As part of our long New Years weekend trip away to Armidale and the New England Region, we like to check out as many of the local attractions as we can. Any national parks are high on our list of things to do, The Threlfell track within the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park was one such places.I just love the country roads and the lack of farm fencing. This road actually past through some private farming land. Though our vehicle can easily handle some dirt road, it always slows you down a bit and it's good to keep your eyes peeled and stay alert.The entire 18 kilometre drive from Armidale was looking pretty hot and dry hopefully there would be a bit more tree cover and water on the hike.The water warning signs were not a good sight.I suppose this area get hammered when it rains but quickly turn stagnant when it gets dry and hot.There was still a bit of water flowing but a we saw a lot of green algae.The historical part of this walk is that they dammed this area in late 1895 to make Australia's very first hydro scheme.This chute which forms part of the walk, channelled water from the upper dam down to the power station at the bottom of the Gorge.There was an original stone flume was at ground level and a later shorter timber flume at a higher level.Gara George.There was not a lot of the old hydro scheme left to see but we were more interesting in the walk and the Gorge anyway.The old power plant site was at the bottom of the gorge. There appeared to be a track heading that way but the information we had was to stick to the main track and enjoy the lookouts. The power from the plant was used at a booming mining operation 7 kilometre away.I really enjoyed this short hike and am Looking forward to the next one.
