Warmer weather, wildlife, and Bush.

Brewarrina 25th September 2026 - 8th October 2026

Woke up early this morning as the Birds were going off.
Rang a few places looking for a replacement gas strut to fix the Van. Couldn't get one within 400 Ks so we've taken one off the bed and are hoping it will work until we get to Dubbo.
We did a tour of the Fish traps with a local Indigenous guy and learn't how they worked, which was the opposite of what we had thought.

Campground Goats.

Aboriginal Fish Trap.

Barwon River.

Hasn't served a beer in a long time.

Fish traps.

The temporary Van repair seems to be working, so it was off to Walgett today. It's a lot drier in this area; they obviously didn't get much rain over winter.

We're camped at a free camp near a local park and went to the RSL to see if the Grand Final was on. None of the locals were interested, so Old mate behind the bar led us around to a lounge area with comfy chairs and switched the TV to channel 7. It was better than being at home, as the Drinks were on tap.

Walgett train bridge.

Wong's Fish and Chip Shop

It's really warming up now; we left Walgett and headed to Lightning Ridge. The road was terrible; they have just tarred over the ruts, so it was very bouncy. We hit a bump on a floodplain that nearly bounced us into Space.

The local market was on at the Lions Park when we came into town, so we walked around the market, which had a few jewellers and miners selling potch (rocks you can sort through to find Opal). We visited the information centre; the lady there was very helpful.

We booked into our site, visited the RSL to make a plan for sightseeing tomorrow. We joined everyone else staying in Lightning Ridge and drove the Green Car Door tour to the sunset viewing location; unfortunately, it was a bit of a fizzer.

On the way to Lightning Ridge

Stanley the Bird.

Sunset viewing.

House made of cans.

Drink yourself a House.

Today we visited a few of the sights around Lightning Ridge.
First stop was Amigos Castle. An impressive construction by one man, built by hand with rocks collected from the roadside, but a sad story in the end. News
Then a couple of the Car door tours and the Walk in Mine. We perused a couple of the opal shops but Linda hadn't been well enough behaved to get a treat.
John Murray is a prominent Artist in town, and a lot of local businesses have employed his talents.

Amigos Castle.

Motel Wall

Coffee Shop

Servo

Brunos

Lolly Shop

Old Trucks come here to die.

John Murray

Walk in Mine.

Walk in mine.

The Opal was this Big.

We travelled from Lightning Ridge to Narrabri today. Not a lot to see apart from Cotton and wheat fields. We did come across a 500 Ton transformer heading East. We followed it for a while, stopped for Lunch in Wee Waa, then headed to Narrabri and made camp. Later we went into town, and what should we see but Old Mate.

They caused havoc in town for the best part of an hour.

Four Prime movers.

Wee Waa

Wee Waa Anzac Memorial.

That won't fit through the drive-through.

A tight turn. They dropped the two rear Prime Movers off to get through town.

A Gross of wheels. (18 axles with 8 wheels each.)

A bit of maintenance and swearing this morning, then a relaxing day exploring town on the bikes. (Except for one prick of a Maggie.)

The Horsey crew have taken over the Showgrounds.

The Namoi River.

Spotto.

We had planned to do a bit of historical stuff today, but the Lady at the information centre sold us a Pup. We wandered the town for a couple of hours, then had lunch at the Sportie club before heading back to camp for a lazy afternoon reading in the shade by the river.

Today we left Narrabri and dropped in at the Australia Telescope Compact Array. It's an array of six 22m antennas used for radio astronomy. It's operated by CSIRO's Space and Astronomy.

The visitor centre is very interesting, with interactive displays for everyone. Two whispering dishes are placed about 50 to 60 metres apart, facing each other. By standing at the focal point of one dish, you could whisper and be heard perfectly by someone at the other.

After the dishes, we moved on to Yarrie Lake to camp. This lake was formed by a meteorite; it's quite shallow. The deepest part is about 2 meters deep; it's about 3 km in circumference. A very peaceful place to stay; we could hear the fish jumping in the evening.

A Radio dish and a whispering dish.

Yarri Lake campsite.

Coming for his evening drink.

Camp from the air.

Yarri Lake.

Saturday morning, we left Yarrie Lake and headed back into Narrabri to visit the Gaol and Residence. It's run by the local Historical Society as a museum. The Gaol was built in 1865 and operated until 1982.

We then moved on to Coonabarabran via Boggabri and Mullaley. We set up camp, wandered around town and shouted ourselves Chinese for tea.

Gaol and Museum.

Station Clock.

A kerosene-powered fridge!

Coonabarabran. They love a war memorial clock tower in these parts.

We took a drive out to some sites in the Pilliga National Park. Our first stop was the Sandstone Caves walking track; they were used by the Gamilaraay People as shelter, a trading hub and a ceremonial place. Some of the caves have Aboriginal engravings of emu and kangaroo footprints along with grinding grooves from sharpening stone tools. The sandstone displays beautiful colours. Unfortunately, part of the walk was closed due to a rockfall, which meant we didn't make it to the lookout.

Our next stop was the sculptures in the scrub; it was a bumpy ride but well worth the visit. There are five sculptures placed around the edge of Dandy Gorge. Each sculpture is a collaboration between the artist and local aboriginal elders and young people.

We then went on to the town of Baradine, where we stopped in at the local pub for a refreshment. The pub was really busy, and we met a funny lady who was a typical old bushie.

Grinding marks.

Linda for scale.

White man's axe, Black fellas' axe.

A Tiny Lizard.

The Creek.

Looking back up at the sculpture of old mate.

Baradine Main St.

Baradine.

This is where we're heading next. Warrumbungle Range

We are spending four days in the Warrumbungle National Park at Camp Blackman. Our site has a fantastic view of the towering stone monoliths. After setting up camp, we drove up to Siding Spring Observatory—perched over 1,000 meters high, with stunning views of the Warrumbungles, and officially designated as an International Dark Sky Park. On our way back to camp, we stopped at Whitegum Lookout, which has panoramic views of the peaks.
After tea, we sat around a fire with the neighbours swapping tall tales.

Warrumbungles

View from Camp.

Siding Springs.

Crimson Rosella.

The Telescope.

Amateur Astronomer.

We did our first big ride and hike today, starting with a bumpy 5 km bike ride along a steep, gravel fire trail toward the Mt Exmouth trailhead. After walking our bikes up the toughest sections, we parked them about a kilometre out and continued on foot.

The walk up Mt Exmouth is a steady 2.6km uphill trek along a narrow track. Along one of the flatter ridge sections, we encountered a legless lizard that we initially mistook for a snake or stick. Ken tossed a stick toward it to nudge it along, and it quickly slithered away. The trail offers incredible views of towering rocky spires rising from the bush.

We continued our climb up the mountain; it was getting late, and we were worried we wouldn't manage to get down and cycle back to the car park before dark, so we turned around. As it turned out, the ride back was much easier as it was all downhill. We stopped off at one of the campsites for a break, and Ken spotted a Goanna who was on the prowl for some lunch. It climbed one of the small shrubs and reached into a nest, and ate two baby chicks.

Legless Lizard

Spectacular Views.

A smooth part of the trail.

Lunching on birds' eggs.

Leaving the scene of the crime.

We had a relaxing start to the day. After lunch, we hopped on our bikes and rode another fire trail just near our campground. The Belougarie Flats fire trail. This was much easier than yesterday. We encountered some emus and kangaroos on the way. We returned to camp and walked to the visitor centre to get an ice cream.

Belougarie flats

Poppy?

Heading for the Hills.

Wildflower.

Don't get your feet wet.

Our final day in the Warrumbungles. We did the Bread Knife and the Grand High Tops walk; it's about a 12.5km return, with a steep climb and over 1000 steps to the top. The last bit to the top is a rocky scramble. Well worth doing as the views of the park and the rock formations are spectacular but we were buggered by the time we got back to camp.