What is Timbertown, you ask?  It’s an historical timber cutting village in Wauchope, close to Port Macquarie.  It’s touristy, but the good kind of touristy, the kind that aims to be both fun and informative, not cheesy.

As soon as I walked through the entrance, I was confronted by a giant waterwheel:

I took a video of it too, because it was strangely soothing to watch, like a water feature in a garden:

 

You can see the wooden duct that brings in water over the top, which makes this an overshot waterwheel (makes sense, I guess).  According to the informative sign, this is also the largest overshot timber waterwheel in Australia.  The ‘overshot’ and ‘timber’ parts put in a lot of qualifications, but that’s still pretty cool.

This is the entrance to the town itself:

With this off to the side:

The sign informed me this site was Big Log Camp, where bullock teams and the drivers would stop and camp for the night.

I hurried past the buildings, because according to the program of events I’d been given, a bullock driving demonstration was just about to start on the oval.  I arrived just in time:

This was my view from the stands:

There are no reins for bullock teams, so they work off of voice commands, which means they have to be very well trained.  I took a video of them turning:

 

Unfortunately, there was no hauling of that big log in the background – the cart it was on had a broken front wheel, so it couldn’t be hauled anywhere – but after the demonstration we got a chance to have our picture taken with them.  This is me, pretending to be a bullock driver (I’ve got a whip and everything):

And I took some video of the bullocks being directed back to their pen:

 

From there, I went for a little wander through the town.  This is the lolly store, also selling a variety of ice cream:

The rest of the town:

The winery:

The fire station:

The sawmill:

I stopped by the blacksmith’s, and watched him forge a bottle-opener.  First, the pictures:

Now, the videos:

 

The first video I took just for the sound of the forge when he works the bellows.  I had some time to kill before the woodworkers’ show, so I had a wander.

I followed this path:

And I ended up going past the replica of the 1876 schoolhouse:

The school bell, and the yard where the horses would have been kept:

I rang the bell, which took more effort than I expected – it wasn’t just a little tug, I really had to yank on that rope.

Inside the school house:

Not exactly the largest school in the world – max capacity seemed to be about 10 students.

This was next to the schoolhouse – the sign just reads ‘The Story Tree’.  I offer it to you with no explanation, as none was given to me:

I spotted a horse in a pen, and went over to say hello.  This is Magic the Clydesdale:

I like his blue eye.  I also found guineafowl wandering the town:

It was always the four of them, like they were some kind of gang patrolling their turf.  I took a video of them, just because they made weird noises:

 

Yes, those noises that sound like a squeaky gate are the guineafowls.  They’d do it louder and more frequently when something pissed them off, until they sounded like a rusty clothesline in a storm – it was hilarious!

There were also three donkeys:

They were pretty friendly, and came up to the fence to get a pat.  I loved their long ears – it was like patting a giant rabbit or something.

Opposite the donkeys were the millworkers’ cottages – a single room that housed a family or a group of workers:

This was the set-up inside:

As you can see, just a table and bed and not much else in the way of furniture.  Also, I find that mannequin rather unsettling for some reason – I can’t put my finger on why, just something about the position looks unnatural and gives me the creeps.  Like if I look away, I’m going to be the victim of the week in a Buffy episode.

I moved onto the stables, where Angus the (other) Clydesdale was being prepared for the wagon rides:

All hitched up and ready to go:

A small family group crowded in the back, but because I was on my own, I got to sit up front with the driver.  After Angus had trotted up a hill, a strap came loose, and I had to hold the reins while the driver got off to re-fasten it.  So, technically, I’ve been the driver of a horse-drawn carriage, even if it was only to make sure the horse stayed put.

I took this photo while we were cruising through the town.  We went through twice – it’s a nice little trip:

The next group heading off:

Yes, the driver is also the bullock driver – he seems to be the designated ‘animal man’.

Then it was nearly time for the steam train to set off, so I hurried along to the train station.  I took this video of it passing the dam:

 

The train:

Just like the wagon ride, I was invited to stand in the front with the driver – it was a theme.  This was my view:

I took some video, too:

 

In the train, I was basically there as insurance, an extra person to put the brake on if something happened to the driver.  It was quite hot so close to the engine, and it was a bit of a bumpy ride.  The train made a circuit of the entire town, including the timber forest, and I got to put the brake on when we were back in the station.  The driver also let me blow the whistle, which I found ridiculously exciting.

Our driver:

He even had an old silver pocket watch that he consulted to keep the train on time.  It was cheesy but I loved it.

My next stop was the woodworker’s guild:

They were doing a woodturning demonstration, in which two square blocks of wood with brass inserts were shaped into pens.  I’ll show you in the photos first.

Before:

Once they’ve been properly shaped:

Now, for some videos!  I went a little overboard with them, perhaps, but woodturning is a lot like sculpting pottery on a wheel, and is just as strangely hypnotising.

Here, he’s starting to shape the wood:

 

About halfway through:

 

The finishing touches:

 

After polishing:

Those become the barrels of rifle pens.

I was hungry after that, so I trotted along to the lolly store to have some lunch (that blue store way back up the page).  Yes, they sold ice cream, but they also advertised pies.

The inside of the shop:

I got myself a meat pie and a drink, and sat outside to eat my lunch.  Sadly, I ended up burning part of my mouth on the first bite because the pie was so hot, but it was very delicious.  Then I moved onwards!

Near the store was a resident called Casper the Cocky – I took a picture:

Another photo of the horse and wagon, just because it looks so delightfully quaint:

With all the scheduled events seen and enjoyed, I was free to wander the town.  This is the dam:

There were quite a few ducks around, and I took a photo of the more funny-looking ones:

The picnic area beside the dam:

One of the recreated houses:

The town had a little playground, and near the playground was a cage with two birds in it – a cockatiel and Eurasian collared dove:

I also spotted some wild Wonga pigeons, and got some photos:

And some video:

 

There were a lot of kookaburras around as well:

There was even a pen with a pig in it!  As you can see, it was not bothered at all by the foot traffic around it:

It just looks exhausted by life in general.  I feel you, pig – we’ve all been there.

There was a miniature train circuit, so I hopped on that as well:

You’re never too old to ride miniature trains!  And if anyone ever claims otherwise, they are a lying liar who lies.

This is the usual restaurant and bar, but it was closed for the off-season:

The gaol house:

Yeah, basically just a single room with bars on the windows.  They had a pillory as well – and it’s called a pillory because it was meant to enclose the head and arms, while stocks enclosed the ankles.  I’m not sure why ‘stocks’ came to refer to both in popular culture – maybe because it’s a shorter word and we’re all just lazy?

Next up, I investigated the sawmill (also seen way back up the page).  This is the portable engine that would have powered it:

A powered drag saw:

The frame saw:

Circular saw:

I’m not sure if it was from the maintenance, but the saw mill smelled of sawdust and engine grease, which made it feel very authentic.  I was making my way out of the sawmill when I heard some clucking, and…

Surprise chickens!

I also met a goose wandering down the main street:

At this point, it was close to the town’s closing time, so I started wandering back towards the car park and taking pictures of the buildings along the way.

The printers:

Inside the building:

A sawn slab house:

The little building in the left of the picture is the washing house.  I took a photo of the interior:

The more I learn about how washing used to be done, the more I’m grateful for washing machines.

I’m sure we can all guess what this one was for:

This is a drop slab house, which is a little fancier:

I had to cross the train tracks to get to the car park, and I spotted this signal that I hadn’t noticed on the way in:

The town offered gold panning in the small stream that drove the waterwheel, with real gold:

While I was tempted by the thought of playing Ellsworth from Deadwood, I’d already fossicked for sapphires all the way back in Glen Innes, so I felt I’d unearthed enough treasure.  I climbed into the car, and headed back to Turtle Shell.

I also got a scare when I was brushing my teeth that night.  When I was finished, and went to spit in the sink, instead of white toothpaste, it came out bright red with dark clots of blood and flesh in it.  It took me a moment to get past the initial reaction of internal bleeding/haemorrhagic fever/zombie virus to remember that I’d burned my mouth earlier in the day, and that the electric toothbrush had hurt when it passed over that part of my mouth, which meant it had probably disturbed something.  Still, I must admit to the split-second reaction of ‘holy crap, I’m dying!’.