East via the Warrumbungles

In Cobar we already noticed that the land around us had become steadily more green and leafy, and it continued in this way as we drove through miles (almost 400km) of farming country to the Warrumbungle National Park. The craggy outcrops of the park loomed in front of us during the last hour of our long drive.

Camping at the national parks has so far turned out to be one of my highlights of our Oz Odyssey. The camp sites are always in very picturesque settings, with plenty of wildlife to at least hear, if not see! Usually we are treated to kookaburras and parrots giving us a dawn chorus, with the latter sounding like squabbling old ladies at high volume.  We have seen possums and foxes while camping, but the Warrumbungles won all prizes in the wildlife spotting awards. Loads of eastern grey kangaroos (living and breathing thankfully) munching on grass and hopping about here and there, not in the least bit bothered by us or any other campers.

The Warrumbungles are a small range of rocky odd shaped hills that are situated in a part of NSW that has exceptionally clear skies, meaning that there is an observatory of world importance located in the national park.  And indeed, when sat around our camp fire and looking skywards we could really appreciate why.  There were millions of stars sparkling away, Patrick Moore would have had an orgasm!

Hannah

Onwards we drove the next day, another 200km or so to the 'country music capital of Australia', Tamworth. Apparently there is a 20m high 'big guitar' here, perhaps we'll go and gawk at it tomorrow. Anyway a big highlight of the drive was found in the small town of Gunnedah, which has one of the healthiest Koala populations anywhere. Indeed the signs welcoming you to Gunnedah even proclaim it the 'Koala capital of the world'. Wonder what the Koalas think. They seemed pretty happy; the staff at the visitor information centre even drew us a map showing several of the resident Koalas' current locations. So map in hand, off we drove through the suburban streets, stopping here and there to look up a gum tree in someone's back garden, spotting koalas dozing in the afternoon sun.

Robin