11 November Coonabarabran area

Last night we planned to do the shortest walk of 4km around the Belougery Split Rock, thinking it was an easy option. When we got there the boards suggested something quite different. It was described as extreme and for experienced bushwalkers only. Having completed it I agree with the descriptor. Lots of rocks and rock faces.

We did all the wrong things. We got there at 11.30 and had a cup of tea and ate a sandwich. We started walking at midday (rocks in head methinks) when the temperature was around 30 degrees. The upshot of this craziness was that when we were nearing the summit, I started to feel sick in the stomach and got the shakes. We made it to a shady spot just in time and I had some sugar out of a sugar sachet which had started to work by the time a cup of tea was poured. We had a perfect 360 degree view in our restaurant, looking over the Grand High Tops and the Breadknife as well as the western plains. Many varieties of gum trees are in bloom as was the case on the long drive. Glad to say we saw no Joe Blakes although it was a perfect day for them. In fact it was a gorgeous blue sky day.

After the walk which took about 4 hours with our half hour for lunch and the approx half hour of stops while I tried to learn Manual on my camera, we drove to the Siding Spring Observatory only to find it closed.


My little travel companion from Thailand. See where she pops up in future

10 November to Coonabarabran

I'd forgotten what it felt like to drive for 8 hours. We felt like stiffs when we arrived. One good point was there were not many cars or trucks on the road unlike our last experience of the Newell Highway when we felt like the meat in a sandwich on many occasions. On crossing into NSW, the road safety signs included a warning of fines for speeding being $1380 – how fast would that be?? We had our Tom Tom on and I have it set to blow a trumpet when we go over the speed limit. The speed on much of the highway was 110 but the Tom Tom thought it was 100 so we were constantly being serenaded. My mind started to create a conspiracy theory especially when the signs suddenly showed $3300 for speeding: were the 110 signs not real, was Tom Tom right???

On the drive we saw three jabirus in a swamp east of Warwick and a clump of emus cleaning up the grain in a paddock after harvesting. Also a white necked crane on the flood plains in NSW. We heard the bell birds on Cunningham's Gap where we were held up for about 30 mins because of roadworks. Otherwise lots of road kill but of course the nocturnal animals were in the land of nod.

We got into the Matthew Flinders Motel at 7pm, NSW time, so we made it in time to watch “The Slap” and “Crownies”