(7Days)

Coonabarabran or Coona, as people call it over there, (so much easier to pronounce) is the “Astronomy Capital of Australia” because of its very clear dark night skies. Though we weren’t really deep into astronomy, we kind of enjoyed just looking up the sky at night when it wasn’t raining and cloudy.

Aside from the dark skies (and bright stars), I also enjoyed truck watching (if there is such a thing?haha). It was very apparent how important this town is for trucks traveling to the coast. There were so many stopping and passing by, day in and out. Some of them looked like moving Christmas lights at night. It’s also known as the gateway to the Warrumbungle National Park, “Australia’s Only Dark Sky Park”. We also stopped there for a few nights. So, I prayed hard for more days (and nights) with good weather.

Coona was just supposed to be a three-day stop for us before we head up to towns with thermal pools. But then again, due to the bad weather forecast, we decided to extend our stay there. This town was not big, which I liked. It only had a population of 2k+ (Source: Escape Tourist Magazine). The town had everything we needed. Unlike the last town we were in, Coona has Woolies, IGA, and local shops open. It has one bakery that seemed very busy. Locals apparently like to buy their bread from this bakery instead of Woolies because “Woolies don’t make their bread here”. This bakery was the place-to-be, in my opinion. 😬

Lastly, if you happen to visit Coona, don’t forget to visit the Sandstone Caves + Getaway Tourist Park has very huge powered and non-powered caravan sites and cabins, and most importantly, the owners were good people. 💚

Where did we stay?

Getaway Tourist Park: very spacious drive-through caravan park. Amenities were a bit old looking but very clean. It was a little bit more expensive than nearby parks but, the space was really big plus the owners were friendly. So far, it was bigger than most caravan parks we’ve been in. There’s a bit of truck noise at night but that’s kind of expected as it is close to the roadside. Not bad distance to the centre as well. The other park was closer, but from the outside, it looked more crowded.