the ranges to the south east 
Mudgee is on the Central Tablelands of New Soth Wales and, quite amazingly, is just on the eastern edge of the Murray-Darling catchment area.
The Great Dividing Range runs from way to the north-east in Queensland and basically follows the eastern and south eastern coastlines of the continent, in varying widths, all the way through New South Wales and Victoria. The mountains affect the climate, economy and travel for all those living on the west of the Great Divide. Driving from Sydney to Mudgee involves crossing the Blue Mountains, which are just a part of the Dividing Range. Mudgee is encirled on all but the northern side by the wonderful hills of the Ranges. Once you head north and north west either going towards Dubbo or Dunedoo and Gilgandra you drop onto the flat western plains, where the sun burns hotter and the frost bites colder.
Gilgandra actually records up to 40 frosts per year and summer temperatures hit the mid and upper 40s centigrade in January and February. Mudgee's climate is influenced by the mountains. Statistics show that Mudgee's weather is ameliorated by it's height and the effect of the hills. Average summer temperatures are between 14°C and 32°C, and winter ones between 2°C and 14°C. The average annual rainfall is around 605mm.
According to the latest statistics from the Australian Government Weather Bureau, January 2006 was the hottest on record. On 2nd February 2006 mid afternoon temperatures in Mudgee reached 44°C.

The Cudgegong District, as the area is often called, is the Mid Western Regional Council area. The District is located approximately 240 kilometres from Sydney. Described as the land of wine and honey, it boasts tourist attractions such as wineries, olive groves, arts, crafts, bushwalking, gold fossicking, fishing and horse riding. The area is steeped in history from local explorers and bush rangers.

Covering an area of 9595 sq kms, the predominant land in the north of the shire is the open and lightly undulating cattle grazing and moderate cropping land. To the south and west of the shire the land becomes steep and mountainous in places exceeding a 1 in 4 ratio. The east of the shire is open land that has been developed into large amounts of small acreages in poor soiled heavily timbered country that is a mixture of open areas and rolling hills which extends into the wilderness of National Parks.

The regional shire has a fragmented population of approximately 23,000 people and comprises Mudgee, Gulgong, Kandos and Rylstone with 10 other villages Hargraves, Windeyer, Lue, Wollar, Charbon, Clandulla, Bylong, Ilford, Running Stream and Goolma. Other rural residential, and hobby farms are located throughout the combined Districts.

Natural and tourist attractions include Frog Rock, The Drip, Hands on the Rock, Burrendong dam, Munghorn Gap, Goulburn River National Park, Windermere Dam, Dunns Swamp, Wollemi National Park, Ferntree Gully and the Turon Technology Park.

Travelling outside the immediate locality may involve huge distances. Dubbo is 136km away - about an hour and a half by car. Gilgandra (176km) is 2 hours away, Sydney 4 hours, Newcastle (on the east coast) 4 to 5 hours, Canberra about 6, Broken Hill 10 and Brisbane 10 to 12 hours of solid motoring. Once you start thinking of Adelaide then one is talking 2 days at a real push, 3 if you take it slighly easier, and, as for Perth on the west coast, flying from Sydney has to be the easier option. Travelling anywhere to the east of Mudgee is restricted by mountain crossings through the National Parks. For some routes on gravel roads, a 4x4 is imperative. Remember, if you lay a map of Australia over the same scale of Europe, it will stretch from West Coast Ireland almost to the Russian border.

Last Updated: Friday, September 12, 2008

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