Coonabarrabran 23/3/12 to 26/3/12

At the end of our huge 12.5k walk. Still smiling amazing.

Our set up at Coonabarabran

Jacob took this picture and did the frame. Pretty clever hey.

Sandstone caves

We are now in Coonabarabran NSW 24/3.  A lot cooler than Narrabri. Over night 6 degrees.  We had, well I had on 2 jumpers, trackie daks and socks and that's what I slept in. The boys had their bennies on.

The boys in photographic action

We had a great day today, a very strenuous one. We walked 12.5 ks return, but in that we climbed 300mts so the walk felt 3 times as long.  It took us 4 hrs return to walk to the top of the Warrumbungles (volcanic plugs formed 13million years ago)  to the Grand High Tops over looking the Bread Knife where the view was absolutely magnificent. Lots of different scenery to look out at. At the lower end we followed a creek and at the top shear cliffs.  Doug and I struggled a bit, but the boys weren't even puffed.  At one point there we about 300 stairs that we had to go up.

We had a big hearty dinner of silverside and veg that I made in my new Dream Pot which I just love. I put it on to cook before we left and it was more than ready 9hrs later. No electricity.

We are staying in a caravan park that is fairly spread out and not many vans. Our nearest neighbour is about 50 meters away which is great. Because we can yell at the kids and not worry about what other people are thinking. But in all honesty the boys have been pretty good. Just a little crazy sometimes.

The night sky's have been amazing, with what you can see. Which is obviously why there are so many high powered telescopes set up in the area.  Everything is just so clear and there seems to be so many more stars in the sky or maybe it's just because we are kicking back on holidays, in a caravan and taking the time to look up into the sky.

We stayed up and tried to take photos of the stars with a 1 minute open shutter.  Boys having a ball and now know more about their camera's than I do about my camera which I have had a lot longer.

The Warrumbungles where we walked up to the top of.

Part way up

We made it to the top of the mountain

Sculptures in the Scrub

Today we walked some more, visiting the Sculptures in the Scrub and The Sandstone caves all in the Pilliga State Forest.  Both were pretty spectacular. The boys loved the caves. Beautiful colours and formations in the sandstone. The caves are sacred aboriginal sites with some rock art. Then off to the Pilliga Pottery where we watched some pots being made with the potters wheel and also the carving into the clay to decorate which the boys thought was pretty cool.  Another huge day and ready for bed early. Off to Dubbo tomorrow. 

Tree of life made out of clay at Pilliga Pottery