Easter @ Pilliga

We decided to make this Easter a bit of a road trip and go exploring somewhere new.  We got together with some mates and pulled out the maps and set the destination.  We planned to spend 2 nights camping at the Artesian Bore Bathes at Pilliga.  We had 4 cars going and 3 nights camping so we joined up with 1 other car and each took 1 night to cook.  We set our meeting time and location and as the weekend approached we grew more excited about camping and exploring with a great group of people.

We had our car Randy, Barney, Indi and the Spaceship all packed and set to go. We met at 9am and hit the road north west not long after.  On the way we took a detour to have lunch at a local new attraction which was called Dripping Rock.  We ate lunch and took a short walk and yes it was dripping.  It was truly a great place to stop as we had been driving along dirt roads in the middle of no where and here is this large rock formation with a pool below it and it was dripping constantly from many spots.

We pushed on from here into Narrabri fueled up and then headed directly west out to Pilliga. We pulled into camp and were set up and dinner was cooking within a short time.  After dinner we walked across the paddock to soak away the day in the bath.  Its funny we have swum in thermal bathes and springs before and we don't recall them ever smelling but this one did.  It was not that bad that we didn't want to get in and the water was constantly pumping and fresh but it did have an odor to it.  It was lucky though that the smell didnt soak into our skin so we could enjoy the warm water.
  

Saturday we decided to go and visit other local attractions.  We first went past Yarrie Lake and then out to the CSIRO Satellite site.  There are 5 dishes at this site and 1 that is 6km away.  While we were there we were fortunate enough to see them moving.  They rotated towards us and then back up again towards the sky.  It again was something we didn't expect to see but fun.

From here we passed back through Narrabri and then up to Mount Kaputar lookout to enjoy the views and have lunch.  We then pushed back out and onto our last attraction for the day Sawn rocks.  These were fantastic to see at this time of day with the sun beating on them.

Cotton Farming is the biggest industry in the area so while we were driving I tried to capture some of the contrast of the land scape.

We then high tailed it back to camp and pulled in just on dark.  Tonight the spaceship cooked while we built fire and made happy hour happy.


                                            Sun set on the way back to camp on Saturday.

                                                Full moon rising looking out from camp.

Moisture in the air creates a ring around the moon this is probably the best one I have seen.  It was so large I found it hard to fit in the photo.

                                                    
                                                      Sunrise on Easter morning.

Sunday morning we woke early and got in a quick dip before packing up and hitting the road just on 9am.  We wanted to camp a few hours south for the night so that the drive home Monday would not be as long.  We stopped along the way to view the Salt caves.  We did the 1km walk to the caves only to find out that there is a second car park right next to the caves but we enjoyed the walk anyway.  We then pulled out of Pilliga Forest and onto the black top and headed for Coonabarabran.  We pulled in and headed for the information centre.  Here we planned our next camp and stopped for lunch under a tree.      
                  
                           The moon is still also up the colours across the sky were stunning.

We were headed for Coolah Tops national park.  We needed to pull into Coolah and the clouds were dark and heavy looking.  It was discussed at that point that 3 out of the 4 cars had broken parts on their tents and 1 just couldnt open so we decided to pike out and stay the night in a motel or hotel.  Coolah didnt have anything so we called ahead to Dunedoo where we got 4 motel rooms.

We had a long relaxing happy hour after hot showers and then walked around the corner to the pub.  It was a great way to end a fun weekend.  Monday morning we ate at the bakery together and then took off in seperate directions.  2 cars went home via Mudgee and 2 went via Singleton.  We pulled into home early unpack and washed the car and were very relaxed.  We did cover alot of km's but it was relaxing and fun to do with a great group of friends.

Bylong Creek

I needed to head out to a property at Bylong to see if it is suitable to hold club events on it.  So I picked a free weekend and planned to head out.  James was invited that weekend to go camping with Peter and drive their RC's so we packed seperate camping gear and I set out to find travel companions and someone to come in the car with me.

My good friend Anna has never been camping and she has been asking me to take her, she was free so it was set to be a fun weekend.

We left home early and met up with the Nepean Disctrict club as they were also going along and followed in convoy out to the property.  Along the way we met the owner and fueled up and finally pulled onto the property about midday.  We were also supposed to meet up with Rhys and Effie so we back tracked a little and caught up with them to show them the way.

Rhys and Effie had 2 passengers on board who also had never been camping.  We took a short drive around the grounds and stopped for lunch and then decided to camp with the other club.

We had a relaxing afternoon and very fun night.

Sunday we packed and had a cooked breakfast then Bruce the owner took us for a look around and we discussed all things necessary to holding events on his land.

To finish the visit he let the girls have a turn on his small dozer.  We then hit the road home as we didn't want to have a late finish to the weekend.

Dam Wall Hunting

We were all set for a great weekend away to a old favourite place called Charlieyong.  Then the weather turned and well the whole area was underwater and flooding and since we don't own a submarine we decided to head north for the weekend and go "Dam Wall Hunting". 

Now what is "Dam Wall Hunting" I hear you asking.  It is something that we have started up with Rhys and Effie and its it simply a fun way to fill in any time frame from 1 hour to a whole weekend.  All you need to do is look on a map find a lake or dam and head there to find the walls that hold it together and stop it from all spilling out.

So this is exactly what we did on this wet wet weekend.  We decided not to pack camping gear as we figured we would either grab a cabin for the night or just head home at the end of the day.   We packed food for lunch and Rhys and Effie took dinner.  We met on the F3 about 9am and pushed on up into the Hunter Valley for the first Dam wall viewing.  Lake St Clair was the first stop.  There is a nice camp ground on the edge of the lake with toilets and showers.  We then did a dirt road loop through the forest with 2 short but fast flowing river crossings.  We then went and found the dam wall and stopped for lunch.

We then decided to push on up to Lake Glenbawn which is also a "State Park".  We learnt that there are about 5 other State Parks that are now on  our list to visit.  We pulled into the park about 4pm and got a cabin to share.  It was nice and comfortable it had 2 bedrooms and a share bathroom and small kitchen which was all we needed to spend the night.

The clouds had cleared and we spent a nice warm relaxing afternoon chilling out with a few glasses of bubbly.

Sunday we decided to head down the road and find a nice place for breakfast and we ended up at the Hunter Valley Belle Cheese Factory.  It was a nice way to start the day.  From here we did a drive past Lake Liddle.  It also has plenty of flat grassy camping on the edge of the lake.

We then turned our noses home and hit the bitumen.  It was a really enjoyable weekend.  You too should go Dam Wall Hunting soon.