The Warrumbungles

I have just made it back from a great trip up north to the Warrumbungles.  The Warrumbungles are a range of mountains and hills that was once a huge volcano.  It is about 500 kilometres from Sydney so the drive was a bit of a long one but seeing as it went through the Blue Mountains it wasn't too bad at all.

We, which is I, my brother Les, his wife Joyce and friend Helen, stopped in a one-room cabin with no electricity.  It had a log burning stove, great for cooking porridge and toast in the morning.  Situated in wood, below a craggy tor, Craggibungles was about as wild a place as I have stopped in.  The toilet was outside and everything you put down there was composted below, as are most of the public lavs in the reserve car parks dotted around.  The sky at night was nothing short of astounding, and they have lots of observatories dotted around as it is such a good place to view the stars.

Kookaburras

Down below the cabin in the woods were a plethora of animals including kangaroo, pied currawong, crimson rosella, kookaburra, ravens and up above were huge wedge-tailed eagles with a wing span of two metres.

Pied Currawong

Dead Trees

Me sat in some Gamilaraay (aboriginal) caves

We went on few walks around the Warrumbungles and one or two in the surrounding areas.  This area has had a lot of rain over the winter and many of the creeks were flooded.  This stopped our progress to the Pilliga which is a massive area of wilderness even further north.  One particular creek was so flooded that we couldn't drive across the road.  The weather we had was fantastic, getting quite warm in the afternoons, every day was sunny with brilliant blue skies.  The nights were cold and Les enjoyed having a good burn up outside while the wood-burning stove was keeping it snug inside.  Les and I were on the top bunk so middle of the night visits to the outside loo were kept to a minimum.

Heading back down the track from Craggibungles