Following our 7-week asthma and pox-inducing tenure in Denman we hit the road. Sensationalism you might say. Perhaps a little. In any case, following one last hurdle, being the increasingly washed out driveway track, we made our way north-west, with a plan to loop back down toward Dubbo before returning to Cessnock.
The lure of the Warrumbungles and stargazing saw us pulling into Coonabarabran. At 480-odd kilometres north-west of Sydney, Coonabarabran is most famous, these days, as not only the gateway to the Warrumbungles, but also Australia’s astronomy capital, being as it is home to the Siding Spring observatory.
Day one of sightseeing began with a drive into the Warrumbungle National park. The Warrumbungles are home to the Breadknife walk, and whilst we’d love to tick that one off, with Alicia being around 6-months pregnant we chose the far more reasonable Frans Horizon walk. This one is only 3.6km return but is quite steep and has over 1000 steps along the way. Very soon into the walk you’ll likely spot, or be greeted by, feral goats—cool to stumble across, but their presence is actually putting a lot of pressure on the local wildlife, and as such the National Parks service is doing their best to “remove” them. The excitement of running into goats is soon eroded as you begin to notice those stairs—they just keep on coming. Before long, though, the scrubby-lined track on the small plateau climb opens up to an absolutely stunning view of ancient volcanic rock formations, including famous Breadknife which can be seen in the distance—we’re coming after you, Breadknife…someday.
On the drive back we took a detour up the other mountain to the Siding Spring observatory—it sure makes for an imposing sight when you’re up close. The observatory is a working research facility, and the 3.9m, 16tn mirror of the telescope is the largest of its kind in Australia. Coonabarabran’s low humidity, and clear, clean air, along with very low levels of light pollution apparently make it the premiere astronomical site in the Country. Once inside, you take the lift up to the viewing area where, behind the glass divide, you can view the telescope. It’s quite impressive, if you’re into that sort of thing, but aside from being somewhat of an awe-inspiring spectacle, there’s not much more to see up there, and the cavernous room all looks a bit, clinical, as you might expect. The visitor’s centre is informative, though, and offers some interactive fun, but Alina is a bit too young to have shown too much interest, preferring to break free and run loose. The observatory site is also home to the very centre of the virtual solar system drive, hosting the Sun, none the less, whose sign is disappointingly far less notable than some of the planet signs on the drive.
That was enough for us in terms of getting out and about for a day of sightseeing, particularly with Alina being always on the limit of her toddler patience. It seems we don’t always get the most out of every stop we make but, honestly, it’s all we can do to pull up at a place and see a couple of things in between and around looking after the little one. If you have a toddler, you’d likely know full well that a day without a sleep is paid for dearly come evening—assuming you make it to evening without a few meltdowns.
For our second, and final day in the area, we managed to pack a fair bit in—for us. Keen for another walk, we took the short drive out the Pilliga Sandstone Caves walking track. It’s a short (1.7km), easy loop that takes you around some amazing sandstone caves, some of which contain ancient Aboriginal engravings. On the drive back home, we swung into the Coonabarabran visitor’s centre where, on display, was the skull and skeleton of a Diprotodon, the largest marsupial ever to have lived. At 1.8m to the shoulder, and over 4m long, it is described as a giant-sized wombat. The centre also displays Aboriginal artefacts, along with local artwork. For our final night we took advantage of the clearing skies and booked an evening of stargazing. Whilst the sky was clear, it was a full moon, which meant it was difficult to see some of the stellar objects and impossible to see a couple of others. It did allow an incredibly spectacular view of the moon that we’d otherwise not have seen.
From here we’re making our way to Dubbo, basing ourselves in Eumungerie for a day at the Western Plains zoo.
