Day 1: Bathurst

Kings Parade, with its Carillon, Evans and Boer War Memorial monuments, forms an important focal point for the city.

The Carillon was built in 1933 as a memorial to the men and women of Bathurst and District who served in World War 1. It has 35 bells and, while it can still be played manually, it is connected to a computer and is programmed to play 40 different tunes. It plays every day at noon and 1.00pm.

Nearby is Machattie Park which was formally opened in December 1890. The park is built on the site of the old Bathurst Gaol, which was demolished in 1888 to make way for the park.

Machattie Park is an historically significant example of a late 19th century Victorian country town park. It exhibits the principal elements typical of the Victorian period in terms of the form and layout and is particularly valuable because of the quality of the decorative features. Features include the Bandstand, the Caretakers Cottage, Crago Fountain, Fernery, Lake Spencer and the Munro Drinking Fountain.

Additionally, the park has a valuable collection of mature and majestic trees that are used either informally or formally as avenue plantings. Most of these trees are not natives of Australia. Particularly important are the avenues of Huntington Elms bordering the park as well as a unique layered elm hedge. Some of the fine specimens of exotic trees include, Bunya Pine, Atlas Cedar, Deodar Cedar, Red Beech, English Oak, Pin Oak, Wellingtonia, Chinese Elm and Silver Elm. Together, they contrive to make it one of the prize examples of a Victorian Park within New South Wales.

We saw many blossoms around here took quite a few photos.

Nearly is the majestic Bathurst Courthouse - one of the finest Victorian Court House buildings in New South Wales. Built as part of a precinct of Victorian public buildings, it is a landmark building prominently sited in the town centre of Bathurst.