lights did not come on and the first tunnel being about 470m long was quite dark. I joked that we should get up and change seats in the dark to see if anyone noticed, but we didn't.
At the station he had been given a hot tip to sit on the station side of the carriage as it was the side with the views, so we did exactly that. The weather wasn't entirely conducive to views, but wasn't so wet to not have any views. At one point we could see some of the stone arch bridges we'd cross and the middle road (lower rail) we'd end up on.
Our first stop was at Top Points, where the locomotive is detached, moves in to a siding and swaps tracks, where it then drives to the other end of the train, swaps back to the original tracks and is recoupled for the next leg (down the Middle Road). This gave us all a chance to get out and watch the locomotive make these manoeuvres.
We then proceeded down to the Bottom Points, where we elected not to get out of the train while they moved the locomotive as it was raining again. This took about 10 mins or so, and then we set off back up the Middle Road towards Top Points again. Going uphill the locomotive was working somewhat harder than on the downhill run, with the familiar chug chug as it powered up the incline.
At Top Points for the second time, we once again got out to watch the locomotive be shuffled back to the other end of the train. This time I went over to the other side of the railway (over a walk bridge) and shot it from ground level, and also took some video of it passing.
We all got back on the train and away we went back up to Clarance Station, passing by the Great Western Highway along the way (where some motorists and a bus got a nice treat of watching us steam past). Back through the pitch black tunnel which seemed shorter on the return and in to the station. And that was it. A very pleasant 90 mins chugging along in the mist. We returned to the car headed down to Lithgow in search of lunch.
Lunch was found in a shopping centre food court, because it was getting late and this was easy to find. We checked on the Gloworm Tunnel info, and found it involved a 6km return track which given the somewhat frequent rain, we decided to skip for today. The Lithgow Small Arms Museum isn't open on Wednesdays, and everything else we found of interest involved being outside, so we returned to Oberon, back up the way we came down.
That wasn't the end of the day though, because later in the afternoon, a patch of sun popped out and I went for a short walk around the park looking for the Crimson Rosellas that I could occasionally hear. I found two adults, and three juveniles. Pictured below is one of the adults.
For dinner, I made some tortillas and used up the leftover chilli con carne to do soft burritos.