Two weeks at Lake Burrendong have come & gone. In those two weeks at the lake it has rained for most of that time with only the week-ends being dry & sunny. Despite the much needed rain, it has been a good time to just relax & get away from the hustle & bustle of the big towns. A great place to take regular walks, while at the same time watch the water level of the lake rise. We have been keeping an eye on several landmarks in the lake & slowly they have been disappearing, for example when we arrived at the lake, on August 31 the level was 61% & today Sept 12 the level is now 81% full. Unfortunately for us, the rise in water meant that there was more of it between the fish. We didn’t catch any, but then again, the boaties didn’t do much better.
The locals enjoy coming here on the week-ends to ski, fish, have BBQ lunches & generally drive around the park to see how much the lake has risen after 12 years of dry conditions.
Gulgong was an interesting little town. I’m not sure if SA has heard on the news this year about a small country hospital which was to be closing as a result of asbestos. Well, it’s this hospital. The hospital was given 2 weeks in which to close its doors to the community which will mean that they will have to travel to either Wellington or Dubbo for treatment. The town developed a website “Save Gulgong Hospital” so that the community can keep abreast of what’s happening. The hospital will continue to open its doors for general consultations but any hospitalisations will have to be in other neighbouring towns.
Gulgong (click on Tourist Attractions on the top menu bar for each of the links below) is also known as The Ten Dollar Town. It was given this name as the motel was on the first $10 note (original paper note). Gulgong was once an old gold mining town (click on Gulgong History on the top menu bar) where Henry Lawson lived. We called into the Henry Lawson Centre which was very interesting outlining his life & displaying each of his books which he wrote. His mother played a significant part in Henry’s life with his writing & she too was a writer that was involved with the emancipation of women. A walk through town was interesting with a ‘Swaggies / Symbol Trail’ visible on the footpath. Symbols on tiles along the main street illustrated how swaggies used to communicate to one another; gutters were deep to manage the sudden downpours of summer rain that falls in this region of NSW. After meandering through town, a bite of lunch then head off to Dunedoo.
Dunedoo claims to be the southern gateway to Warrumbungle National Park. Dunedoo is derived from the local Wiradjuri Aboriginal name for swans which explains why there is a large black swan on the top of one of the buildings. In the Lions Park down the main street we came across a large board with what looked like a ball on it. At closer inspection it was a model of Neptune which upon reading further was a part of ‘The World’s Largest Virtual Solar System Drive’. Starting at one of the regional towns of Tamworth, Dubbo, Gulgong, Moree & Merriwa driving along different routes towards Siding Spring Observatory at Coonabarabran there are different planets starting with Pluto right through to the Observatory which represents the sun & central point of the solar system model. Each 3D model is scaled in size relative to the huge observatory done & the locations of the billboards are also scaled in distance.
Coolah was to be our next stop for a couple of days. We quite enjoyed our stay once we got onto our site at the local caravan park. This proved to be quite interesting. Owing to the high amount of rain which has fallen recently, the grassed area next to all of the van sites were very wet & slushy. As a consequence, when Colin drove the caravan onto the concrete pad both the van & car got bogged, what a sight... So yours truly had to get out & lock the 4WD hubs so he could pull the van out & onto the pad. He sunk down at least 4 inches; what a mess! Behind us was a small stream, flowing strongly after the showers of rain. By the evening it had turned into a raging river; it had risen at least 1 metre. The camper next to us was quite concerned, questioned the park manager who told her that 10 years ago, the river had risen up to the amenities . She was not amused by this news & was quite nervous about staying there. By 10pm, there was a slight drop in the water level and we were able to sleep soundly. By morning, the river had subsided quite significantly.
A lovely tranquil place hidden in the nearby Warrumbungle Range was Coolah Tops NP. The Norfolk Falls was in great display with a rainbow forming above the water as the sun shone. The view from the Bundella Lookout which overlooks the Liverpool Plains was just stunning. But to get there we had to walk through almost an inch deep of water. Everywhere was wet, wet, wet. Our final point of interest was Bracken’s Hut. The hut was built in 1937 for the purpose of housing Tuwinga herdsmen William Bracken & his family. The home has been lovingly restored back to its original condition including the outside long-drop & is available for hiring. The evidence of how much rain has fallen in the park was a bogged tractor which we had passed on our way into the park.
Binnaway is a lovely tranquil & very friendly town which runs close to the Castlereagh River. The classic Australian film Shiralee was filmed around Binnaway. We stayed at the town’s newly developed Camping Rest Area for the night. During the 24hours we were camped, we had 3 members of the Progress Association visit us on 3 different occasions; just to make sure we were ok. They really made us feel welcome. Binnaway used to be a bustling railway centre where it serviced over 20 steam engines a week. It was an important transport link ferrying timber & grain from rural NSW to coastal markets. It is also on the main line where iron-ore from Broken Hill mines is transported to Newcastle.
With only about 40kms to go for our next destination, Warrumbungle NP, we weren’t in a hurry to head off the next day. As some of our readers are aware, the Warrumbungle NP is just outside Coonabarabran where the mountain top views are just spectacular & is a hikers/walker’s paradise. The park management has recently completed a new section of the original camping area which is now completely sealed with a few drive-through sites. We chose one of these because by this time we had had enough of being wet under our feet. It has been wonderful to go to sleep at night without hearing trucks using their engine brakes as they’re passing through and instead, to wake up with the birds singing. The kangaroos come up quite close to the campers.
Coonabarabran and the Warrumbungle is the Astronomy Capital of Australia. It is the home to Australia’s largest optical astronomy research centre. A visit to the Siding Spring Observatory was in order although we had visited the observatory some time ago, we got to join a tour of the complex. Some of the telescopes are privately owned; others are accessed off-site by Internet technology from as far away as Peru, Japan and the US. Astronomers even from China have access to the telescopes. The astronomer Robert H McNaught, who named the McNaught Comet in 2006, works from here searching for new comets and other Earth-bound rocks from space. The day at Siding Springs was very enjoyable.
While at Warrumbungle NP, we have taken the opportunity to do several of the easier walks. We leave the hard ones for the more experienced hikers like our neighbour ... Ron. Well done!
Our next update will come from Lake Keepit where we are going to bunk down for the next two weeks for the coming school holidays.
While at Warrumbungle NP, we have taken the opportunity to do several of the easier walks. We leave the hard ones for the more experienced hikers like our neighbour ... Ron. Well done!
Our next update will come from Lake Keepit where we are going to bunk down for the next two weeks for the coming school holidays.
Click on the link below to view some photos.
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