Warrumbungles Part 3

 It rained the whole day- our last day in Coonabarabran, at least we got to see some of the range the previous day. Our guided walk of the Warrumbungles was cancelled, instead we were transferred to a tour of the telescope in the afternoon. We began our day with a walk around the town, stopping off at the Feather's café for our morning cuppa.

Some of the buildings and murals around the town

We decided to take the scenic drive that took us past the Hickey Falls and into the western entrance to the Warrumbungles

We found an Emu Farm

With some rather wet emus.

Then it was onto the Warrumbungles, this viewing platform gave us a bit of hope

 things might be drying up,

However not the case. Disappointingly, no walking in the Warrumbungles today.

Up to Siding Springs for our rather damp tour.

Ironically this location was chosen for the Siding Springs Observatory because it had the highest number of cloud free nights- just not when we were visiting!

We learnt lots and it was an interesting tour.

What we should have been able to see!

As you can see it was not going to be happening today.

Where the dome opens so the telescope can see out to those beautiful clear night skies, that we never got to experience!

Oh well, we made the most of the weather and enjoyed our day anyway.

Warrumbungles Part 2

After our morning adventure in the Pilliga , with the weather forecast not looking good for the next few days I suggested we pack a picnic lunch and head out to the Warrumbungles to get a look at them in case the weather closed in. It was a 30 minute drive out to the west, and it did start to rain. We did manage to get some good views and it was worth the drive out, it is an old volcanic area and lots of rocky outcrops. It was pouring when we got to the visitors centre, we dashed inside and spent about 45 minutes in there learning all about the area. We found a dry place at one of the camp grounds and had our picnic. Then it started to clear and we did a short walk around the visitors centre then visited one of the lookouts which gave us some good views over the mountain range.

It was pouring rain when we arrived here.

Misty view of the Warrumbungles

Enjoyed our lunch here under shelter

We did manage to get some views of the Warrumbungles. Good thing we went that afternoon as the next day we had very poor views of the Warrumbungles

It really is a lovely place to visit, unfortunately not much chance of walking, but at least we got to see them and appreciate the beautiful area it is.

We did manage to see the Siding Springs Observatory, the next day it was well and truly fogged in!

Lovely views from the Whitegum Lookout. Over 90 percent of the park was burnt in 2013. It has made a remarkable recovery,

Tuesday Girls Hit the Road to the Warrumbungles Part 1

 I have always wanted to go to the Warrumbungles in central western NSW, so decided to take the Tuesday Girls - Deb and Kerrie with me. Our first day took us to Parkes where we stayed overnight. We headed off around 9am and stopped at the town of Boorawa for our first break.

Lots of yarn bombing in town

 We found a café, a shop that sold jam- that seemed to be one of the themes of our trip- buying jam! We enjoyed checking out this lovely little town, then it was back in the car and we headed to Young. We found a friendly lady in the Information Centre in the old railway station who directed us to a good lunch spot. We also found a shop that sold all sorts of things- fudge, chairs, cordials and jam.

Countryside on the way to Young

 Then we headed on to Parkes, stopping off along the way to check out Forbes and Grenfell. All these county towns had beautiful buildings and gardens. I really enjoy going through towns and on roads I haven't been before so it was a day full of that.

The Tuesday Girls outside the art silos in Grenfell. Pretty spectacular.

Lovely buildings in Grenfell

And in Forbes

Finally arrived n Parkes. We settled into our motel in Parkes and then went for a walk to get our bearings and explore the town. We had eaten out for lunch so just picked up some salad stuff and made a salad which we took down to the park next to where we were staying .

Parkes has an Elvis Festival every year so lots of Elvis stuff throughout the town.

The next morning we walked up to the War Memorial Lookout and gardens which gave us a good view around Parkes. Then we were back on the road- 20km up the road to the Parkes Observatory where we watched a couple of 3D movies which gave us a good overview of the history and work of the observatory and then had a look around the displays. It was well worth the stop.

We stopped off at Peak Hill for morning tea, another town I had never heard off. Sandra the owner was a real character and looked after us.

 Then it was back on the road heading to Coonabarabran where we are staying for the next 3 nights. On the way we went through some rather old towns. This was Mendooran, which didn't live up to the hype of our tourist book, the café was closed but we did manage a decent hamburger for lunch at the pub, about the only thing open!

 We found our AirBnB  Cottage- Dark Skies, which is very comfortable and made ourselves at home. We called into the visitors centre and got some information and good advice on things to do.

Enjoyed a morning walk around Coonabarabran, getting our bearings and checking out a lovely park along the river.

The next day we headed north for 30 minutes up into the Pilliga Forest and did the Sandstone Caves Walk which was a real treat. It was a 4 km walk that took us around a large rock that had little caves carved into the base where the limestone had been worn away. It was a sacred site for the local aborigines and you could feel it was a special place. The walk had been closed for over a year and had only been opened a few days prior, we felt very lucky and practically had the place to ourselves.

It was a very special place and you could feel that it was a sacred site for the local indigenous population, it was a privilege to visit this place. I felt similar to how I felt when I had the opportunity to visit Uluru.

We headed back towards Coonabarabran, calling in at the Pilliga Pottery for morning tea.