Once we arrived back in NSW it felt like the trip was
practically over, so we drove on, stopping at rest areas for a couple of
nights, on a mission to reach the Warrumbungles. We hadn't been there since the
1980s, when our kids were still at school.
Apart from around Broken Hill, western NSW is greener than
I've ever seen it. Obviously there has been significant rain which we have been
oblivious to while we were in the west. There is short green pasture
everywhere, except where the feral goats dominate. It's a bit of a dilemma for
the farmers. The goats do such a lot of damage, but the farmers make good money
from periodic musters, so there's no real incentive to get rid of them. Meanwhile
they roam the verge of the road and wherever they please, munching as they go.
We also saw lots of emus, some with young chicks, many more than we have seen previously in the whole trip. Also an astonishing amount amount of road kill, mainly kangaroos. We didn't see as much anywhere else on the whole trip. I wonder if road trains use shoo-roos; they certainly should since they can't swerve to avoid animals on the road.
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| Plenty of emus |
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| The goats eat anything and everything |
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| No goats and lush pasture |
After a couple of overnight stops in roadside rest areas we
arrived at the Warrumbungle National Park. In January 2013 a severe bushfire
raged through the Warrumbungles and we were curious to see how well everything
was recovering. We spoke briefly to one of the scientists working in the
Education Centre and he was optimistic about the recovery. The eucalypts are
growing well but the pines sustained significant damage and don't appear to be
re-shooting as much. There is plenty of wattle and a diversity of other flora, but the
koalas are an unknown quantity. There are still plenty of kangaroos. Apostle
birds, crows and cockatoos are also making their presence felt today.
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| First views of the Warrumbungles |
As we didn't have sufficient time to do any of the walks we
opted for a drive to Whitegum Lookout where everything is growing well and
there was arrange of wildflowers in bloom as well. From there you could see how
much damage the fire caused with skeletal black trees protruding from the new
growth below.
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| Skeletal trees but some new growth |
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| Lots of new growth, above and below, with David for perspective |
We also took the short drive to the Siding Springs
Observatory. We hadn't look at the large telescope which was unattended and watched
a video which used jargon that exposed the black hole in our space knowledge, and
unfortunately the Education Centre was closed for redevelopment.
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| The Anglo Australian telescope at Siding Springs |
We returned to
camp to a clear sky, an almost full moon and burnt all the rest of our firewood
on a cold clear night. The next morning we experienced our first and last frost
of the trip, and it was a heavy one. Not bad for a whole winter.
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| Heavy frost |
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| Even a white solar panel |
The Warrumbungles marked the end of our 4 month camping
trip, and now it was time to return to the family fold and all things domestic.
We stopped in Gunnedah to visit my uncle and aunt, then stayed overnight at
Dungowan with my sister. Our final day had a couple of diversions, one to Lake
St Clair near Singleton, then finally to North Rothbury to check in with my son
and daughter-in-law and their 3 children who were happy to see us.
It has been a wonderful trip with so many memorable
experiences and places it is hard to choose an absolute highlight. However, for
both of us, the day trip to the Horizontal Falls comes close.
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| The Horizontal Falls from the air |
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| About to roar through the gap |
We both agree
that Western Australia has some stunning scenery and is definitely worth a
return visit. Overall we travelled 22 160 km in just over 4 months.Now to plan the next
one…..
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| Our journey, starting and finishing in Sydney |
