(8 Days)

Been busy…..

Anyway, hopefully, I can find more time to continue writing about our -possibly-once-in-a-lifetime-land-travel-around Australia journal.

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Warrumbungle National Park is an area of former volcanic activity from millions of years ago. Its rocky spires, domes, and structures of different forms were formed because the volcano started to erupt. The wildlife in this park was admirable. Animals seemed to peacefully coexist with people. They are comfortable. We were too. It was sad to learn that over 90% of the park was affected by the 2013 bushfire. The good thing was, it is slowly recovering. This park is also of cultural importance as there is plenty of evidence of Aboriginal people’s occupation in the area from a thousand years.

The park is also a good place to stargaze. We stayed there for 8 days, and every night, whilst lights in the campground were switched off, we could still see our shadows. Meaning, natural lights from the sky (stars, moon) were that strong. At 2am, while we walked to the toilet, we couldn’t help but look up. It was extraordinary.

Warrumbungle was only supposed to be a 2-day stop for us, but I loved it there, so we kept on extending. It’s only 25mins from Coona. So, Coona remained to be our main spot to fuel up and get our supplies.

Why did I love Warrumbungle? I’ve always loved walking, and over there, there were so many tracks with different features to climb. For eight days, we managed to walk more than enough tracks:

Split Rock: (4.6km return: warning: very steep) It wasn’t my favourite in terms of feeling of safety. It was a scary hike up the Split Rock. For the first time in my life, I decided not to summit. Haha. I couldn’t get myself to continue to the part that required pure rock scrambling, possibly 60-70 degrees, without ropes/railing-part. My fear was doubled because I had T with me. I could have died of a heart attack instead of a fall. It’s probably “safe” for some. We even met people with kids, and they said they went up to the summit….but I just couldn’t. To me, it didn’t feel safe at all.

-We also, saw a snake and a weird loud sound. We thought there was a landslide or something-

We also heard some teenagers talking about walking this (to me, dangerous trail) to watch the sunset whilst drinking wine, and descending slightly tipsy in the dark. It made me question the demon inside me. Was it really that unsafe that I didn’t summit, or these teenagers were crazy? Have a look and decide for yourself.

Whitegum Lookout: (1km return) This is possibly one of the easiest trails here. At 500m, it’s a sure activity for families including children. We visited this lookout twice and on the second time, whilst watching the sunset, we witnessed something horrifying! A child falling off the cliff! I didn’t see the whole thing but heard the actual fall and the mother’s scream. Luckily for the child, I guess, he was able to hold on to something because the mother was able to lift him back up. Omg! I cried! I didn’t even know them! The mom and the dad hugged the child. They were sobbing. Not blaming anyone, but these things could have been prevented…😭 or can be……

Gurianawa Track: (1km circuit) A very easy trail as well. It is wheelchair accessible and quite educational. There were bits and pieces of nice views from here as well.

Wambelong Nature Track: (1.1km circuit) It could start from the Blackman Campsite. It was so beautiful. It wasn’t hard at all. People would always talk about just Breadknife and Split Rock tracks. Wambelong was just an afterthought, and walking around it made me wonder why. I was in awe of how beautiful it was. There were two small creek crossings, rock-formations plus the sunset from there wasn’t bad either. I would highly recommend Wambelong trails for people who prefer to have a small and easy walking activity or someone who’s preparing to go for the longer and bigger hikes around the area.

Tara Cave: (3.4km return) This cave used to be a seasonal shelter for Aboriginal people from thousands of years. As expected, (or maybe not), this cave was protected and gated. So, manage your expectations. You cannot get into the cave. The walk to it was still beautiful especially closer to the cave. It offered views of the mountain ranges, of course, a serene atmosphere, because not many people were walking this trail.

Burbie Canyon Walking Track: Also an easy one (2km return). There were roos along the way, and that made the trail pretty special. The diverse sound of wildlife was also amazing to listen to. So, walk not only with your eyes open…walk with all your senses open, including your heart.

Breadknife and Grand High Tops (Pincham Trail) (12.5km return). This trail was relatively easy until we reached the steps. Most parts of the trail were paved, therefore more comfortable, though, of course, it didn’t look natural. As mentioned, it was easy with slow ascents and stairs on the steeper parts

I, however, froze (again!) at the rock dome, where it was both steep and slippery for me and my shoes. The cliff by the side didn’t help. Luckily, my T didn’t give up on me. He made me feel safe, and eventually, managed to convince me to move and continue up to the summit.

I saw people just climbing up without fear, despite sliding. So, it must be truly easy. It was just the demon in my head stopping me. I was very happy with the view from the summit. It was a beautiful 360′ of mountains and peaks around Warrumbungle. Just be warned that this was a pretty popular spot, expect so many people at the top. Some, were, of course, doing some dangerous poses by the cliffs. Looking at them gave me goosebumps.

Fan’s Horizon ( 3.6km return) It was said to have 1000 steep steps, I might have missed some steps as I only counted 800+ haha Well, counting was a strategy so I could forget about the pain of the steps and the fear that I might meet snakey along the way. Counting made me faster, I think. It was supposed to be a 2hrs walk, and I did it in less than 1.5hr. 🤣

This walk was pretty special to me. Why?

Because it was T’s rest day, so I walked on my own this time. Don’t get me wrong, I celebrate every moment with T, and I would much rather walk with him. It was a short walk, and I managed to still enjoy following my own pace. The view atop was stunning, but I missed my T. 😬 Sharing beautiful things with someone is always good, but it also felt empowering to know I could still, somehow, do scary things by myself….that I still got it, just like before.

Tips:

As mentioned, we had to extend our stay here a couple of times. We were able to stay in a few sites, both powered and non-powered. We stayed in 41-92-100-40-46-45. We did it this way, not because we wanted to, but because we had to. When using the park’s booking system, when trying to book for consecutive days, it would only show the park was fully-booked. So, we attempted to book by keying in shorter date ranges, and there were availabilities. The only drawback was we had to move (check out) almost every day, and it wasn’t relaxing at all. Another tip is to directly book through the Visitor Centre. Apparently, they have locked sites that ONLY they can book in for you. So, if you REALLY want to stay longer during peak periods, try this method.

Where did we stay?

Camp Blackman : We stayed in 41-92-100-40-46-45 (no extension cord, we had to change for the night) – 47 (shorter power cord needed). We just kept on using the main shared showers and toilets. It was ok for the purpose. Not the cleanest but ok. Hot showers were intermittent; toilet flushes weren’t strong enough too. My favourite spot was 46 and 45. These sites were under trees, and they felt more private for some reason. Lastly, make sure you have your long extension cords ready because some powered sites were far away from the power socket.