7TH MARCH 2013 - COONABARABRAN, NSW

Burnt out Warrambumgles
 

Observatory at Warrambungles
 

Stayed in freebie again last night with 2 vans, multiple trucks, very noisy again.  Lots of roadworks & holdups, & lots of roadtrains on the road today so lots of pulling over to let them pass.   Beautiful clear blue skies again - aren't we lucky?  We arrive at Coonabarabran which is the Astronomy Capital of  Australia due to the fact that the skies are so clear in this area.  There is a large observatory on top of the Warrumbungles National Park (meaning 'crooked mountains) ,  so we head for the Info centre to check whether we can visit it and the park itself.   It has  been recommended to us - lovely rock formations & 19 different species of parrots plus lots of wildlife like koalas, eastern grey kangaroos, wallaroos & emus.  Unfortunately the whole park  was burned out by bushfires in January, but a young lady at the Info informed us that the road was open as far as the entrance and the view of the rock formations was good because there was no bush to block it.  As usual we checked   that it was suitable to take the van & the answer was to the affirmative.  A pleasant enough drive out despite the site of many burnt trees & a few burnt out buildings (they looked like they may have been pretty old & basic), but on the positive side there were lots of houses which had escaped unscathed even though there were burnt trees right beside them. Luckily the observatory escaped practically unscathed too &  amazingly, even though the fire was in January, most trees were already starting to sprout new branches, especially the Eucalypts which are very tough (like the Aussies themselves).   Anyway we arrived at the end of the road to find a barrier -  fine - but the road was so narrow & ditches both sides & here were we with a large caravan to turn round???   Stu has now faced his worst nightmare but after thinking about it,  jack-knifed the caravan, then decided to unhook the van & try to squeeze the landcruiser out somehow & then hook up again.  Success!  I can tell you we were a little concerned for a short time.  If we had time we would have gone back to the I- centre to suggest they check their facts before giving out assurances, but we were limited for time in order to reach our next destination & meet our Sydney friends there.

 WOLLEMI NATIONAL PARK  -

 This National Park covers nearly 500,000 hectares & is the 2nd largest park in NSW.  Dunns' Swamp or Ganguddy as the aboriginal people know it, is formed by the trapped waters of Kandos Weir which was built in the late 1920's when the Cudgegong River was dammed to provide water for the Kandos Cement Works 25 kms away.   We arrive about 3.30pm & our friends & some other caravans, campers etc are there but being a Thursday not too busy.  Although very hot there are  lots of trees & shady camp spots, ours  a lovely large one.  I know I am going to love this place even before I explore it.  After a nice cuppa we do a familiarisation stroll down to the beautiful lake/dam which was tranquil & still with a few kayakers paddling around.  Would love to have had ours with us.  We were visited by a few birds & a wallaby before we had dinner & the four of us chatted & caught up from our last trip till it was time for a good nights sleep with NO road trains.  Temperature down to 14deg in the van which helped too.

The Long Cave
 

Breakfast about 7.30am outside with tiny birds flitting round us, then walking tracks to explore before it gets too hot.  Wonderful rock formations, some called Pagoda Rocks for their interesting shape, beautiful views of the river & weir from the high ones.  A picnic lunch was a welcome relief in the shade as it got hotter.  At one stage from a high platform we heard Lyre Birds - very vocal as it is nearing their mating season.  When we reached the weir itself Stu amazingly spotted a platypus, not in the water but climbing down the side of the weir.  Unfortunately it was too far away to photograph but we watched it till it reached the river again.  After 3 hours of walking  we headed back to camp for a break from the heat, so just relaxed for a couple of hours.  About 4pm there was one more track to do which proved to be longer than planned & took us right around the end of the lake to the other side where we could watch people from the camp swimming kayaking & relaxing.
All in all a wonderful start to our travels & we are feeling much more relaxed.

Saturday 9th March.

Look at me!

Dunns Swamp

14deg in van again first thing in the morning, but it's not long before it warms up.  Left Wollemi 8.30am through lovely countryside with mountain views & amazing rocks.  It is very cold in this area during winter thus the cherry orchards though of course they are not producing now (boo hoo).  Lots of big hills to climb with van now that we are in Mid Western NSW.  There are quite a lot of lovely old stone churches as it is a very historic area.  Again we have cloudless blue skies & the roads are quiet.   Bathhurst is one of the big towns we pass through, & you will no doubt connect it with autoracing.  Actually it's probably a city & a very old historic one at that, with mountain scenery & very cold in winter.  We stopped for lunch & did some txting & e/mailing while we had connections.

The next town was Orange similar to Bathurst but smaller.  However there seemed to be a lot of new subdivisions on the edge of town so obviously it is expanding.