Back to camp muddy and sweaty, we got to test one of the new bits of metal. Showering is sooo much easier if you don't have to hold the damn thing.
After such a pleasant stay with Bob & Margaret, indulging in the luxury of a real bed and a real shower, it was (sadly) time to hit the road. (We are both still amazed at how long it too to get all those things done?!)
The big challenge was deciding where to go. We don't like to do too many miles in a single day, and our usual territory is a long way from Sydney (anything nearby is neither rural nor remote). It has been a while since we were in the tent, and we have been so busy in Sydney, we decided to have a brief rest stop on the way out.
Eventually, we decided on Myall Lakes NP as our first stop. On arrival, we discovered that most of the camping areas are closed. Some of the old paperbarks have developed a habit of falling on campers, one person has been killed and there have been several near misses.
We went for a bike ride to Tickerabit up the old gibber track.
The heathlands were in full bloom, with flowers everywhere.
(Plenty of flannel flowers, Cliff.)
Our return trip brought us down a 4WD road (the Seal Rocks road), and it was so rough it brought back memories of the downhills at Killington.
Back to camp muddy and sweaty, we got to test one of the new bits of metal.
Showering is sooo much easier if you don't have to hold the damn thing.
Once the winds dropped off (and with it the waves on the lakes), it was kayak weather.
The bird life on the water is fabulous.
We saw Pelicans feeding, along with cormorants, native ducks, and moorhens.
There were a few birds of prey hanging in the sky, and even one roosting at the waters edge.
There is plenty of other bird life around camp as well. Variagated fairy wrens, galahs, sulphur crested cockatoos, kookaburras, and plenty of magpies. On a second bike ride we even encountered a newly enlarged family of black swans, and a small flock of yellow tailed black cookatoos.
We interrupt our regular programs for a newsflash.
One of the things we picked up in Sydney was a battery operated radio. We've started listening to radio national to keep current.
Exploring the rural radio waves we discovered that terrorism has been escalated to a whole new level. Welcome to the new world order.
We now return you to your regular broadcast.
We had to head back over the mountains to get back into our normal working territory, so we decided to stop at Barrington Tops National Park on the way.
We did a hike around Polblue Swamp, and spotted a wombat out and about in the middle of the day. The main 4WD trails were closed (for the winter) so we used our 1WDs to explore them and the alpine meadows they provide access to. We got to experience the changeable mountain weather firsthand - when we set out on our ride it was a beautiful morning, but we got back just as the sky opened up. After the storm passed, we walked over to the lookout near camp and watched it cross the foothills as the sun set.
For our whole stay in the mountains, the flame & scarlet robins were in a springtime frenzy, chasing each other furiously. The views from the lookouts were spectacular.
From there we headed northwest, across the plains we'd seen from the lookout at Coolah Tops NP.
We stopped in Coonabarrabran to restock. We took an overnight van at the Wayfarer Caravan Park, only to discover it was home to a few ticks. We changed vans for our second night, and the things that came out of the pump reminded us of Chris' words "water tanks develop their own ecosystems". It's a nice looking caravan park, but I'd recommend bringing your first aid kit if you decide to stay!
Once we've restocked, washed, etc, it's time to work again. We thought we'd try working towns in the vicinity of the Warrambungles, using the national park as a base camp.