Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Wildwood Nesting in the Hills of Mudgee: Rob Krause is Highly Recommended

Notwithstanding our trip to Sydney .... the World was encircled by the Mudgee Hills, with Eurunderee as a centre. Mudgee, the town, five miles away was inside the World: Sydney was somewhere on the edge of the World, or just behind. I used to describe Sydney as a place 170 miles from Eurunderee.” 
~ Henry Lawson  --- The son of a Norwegian seaman, Niels Larsen  ('From Mudgee Hills to London Town': A Critical Biography of Henry Lawson )

Eurunderee WildWood of Henry Lawson Fame
Rob and Jude of WildWood fame not only shared with us their passion for the local flora and fauna, but also antipodean books, stories, poetry and paintings. The huge size empire-like beds were so comfortable that Media Dragons are now hunting down a triple king bed ...

We explored the beauty of nearby picturesque Bylong Valley as it goes well with Mudgee's eclectic lifestyle. In the Valley we spotted variety of birds such as the stunning Lyrebird and to boot Goanna and tiger snake also showed their faces   ...

As we learned that the Bylong Valley is under threat from Korean state owned mining ... So we are probably among the last tourists to enjoy the amazing landscapes ... It reminded us so much of Tyson's Dorrigo as it was so green and lush  KEPCO: Bylong Valley under threat

Next time we wil will take a picnic tucker to that amazing aboriginal sacred site where Brett Whitney left a few absinthe induced creativity on the cave walls of The Drip ... Lets hope that will not be mined by some foreign government ...

Mudgee' reputedly derives from the Wiradjuri Aboriginal term 'Moothi' meaning 'nest in the hills'
There are plenty of things to see and do. The vineyards of Mudgee, the quaint villages of Hill End and Sofala and most of all the Lue Pottery at Lue...

Empire-like Bed for 7 foot Amazons
In a nutshell, Wildwood Guesthouse is Mudgee accommodation nestled in 150 acres of undulating grasses and rambling woodlands. Wildwood Guesthouse is an expansive four bedroom homestead with a contemporary Australian style. The bed and breakfast is beautifully appointed, Wildwood is an accommodation destination for those seeking privacy and indulgence in an idyllic bush setting.
From the moment you enter the tree lined driveway you can sense the peace and that you are getting away from it all. Wildwood Guesthouse is in the heart of Mudgee's wine growing district and only minutes from the centre of town. WildWoodMudgee.com.au (
Email: rob@wildwoodmudgee.com.au
Address: 5 Minutes from the town via "Henry Lawson Drive," 58 Tierney Lane, Mudgee NSW 2850, Australia

Historically speaking, Wildwood has been synonymous with gracious country living for generations. 'Eurunderee' is the original name for the valley just outside Mudgee where Wildwood now sits. The ghost of Henry Lawson, poet of the people, is everywhere at Eurunderee, and the Wildwood property is the valley he wrote about as Sapling Gully. For the bush bard, Sapling Gully was synonymous with the hardships of gold mining.

There is no television or video system, but there is a CD player in the lounge area for general use. Each room has French doors opening to a broad verandah, which looks across the property. The bedrooms have superb Damask linen, fluffy towels and sweet country soap. The lounge and dining rooms are spacious, and the lounge room has high, beamed ceilings and a comforting, wood-burning fireplace.

There are vases of fresh flowers everywhere, and platters of fruit, vegetables, fresh eggs, and nuts. It just feels as though you are visiting friends in the country! The house is made of rammed earth. This method is to erect a frame and ram earth into it to form a solid wall. The inside walls of Wildwood are a wonderful earthy colour, and the natural mud gives excellent insulation.
You are likely to see wallabies, kangaroos, rabbits, foxes, echidnas and the property's lovable dogs. Wild birds are prolific ...
Bret Wwhitley Painting Mudgee at Drip Rocky Gorge


Reviews circa 2001 2009: The guesthouse is in a valley known as Eurunderee, which Henry Lawson once wrote about. It has the perfect veranda on which to relax on a Saturday afternoon while watching kangaroos eat grass close by.
Wildwood Guesthouse at Mudgee
Wildwood review circa 2001
Mudgee and Wildwood Reviews by US travellers

 Coda:

“The perfect place with the perfect host” ...

Tripadvisor.com and Reviews of Wildwood Guesthouse Mudgee
Mudgee Vinyards Nesting in the hills

Lawson was first published in The Bulletin in 1887 with the poem Song of Australia - external site. The Bulletin was an influential publication which promoted a particular set of views - egalitarianism, unionism, and 'Australianism'. It was also white and male.
Lawson was a regular contributor, as was Banjo Paterson. A series of verses were published where Lawson and Paterson debated their different perspectives on the Australian bush - Lawson claiming Paterson was a romantic, and Paterson claiming Lawson was full of doom and gloom.

Tony Moore, in his 1997 paper about bohemian culture, says:
The bohemian traits revered by 'The Bulletin' writers are almost a caricature of the Australian national type propagated by the journal: mateship and blokey bonding to the exclusion of family life; hostility to religion, personified by the Protestant wowser; ironic humour; a fondness for alcohol, pubs and gambling; pre-occupation with a free-wheeling Australian identity (overlaid with francophilia and Irish nationalism) invariably opposed to a conservative Englishness; and an occasional flirtation with political causes such as socialism and republicanism. The identification of the bohemian with male mateship remains a strong thread in the Australian tradition, but one contested by women like Mary Gilmore in the 1890s, Dulcie Deamer in the 1920s, Joy Hester in the 1940s and Germaine Greer in the 1960s.

The Drip Rock Formations

"The bush consists of stunted, rotten native apple trees, no undergrowth. Nineteen miles to the nearest civilisation - a shanty on the main road ... There is nothing to see, however, and not a soul to meet. You might walk for twenty miles along this track without being able to fix a point in your mind, unless you are a bushman. This is because of the everlasting, maddening sameness of the stunted trees."
(Source: The Drover's Wife by Henry Lawson)