Caravanning Camping Touring
Let me share some of our stories with you. I'll try to keep it fun and interesting, with heaps of photos, hints, tips and reviews all relating to life on the road.
Lighting Ridge is a unique part of central NSW. It is essentially an opal mining town, whose main claims to fame are the rare Black Opal, artesian bore baths and some very quirky people, I think it is a place that should be visited at least once in a lifetime. https://lightningridgeinfo.com.au/
We spent four nights in the Lightning Ridge Caravan Park, this gave us plenty of time to look around the town and the surrounding area. There are plenty of things to do in town, including visiting some of the mines, following the car door tours going to the Club in the Scrub and, of course, drooling in the many opal shops. I have to admit, opals are not my favourite gemstone, but…the colours in some of these opals are jaw dropping.
While in the area, we went to the Culgoa Flood Plain National Park. This straddles the NSW – QLD border, which we crossed four times while exploring the park. We even stopped for a beer in Hebel, QLD. This was the first time we have been in our home state since the beginning of May.
Hebel pub, on the QLD border 
NSW – QLD border
I think Culgoa is the least cared-for NP that we have visited to date. Saying that, it is a lovely area and we had fun exploring over the nearly non-existent tracks. We had hoped to drive through the park from south-east to the north-west, but without a map and with a fair bit of water lying around we decided to turn tail and head back home, but not before nearly getting bogged a couple of times. We should have taken the hint from the NP’s name. Once back home we checked the map and found that we had not been following a road but a walking track…
Maybe it’s the time of year, but we haven’t seen a lot of birds or wildlife as we’ve been travelling. But, the roads to and around Lightning Ridge are home to more than a few Emu’s and we saw our first big Red Kangaroos.
Winter in central NSW is proving to be a great time of year for sunsets. The stormy cloud formations creating texture and depth that leech the colour out of the falling sun.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
After leaving the Warrumbungle’s, we stayed a couple of nights in a little town called Gulargambone. Cute name, right? Gulargambone is a very small town, just under four-hundred residents, on the banks of the Castlereagh River. It was a lovely little caravan park, and as you can imaging we made good use of it’s facilities.
Some of you may recall from my post on the 18th of June, while in Dubbo, that we were planning to go to Walgett. Now Walgett is a mere three and a half hours drive from Dubbo, and I am pleased to announce we have finally arrived at our destination, and it only took us twenty-three days to get here.
“What’s at Walgett?” I hear you ask. Well, not a lot really, Artesian Bore Baths, a higher-than-average crime rate, a very friendly lady in the Information Centre and (this is very exciting) Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo’s. I have seen Black Cockies before, but only two or three of them at any one time, and way off in the distance, so high in the sky I couldn’t even see the flash of red on their tail. At Walgett I got to see, in fact to walk amongst, a flock of around two hundred of these birds. So, for me, this was very special.
I had been wandering around the small flocks as they grazed on the grass seeds for a couple of hours, but it wasn’t until four Black Kites (generally called Kite Hawks) flew overhead, that I realised just how many birds there were.
As the kite hawks hovered above, the Red-Tailed Black Cockatoos took off with a cacophony of sound and flashes of red. I just stood there mesmerised. Eventually, the birds calmed down and returned to their feeding, preening and most importantly, posing for me.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
I have to say, Warrumbungle National Park has not been a disappointment. It has been cold, the coldest we’ve experienced to date, and I’m talking frosty mornings cold (I think the lowest temp has been 1 degree and the highest 15) but, regardless of the weather, the scenery here is quite stunning. The Warrumbungle’s were shaped millions of years ago by volcanic activity. The many rock formations form a rough circular perimeter, and the information centre has been built at the centre point of this ancient volcano.
Some of the lower walking tracks are inaccessible due to the rain, the creek beds are flowing and have cut off some of the tracks, but you don’t need to go too far to take in the beauty that this region has to offer, and it’s pretty cool to see the wallabies meandering around the campsite.
We have done a few of the shorter trails, and one of the more challenging ones, the Belougery Split Rock Circuit. We’re not super fit so thought this nice little 4.7 km return track would be a good intro. We should have read the fine print.
The track began its ascent as soon as we lft the carpark, and there was no reprieve until we reached the top. The track itself was well marked…in places, while in others, it was not so much a track as a mere suggestion of a track. Very challenging. Very fun. And the view? Very, very worth the effort.
We made it to the top of the lower peak, where we had a lovely picnic lunch, but left the higher one to the goats.
One of the many benefits of traveling is the wonderful people that we meet on the road, and our neighbours at WNP, fall into that category. We had a great morning sharing our expertise, or lack thereof, in the fine art of damper making. With the help of young Jessie, Peter did a fine job of the dough and the cooking, even though it was a bit undercooked first time out, when it came out the second time – well, let’s just say, there was none left.
One of the other highlights of our stay was the sunset from White Gum Lookout. We arrived a good hour before sunset, so we were freezing by the time the sky coloured, but like all good things, it was worth the wait.
The facilities here were very good. Clean amenities block with good hot water, and we had a powered site so we were able to keep warm inside Chunky Bum. What we didn’t have was water direct to the van, so we have had to be a little conservative with our use. We have a 180 ltr water capacity in the van, but because I presumed there would be water here, we had less than half of our capacity when we arrived. We were able to top up 70 ltrs from Big Ears, and that has been enough to keep us going…just.
Next stop? Still not Walgett.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
So, we had a week to kill before our booking at the Warrumbungle National Park, and Peter left the planning up to me. He said, and I quote, “You just tell me where to go, and I’ll follow your directions”. This was my first solo trip planning and I wanted to make it count. What better way to do that, than to explore the Pilliga Region.
A nice little circuitous route, even if I do say so myself.
Sculptures in the Scrub. What can I say about this place…we loved it! I had planned on two nights here, but we extended it to three. And of course, most of the roads were dirt, or sand. We do love a bit of off-road.
Sculptures in the Scrub is a remote bush camp, saying that, it has excellent facilities. There are a few picnic tables and BBQ’s, two long-drop toilets (cleaner than some toilets I’ve seen in shopping centres) and is very well maintained. There is a booking fee of $6 through the NSW National Parks and Wildlife and is worth every cent. On a side note, I got a chance to photograph some birds, I haven’t seen many this trip. Probably just the wrong places at the wrong time of year, but I had fun with these little fellows having a bath.
Our campsite also gave us access to the Sculptures and Dandry Gorge walking track. If you’re in the area you have to do this. It’s an easy walk, two and a half, to three hours to do the full circuit. We did it in about four. No, we’re not that unfit, but we tend to detour and explore the tracks less walked. What can I say, we’re rebels? Oh, and Peter does enjoy his afternoon snooze.
The Salt caves were a bit of a disappointment, mind you, I’m not really a cave kind of person, but the fire tower there offered an exceptional 360 degree view of the area. If heights don’t bother you, climb up and enjoy the view. There’s also a two km return walk to a dam, but when we were there the dam was under construction. Saying that, it was a great walk through the sandy scrub and a good way to kill a few hours.
Our last stop on my plan was Lake Yarrie. We arrived there late in the afternoon, and soon after were treated with a stunning sunset, complete with rainbow. You may have guessed from the foreboding skies, that we were in for more rain, if you did…you were right. This is another great place to visit, it’s a very shallow lake, three kms in diameter, and a very pretty area.
It really did rain hard the second day we were here and that, combined with past rain, had made the lake overflow in some areas, covering the path that circumnavigates it, so we didn’t get a chance to walk around the lake, but if we are ever back in the area, we will be sure to drop in to do just that.
Next stop Warrumbungle NP. See, we can make a plan and stick to it, we’re still on our way to Walgett. We’re just taking the scenic route.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
We had four nights at the John Oxley caravan park in Coonabarabran, a lovely country town in Central NSW, and a very nice caravan park. While there, we took advantage of the water and power, caught up with the washing and enjoyed some long hot showers. The weather was mostly overcast and rainy, but not wanting that to spoil our visit, we took a day trip into the Warrumbungle National Park. Hugo decided to stay at home, but he didn’t know what he was missing. It was a wonderful day, and it truly did feel like we were walking through the clouds.
The Warrumbungle NP should be on everyone’s “must-see” list. We enjoyed the day so much, when we got home, we made a booking at Camp Blackman for 7 nights. Good news is we were able to get the booking the even better news is, that we couldn’t get 7 consecutive nights until the second of July. So, we had a week to kill.
Where oh where would we go?
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
Ok, so we didn’t make it to Walgett, but we are still heading in the right direction. We found a lovely little spot called Hickeys Falls, just a few hundred metres off the Newell Highway, and were pleasantly surprised by the amount of water flowing. It was quite unexpected and beautiful.
We did consider staying there overnight, but it was in a bit of a gully, there was a lot of shade (not good for the solar panels) and it was bloody cold.
Hickey Falls 
We drove on for a kilometre and saw a sign for Spire View, and we thought, what good is a “view” if you don’t stop to view it. As we drove into the parking area for the Spire we noticed a dirt road and decided to see where that went. We are so pleased that we did.
About a hundred metres down the road, we came across a lovely treed, flat area and thought, this’ll do. And this is where we are, still, two nights later, and of course Peter had to get his scooter out for a closer look at the Spire. Good job he did, he got some great shots of it. We’re close to the highway, but even though we can hear the odd truck passing, you’d think we were in the middle of nowhere. We have plenty of sun, we have plenty of firewood, food and water, what more could we possibly want? I even had a chance to do some real authentic bush camp cooking. Slow cooked Chinese style, melt in the mouth pork belly and fire roast vegetables. Yumo!
I think we’ll be staying another night, then we’ll get back on the road.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
