Travelling Past Time: October 2019

Entry 19 Burren Junction to Coolah NSW. 4/10 – 24/10/2019

By the end of our first week camped at Burren Junction Hot Artesian Bore pool the temperature had crept up into the mid 30’s with two days temperatures reaching 38 and 39 C respectively. There were a couple of hoses with sprinklers attached (connected to the bore outlet) in our little bit of grassed area and we kept them running during the day, regularly moving them about. When the breeze blew through, we certainly felt the cooling evaporative effect from the nearby damp grounds. The green grass and lush looking bushes did provide a regular attraction to the local birds providing delightful viewing for us and we were regularly serenaded by a family of magpies during the day.

We were mesmerised by the spectacular evening sunsets and at times when we managed to rise early, enjoyed the pleasure of watching a beautiful sunrise.

charming sunrise

awesome sunsets

It was even more special watching the sunrise from the waters of the artesian pool.

just prior arrival of sun for the day

sun rising

After 9 days at Burren Junction a bit of a cool change arrived with day time temperatures dropping to the mid 20’s which almost felt a bit chilly, indicating our bodies were becoming accustomed to the hottish temperatures.

A couple we met early 2018 showed up at Burren Junction where we spent a further couple of days catching up with one another’s news. Colin & Robyn had travelled through Wee Waa on their way to Burren Junction and discovered there was a “Cotton Capital Country Music Muster,” at the Wee Waa showgrounds the following weekend. We all decided to relocate to Wee Waa showgrounds for the Muster. The township of Wee Waa was surrounded by cotton fields, or more appropriately, lifeless dusty paddocks after 3 years without sustainable rains.

Colin & Robin

We had spent an enjoyable 12 nights at Burren Junction Hot Artesian Bore pool. With a drive of about 45 kilometres we moved to Wee Waa showgrounds, setting camp with Colin & Robyn - arriving on the Friday staying till Monday.

We spent the best part of Saturday listening to a variety of different artists all easy listening with a few providing exceptional entertainment. Sunday morning was a group breakfast with some more country musician’s entertainment. Late morning was publicised as a caravan Olympics. Steve participated in the trailer reversing competition, winning by 2 seconds from the next best time.

Steve being congratulated by 2nd place

Caravan Olympics Winners

After 3 nights at Wee Waa or 5 nights spent in company with Colin & Robyn, we said our goodbyes as they were travelling to Port Kenny in S.A. for some harvest time silo employment with all of us looking forward to the next time, we cross paths.

For us, it was time to explore another area we had not previously visited. We picked out a possible travelling route of sorts on the western side of the Great Dividing Range, a mountain range that runs north/south for a few hundred kilometres from nearby inland Sydney. Next, we focused our thoughts for various optional travelling routes, researching different locales for viewing along the way. The area near the town of Boggabri initially caught our attention with some fleeting comments about a dripping rock and gins leap with a reference to Narrabri Information Centre for further information. Leaving Wee Waa, we arrived at Narrabri about 45 kilometres down the road, attending the useful information centre at Narrabri. We obtained the info we had been seeking, coming away with a lot more additional information for other areas we hadn’t been seeking, yet. Part of the additional info for Boggabri showed the route to dripping rock was along tracks for over 50 kilometres requiring a 4wd with still no defining reference on what we might see. We decided to revert to option 2, travelling via the town of Coonabarabran and assessing the condition of the road to the Sculptures in the Scrub at Pilliga Forest along the way.

Narrabri is a major service town for inland N.S.W. which we had previously explored 2013. We restocked our fridge, pantry and the tow tug’s fuel was replenished.

We travelled along the main arterial route of the Newell Highway towards Coonabarabran and were stunned by the volume of trucks, cars and caravans travelling along the road. It seemed we had become a bit on the complacent side where we had been spending the best part of the year exploring “quiet outback roads.”

At about 75 kilometres down the road we turned off the highway onto the dirt road for the Sculptures in the Scrub. There was still about 30 kilometres of dirt road to travel and initially it seemed poor to fair condition. We had previously camped at the Sculptures in the Scrub in 2013 with the road condition then, ‘horrendous.’ We had been reading some recent comments indicating the road was no better. Our 2013 visit, the sculptures were in place with the infrastructure still in the construction stage with work to be completed on signage and walking tracks.

Our initial thoughts had been if the road was that awful, we would execute a U turn and head out. We were being conservative travelling at around 25 kph, thinking this is doable. Just over the half way mark the road conditions became dreadful. We decided to lower the tow tug tyre pressures and chance leaving the caravan tyre pressures as is. By the time we arrived at the campground we were over the poor road conditions. A positive, we had the campground to ourselves! And it was a delightful setting accompanied with the background sounds of the bush.

The road looked doable but when you look closely you can see the corrugated road surface

Initial speed and see the blurry photo caused by bouncing from the corrugations

Slowing even further to about 5 kph

The rough road continued on and on for 30 kilometres

finally arriving at the camp ground

Then we stepped out of the tow tug and got swamped by flies. We had experienced some bad fly encounters over the last few months but nothing compared to having the day light with beautiful blue skies, obliterated from our eyes at two in the afternoon.

We had been looking forward to revisiting these magnificent sculptures overlooking the spectacular Dandry Gorge with the accompanying 3-kilometre walking track. There was another distraction for consideration, the flies. We decided to get up at first light for the walk, hoping to avoid the flies, setting the alarm for 6 am. The sun wasn’t up when we stepped out the caravan and we were greeted by flies. Grrr. Undeterred we carried on.

We were very pleased with the setting and condition of the walking track, the infrastructure including many seats (19 to be exact) spaced along the walking track could not have been better and the sculptures were simply superb. ✔

Steve getting the feel of an emu egg

Down in the gully

In the gully with the Aboriginal man standing on the rock on sky line

The fly population inhibited our love of being in the great outdoors admiring our surroundings. It still looked superb from inside our caravan looking out of the windows. We decided to move on the following day after we had walked the Sculptures in the Scrub trail again but in the reverse direction, enjoying the experience just as much.

We were making our way to Canberra to catch up with our son and his family. We had often travelled to and from Canberra to this area of Australia, generally over a two-day period and we had 3 weeks available this time round. As per normal for us, we spent time looking at maps, perusing ideas for various travel routes. This time we were looking a bit further afield at options to our east, near the Great Dividing Range. There were a couple of green patches on the map indicating to us there might be some unspoilt terrain reserved as a national park for possible investigation, not too far out of the way. We are often guided by our love for the natural settings provided by National Parks.

As per normal we were struggling to read the very small print associated with a green dot on the map as it probably had no commercial value for the publisher. With a bit more research we found one green dot belonged to Coolah Tops National Park, a park we hadn’t heard of previously. It was a driving distance of about 150 kilometres from Pilliga Forest to Coolah Tops which we traversed over a couple of days. Along our route we passed through the town of Coonabarabran stopping at the visitor information centre where we asked about Coolah Tops N.P. We were thrilled to speak with someone who knew about Coolah Tops N.P. presenting a brochure on the park from under the counter with all the information we were seeking and they even provided further information about our travelling route.

Once again, we were getting excited about visiting a green dot we had spotted on a map. For one of our avid blog readers, Steve’s mother, you regularly ask for ideas to provide a Christmas gift thought. Here’s one for you. You might try to look at that google thing on your computer to see if there is something like a magnifying glass to enhance viewing of small print items? It might even be advantageous to perhaps ask a granddaughter or grandson for assistance with your research and possibility of obtaining via the internet. Though we are sure you could also find a magnifying glass at Big W.

We were travelling through farming countryside when the road started to climb up the side of a mountain range. We did utilize the power button on the tow tug providing some extra grunt helping to safely negotiate the slopes with our heavy caravan in tow. Hence, we thought where the National Park name “Coolah Tops,” had transpired. Coolah Tops N.P. sat at the junction of the Warrumbungle and Liverpool Ranges intersecting with the Great Dividing Ranges.

The orange dots indicate the route of the road

Eventually the road flattened out travelling for a while along a ridge top. The countryside viewing was of high up open paddocks disappearing below with a splattering of trees and the occasional mob of cattle or goats. In the distance it looked like we were approaching a dark wall which turned out to be the entrance to the National Park and the scenery drastically changed.

Our eyes and senses instantly became excited and we were enthusiastic to venture further into Coolah Tops N.P.

There were three different camping locations in the N.P. and we set camp at the main campground, The Barracks.

Once we had decided on a spot to park our rig and setting camp (an effort of about 10 minutes) we had a cuppa, with a slice of fresh fruit loaf we had earlier obtained from the bakery at the town of Coolah back down the road a bit. There was a walking track from the campground titled, ‘Grasstree Walk,’ which we then explored. The provided description of the walk showed it meandered through centuries old grass trees and was a haven for parrots and other wildlife. The description was splendidly spot on.

The weather forecast prediction for the day had been for windy conditions. It was quite blustery and soothing at the same time with the sound of the wind in the tree canopy high above us sounding similar to the sound of ocean waves breaking in the surf.

The end of day one at Coolah Tops N.P. we were most gratified with our surrounds, and pleased with our efforts making our way to this part of Australia.

Day two we arose to be greeted by one of the locals and the delightful sounds from many varieties of birds hailing one another, a lovely morning.

Getting some morning sun warmth

We had set camp in the beautiful setting of the Barracks campground with a delightful overhead tree canopy where our roof mounted solar panels were struggling to extract the required energy levels to support our battery needs. Cox Creek campground was located about 600 metres down the road with a similar tree canopy, where the remains of a bygone era sawmill was located off to the side of Cox Creek with a patch of clear overhead sky. We relocated to this clear patch and our batteries immediately appreciated the change of location with our solar panels providing a good boost of power. It was still a lovely setting, just not as perfect as the campground settings with a floor sparkled by dappled sunlight streaming through an overhead tree canopy.

Other publicized locations around the N.P. required a reasonable amount of driving where we hiked to the Pinnacle lookout, the Bundella lookout and walked some of the Bundella trail.

the snow gums were as white as our tow tug

A bit scary looking at the tree we were standing at

Valley below

The Norfolk Falls walk provided our bodies with a good work out down a steep track but the 35 metre falls drop was missing a flow of water.

Selfie with a dry water fall pool

A trickle of water over the top of the water fall

It seemed like our faces were displaying permanent smiles, with Coolah Tops N.P. fauna and flora tingling all of our good sensations.

There was one other campground in the N. P. and we thought it to be appropriate to relocate our camp to experience the feel of the Pines campground. We do enjoy our bush camps listening and watching the fauna and flora.

Nearby was Joe’s Hut and Bracken’s Hut, former shepherds’ huts now available as accommodation where you needed to provide everything.

There was even a modernised out back bush loo

Bald Hill Creek Falls had an interesting formation.

At camp with the evening shadows lengthening, the wildlife came out for their evening meal.

We spent another day out driving to the other end of the N.P. (about 70 kms for the day) along reasonable tracks, challenging at times.

We were surrounded by tall trees creating a dappled sunlight forest floor all day. There was a hut from a bygone era where timber cutters would stay for weeks working and living.

There was the Snow Gum Tree Walk with some of the largest known Snow Gums in the world reaching up to 40 metres in Coolah Tops N.P. Snow Gums are mostly a straggly and twisted small tree of alpine areas stunted by strong winds and heavy snow falls. The average altitude of the Coolah Tops plateau was about 1100 metres and subject to regular snow falls.

There was Breeza Lookout with a 3 kilometre walk to Shepherds Peak consisting of a basalt dome jutting out of the northern escarpment. The escarpment’s last section becoming more of a challenging scramble which was left for Steve’s nimbleness.


Orange dot near top just right of centre showing Mary below dot and Steve still had higher to climb

zooming in on the previous picture

During our time at Coolah Tops N.P. we could hear the sound of planes regularly overhead and whilst on Shepherds Peak out away from the tree canopy you could see the trails left by planes overhead.

It was another long satisfying day where we spent a reasonable amount of time seated in the 4wd travelling at a slow rate of speed watching out for those ever present hazards on the track, potholes, sharp rocks, lots of tree limbs, many kangaroos, goats, even a couple of pigs all camouflaged by the ever present shadows created by the trees. And there was the cleaning up for another day.

We had no idea of what to expect from Coolah Tops N.P. Initially we had thoughts for 3-5 days if it was any good and had pencilled in several other possible locations to explore as we headed south towards Canberra. The glorious flora and fauna of Coolah Tops N.P. triggered all of our good sense receptacles, where it was hard not to smile at any given time. As an added bonus it was delightful to be able to walk around outside without being assaulted by flies. We could have driven to view all the publicized highlights within a couple of rushed days but chose to explore the park over a more sedate 5-day period.

It had been 9 days since our last food shop and we still had a couple of days of fresh food left. We had no yearning to leave, choosing to stay on whilst we had food and water in our tanks.

There was an area where the wild life congregated at Pines campground, primarily in the evenings and each time we walked the 50 metres to the rear of our caravan to view the wild life one would spook causing the rest to scamper away. After a couple of unsuccessful evenings viewings, we came up with a cunning plan where we re-positioned the caravan nearby the grazing area, utilizing it similar to a bird hide with the door on the opposite side. Steve pealed back the fly screen on one of the windows where we could poke the camera out to obtain some photographs. It worked a treat where we spent two days watching all the movement over the grazing area. Occasionally we would make a noise inside and see a few heads pop up for a look in our direction. We had our own private bird hide with table, seats, kitchen, bathroom and bed. It was fabulous viewing adding another dimension to our time at Coolah Tops N.P. It was a joy to watch many joeys leave their mothers pouch taking some of their first unbalanced hops and then scampering back to the pouch.