Welcome to Lithgow

We head down into the city centre of Lithgow, 5 minutes away, and had lunch at the funky and chic Tin Shed with its size, high vaulted ceilings and great meals a real treat compared to the space constrained cafes in Sydney. Our post lunch stops were to marvel at the towering remains of Australia’s first modern blast furnace at Blast Furnace Park and then on to visit Lithgow State Mine Heritage Park, the site of the first State Government owned coal mine.

We finished this walk back through the industrial heritage of our country by visiting the Small Arms Factory Museum, which sits alongside the National Small Arms Factory, the first modern manufacturing plant in Australia, still operating today 100 years on. The Museum holds the largest collection of small arms in Australia.    

After spending the night at the amazingly luxurious 6-Star One & Only Wolgan Resort in Wolgan Valley we continued exploring what we eventually called “Nature’s Wonderland” (and there’s so much of the wonderland we have already booked our next long weekend).

First stop this morning was venturing up the Wolgan Valley into Newnes, where we explored the historic shale oil refinery ruins, we then followed a trail to the renowned and dreamlike Glow Worm Tunnel, which seems to go on forever - a must-do for any family with children.