Chapter 3 - Pilliga National Park and Beyond

Day 8 - Wednesday 27th June - Pilliga National Park

The forecast overnight low of -4 degrees did not eventuate, thanks to the threatening storm clouds.  So we started our mildest day of the trip (as in - not so cold) with a 40 km drive to Baradine.  The Pilliga Discovery Centre provided us with plenty of information and ideas to fill our day.

As nearly all of it was on gravel roads, some not too flash, I reduced the air in the tyres. 

A Sample of the Roads in the NP

Much of the Pilliga National Park has been ravaged by one (or more) of the four significant bush fires that have occurred in the last five years.  This was evident as we drove though the NP.

An Example of Regrowth in the Fire Affected Areas

Around 45 minutes later we had navigated to the Salt Caves. The caves were not all that impressive but the story was good.  Over many millennia the underground water that flowed though the milestones sub-structure produced salt deposits and cavities, such as caves.

Wild animals, and later domesticated stock, would venture into the caves and lick the salt deposits.  At some point in history (white) man caused some damage and the caves imploded.  It could have been the fire spotting tower that was built above the caves.  It could have been Mother Nature.

Shirley approaching the Salt Caves

Salt Caves up closer (above & below)

The rock colours were impressive

We moved on to the second feature of our day - the "Sculptures in the Scrub" in Dandry Gorge.  These are man-made art, with each item having a theme. The walk involved a 3 km round trip - the first part along the top of the gorge rim and the return along the bottom of the gorge.
 

One part of the 3 km walk

Scrub Spirits - Our relationship with our environment

First Lesson - An Aboriginal father explaining the gorge and its meaning to his son.
[there is a huge cliff to the left of this statue - see below]

Another View from the Bottom of the Gorge

Yuundu Yuundu - Learnings from comparing the Aboriginal Axe and the White Man's Axe

Connection - Our place between the Earth and the Stars
(front and rear views)



Respect Mother - The resilience of the Pilliga country and its people

We had lunch in a picnic area and then headed north, then east, then south to the Sandstone Caves.  We were blown away. A typical case of the photos not doing justice to reality. 

We had a 1.7 km walk, maybe about 900 metres around a limestone rocky out-crop (call it a rocky hill if you like).  Around the perimeter were numerous caves - some deep, some shallow, some high, some low, some as openings in to deeper caves.

Grooves on front of rock have Aboriginal significance



More Aboriginal Markings

It was now 2:30 pm and time for a coffee. Pilliga Pottery and the Blue Wren Café were just down the road (another 30 km of gravel road), so off we went. The gentle rain was just starting to fall, but the locals need it heavier and for a long period.

The pottery was excellent, the coffee was magnificent, the scones were ordinary.  We bought all three.

We arrived home around 4pm and had covered over 200 km for the day, maybe 60% of it on gravel roads.  It had been a great day.

I had one more job for the day - fuel and air for the car. The rain was starting to get heavier - but nowhere near heavy enough for local needs.


Day 9 - Thursday 28th June - Pilliga National Park

The pitter-patter of rain all night sometimes turned into heavy showers, or so it seemed when we stepped out this morning to be greeted by numerous puddles.

Welcome Puddles

This is great news for the locals who have two issues.

1.  The water catchment is so low they cannot use it, so they had to sink bores to get water for the town, and

2.  No crops have yet been sown as the farmers had little confidence in any rain - a similar story for all of our trip so far in NSW.

It is too early for item 1 but farmers may now have some direction to take.

This good news for the locals (as in rain) means that Shirley and I have decided to cancel our day in the Murrumbungle National Park.  That is OK as the NP will be there next time we pass this way.  The farmers may not be if follow up rains do not occur.

We hit the road around the normal time and headed west through on/off showers and rain and sunshine.  The countryside was rolling hills and valleys and a joy to drive through.

We had big hills and little hills. We had flat plains. We had forests, and we had open pasture land.  Some of it looked fertile land - some of it looked very ordinary.  Some of the road was dry, and some was very wet.

We drifted in to Gunnedah and were advised to check out Pensioners Hill.



View from the top of Pensioners Hill

Pensioners Hill was so called because of the destitute families who lived there during the Great Depression.  Ailsa Walkway was a local nurse and the wife of a well-to-do local businessman. One of the many charities that she supported was to deliver meals to families on Pensioners Hill on a Sunday.

The hill is now a lookout and a local artist has created some sculptures to commemorate local history and culture - one of them featuring Ailsa Walkway.  The following photos show both sides of each of the four sandstone sculptures ....

Left: Image of Ailsa Walkway

On we drove through more lovely countryside. We found a way to bypass Tamworth (been there - done that) and headed north to Armidale.

We arrived in Armidale around 2:30 and, after researching local sights, we established camp.  After a coffee we decided to do a self drive tour of the historical features of Armidale.

About 20 minutes in to the tour we decided our marriage was more important than seeing the sights of Armidale - all far far too hard.

Home we went and relaxed.


This posting is complete.


Click here to return to the Introduction. 
Click here to return to Chapter 1
Click here to return to Chapter 2
Click here to go to Chapter 4 - Waterfall Way

This post was last updated around 7 pm on Thursday 28th June.