This 5 Star review is from our Facebook page and sums us up well.

 

Mick Daley says: A review of this fine enterprise: Central West NSW boasts some of the richest historical country in our great colonialised land and around the Weddin Ranges is concentrated a trove of bushranging lore and artefacts that you won’t find anywhere else outside of Ned Kelly’s helmet. Craig Lawler, a longtime amateur sleuth and historian, has made a bespoke business out of his fascinations, determined to share the cultural wealth of his adopted town, Gooloogong.

 

He and his partner Jo have formed Blind Freddy’s Bushranger Tours, a fine combination of archaic comedy, high drama and tightly woven narrative fact. As a veteran of Craig’s research rambles across the bucolic plains and rugged ranges, I can attest to the depth of his passion and knowledge about the pedigree and idiosyncrasies of the men and women who inhabited these hills. In particular, the foibles of the complex and troubled Sir Frederick ‘Blind Freddy’ Pottinger and his relentless if sometimes gormless pursuit of the great Ben Hall and his mob are beautifully narrated.

 

Craig takes you on an intoxicating ride around a surprising wealth of bona fide period sites, where the bushrangers and the women who supported, nursed and fed them, fought, fornicated and fled from the ‘traps’. It’s as much about the informed and easy company as the heady mix of intact period localities and gorgeous countryside. The intimate nature of these tours betray a deep empathy and fondness for the personalities and character of this raunchy, sometimes tragic era. You won’t get funnier or more sympathetic guides. Craig and Jo bestow great warmth and energy on a uniquely fascinating historical niche – and that makes for compelling, interactive good times.