Belltrees before the Whites
Taking a longer term view of land use in the Upper Hunter Valley, as Bruce Pascoe does in his book Dark Emu, we learn that aboriginal peoples carefully fostered the soil and plants of this area for thousands of years before the White family arrived and took up the land that they named Belltrees. Once Europeans began to run sheep they "...noticed the alarming drop in productivity over a mere handful of years as sheep ate out the croplands and compacted the light soils...thousands of years of grass and soil changed in a few years. The spongy soil grew hard, the run-off accelerated and different grasses dominated. The fertility encouraged by careful husbandry of the soil was destroyed in just a few seasons."
Now the current generation of the Whites, who are custodians of Belltrees, are again considering changing the use of the land so that it can continue to provide an income. This change in direction, possibly to horse breeding, is not being brought about by loss of plant diversity and soil compaction or falling wool and cattle prices, it is as a result of climate change that has brought rising temperatures, diminished rainfall and reduced water in the Hunter River.
Riding on the sheep's back
After the White family established Belltrees in 1831 they grazed sheep for their wool. Up until 1920, 100 people worked in the shearing shed where 180,000 sheep were shorn and 3,000 bales of wool were exported each year to England. Today the shearing shed, designed by J Horbury Hunt and built in the 1880s remains intact 140 years after it was constructed and 100 years after it was last used for its intended purpose.
We spent the morning before our departure investigating this fascinating building that dominates Belltrees from the top of a hill near the property's centre.
J Horbury Hunt designed the shearing shed - or at least the fiddly bits like the ventilation towers and curved edges of the corrugated iron roofing
The sheep pens stand empty. We tried to imagine them crammed full of sheep ready for shearing.
The wool press stands as it was left 100 years ago
The last leg
The end of any ride brings mixed feelings. On the one hand it'll simply be good to be home again. On the other there is a sadness that the adventure is coming to an end and the growing realisation that Sydney's afternoon traffic will be waiting to quickly bring you back to reality.
But before we had to deal with returning to the real world there was a great road still to be negotiated through Broke, Wollombi and Kulnura. This road is narrow and closely follows the meanders of creeks, zigging around ridges and zagging past swamps. This road is badly maintained, has decreasing radius blind corners and damp patches in the areas shaded by overhanging trees. In short, it's a lot of fun on a motorcycle.
Just before Wollombi, adding an element of excitment and unpredictability, 4 eastern grey kangaroos kept us guessing as to which way they'd jump while they bounded along beside us.
Even the weather observed that our astronomical journey was coming to an end and it started to rain: it was wet enough for us to need our wet-weather gear, but not so wet that water found its way into our crotch through the pin prick holes that are incorporated in all so-called waterproof clothing.
I'm pretty sure I speak for Simon and Peter when I say that we enjoyed each other's company and could have happily carried on for another week or two. With the Covid-19 lockdown set to continue for an indefinite period Simon will have plenty of time to plan our next adventure. By the time we are released from isolation we'll all need a few days rehabilitation riding our bikes, supporting numerous coffee shops and pubs and having a good laugh.
Go back: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4
For more on motorcycling, you might also be interested in:
3 Museums Ride - a 5 day museum crawl with my riding mates, Simon and Peter.
South American Adventure 2015: Santiago to Bariloche - the first installment on a 20 day ride with Compass Expeditions from Santiago, Chile to Ushuaia, Argentina.
Interested in a different adventure?
Follow Ian and Jacqui’s 1990 lap of Australia with 3 kids aged under 5.