Boys' day out - Lake Lyell

It was a pleasant and relaxing day out at the lake with my sons Inigo and Jaz, the recent rain had cleared but good cloud cover remained, we caught some nice fish both browns and rainbows in the upper reaches, the water level was up to around 50% capacity; we sighted pelicans, cormorants, ducks; enjoyed a fry up for lunch, shared a few home brews, went for bit of a paddle, stayed into the night for moonrise and arrived home at a late hour.

 

The lake is also the site of an important convict stockade dating from the 1830s. The young convict Thomas Cook was transported for forgery in 1831 and recorded his experiences in a chain gang stationed there in winter:
 

The dismal and dilapidated state of the habitation which exposed its inmates to the inclemency of the weather, the wretched and haggard countenances of the men, the severity of the cold, and the want of a second or even one good blanket to save the half frozen men from perishing, the idea of bedding with a second or third man as was the custom so as to create warmth, appeared to me altogether objectionable and many a tear did I shed when contemplating upon my hard fare. I was yet in the dark of the horrible propensities which the coarse and brutish language of my gang mates in calamity, coupled with their assignations one towards he other, shortly told me the greater number of them had imbibed. In referring to this horrid contagion I feel I should reserve its nauseous details out of respect for the delicacy of my readers.
Experiences of a Convict, 1840.

 

It is hardly surprising that things were just a bit too cosy for young Thomas, because the three pillars of convict society from 1788 to at least 1840 when transportation ceased, have been described as rum, sodomy and the lash (not that there is anything wrong with that!).

Although a little warmer now than it was in the 1830s, the lake's location on the Lithgow plateau produces water temperatures that are cool enough year round for salmonid stocking and it's the nearest trout fishery to Sydney, which makes it popular with locals as well as visiting anglers. Fishing link

On the Six Foot Track, with a poet and a piebald.

The six foot track was originally developed as a bridle path six feet wide, covering the 26 miles from Katoomba to Jenolan Caves in 1884. Lord Carrington, then Governor General, and Lady Carrington, traveled the track in September 1887 in company with the noted local guide Harry Peckman, known from his versifying as the Poetical Whip, who entertained them along the way with his songs and recitations. When Lady Carrington found it hard going, Harry told her to catch hold of his piebald horse's tail, she at first refused until her husband remarked, "Now then, Lil', do as the guide tells you", her ladyship took the advice and from then on she was alright. They camped at Little River and broke out the champagne and other good things, Harry gave them billy tea and finished off the bubbly with his brother. Some time later the piebald died, Harry cut off the tail and kept it as a souvenir of Lady Carrington. The track passes through some of the most beautiful, rugged and inaccessible country of the southern Blue Mountains National Park and may take up to 4 days to traverse or as little as 5-6 hours for runners in the six foot track marathon, definitely not me. My younger son and I drove in along the fire trail from the Jenolan end as far as the Cox's River and camped overnight at Little River. I photographed these wild ponies as they grazed on fresh pasture after rain. They probably descend from pit ponies released by the miners after the Katoomba coal mines closed in the 1930s. The rivers were still low with no spawn run fish showing, although a few smaller resident fish showed interest in a dry fly. A school group arrived and took over the Cox's camp ground, they had walked in from the Katoomba end, so we left early and headed back the way we came. No sign of old Harry, just the ponies, there was a piebald one.