Dubbo - Warrumbungles - Hunter Valley

November 21-29, 1998

Leg 1 - Sydney to Dubbo

Day 2 was spent at the Western Plains Zoo. Our annual Zoo Friends pass really paid off today with free entry to the zoo. The kids were bigger this year so we did more walking on the many tracks through the centre of the park.

Later that day we drove the 2 km further down the zoo road to Dundullimal - the oldest slab house in Australia - for a hay ride, river cruise, an excellent animal show, and a spot of afternoon tea - billy tea of course! The fellow giving the animal show is also the local saddle and whip leather merchant. In his show, he controlled all of the animals with the 'horse whisper'. Brilliant!

Leg 2 - Dubbo to Coonabarabran

We were eager to get on to the real objective of our trip - the Warrumbungle National Park. We drove on to Coonabarabran taking the back roads and drove through the park seeing our first wild kangaroos in a very long time. Biddon was listed in our tour book as a point of interest but the art gallery/general store was closed and the town generally unoccupied. Here is the very recognisable Split Rock. Checked in to the Matthew Flinders and had a nice dinner.

Mt Tobin Split Rock

On day 4 we headed back into the park and took the kids on a couple of 1 km 'bush walks' to get them used to the idea. In the afternoon we stopped in at the SkyWatch observatory and turned the kids loose in the exhibit area. That evening we returned to SkyWatch to view the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, and M42 through the large telescope. Spectacular!

The view from the top of Siding Spring observatory is great. The observatory is worth seeing - that is one hughmongous telescope - but the Skywatch observatory and visitor centre (and mini golf) is better suited for kids.

The next day the kids needed a break so we explored the surrounding countryside on the back roads through the farm lands. There was lots of bull dust, and even a bull are two on the road.

For Day 6 we attempted our biggest bush walk with the kids (3.8 km) on the Burbie Canyon circuit. We were fortunate that the rains had come a few days earlier, so there was enough water in the creek to make the walk pleasant but the trails were passable. The wildflower display at this time of the year was also fantastic (hay fever sufferers beware).

Leg 3 - Coonabarabran to the Hunter Valley

Our day in Singleton was rather unspectacular. The visitor centre at the power plant had been closed due to vandalism, and the open face coal mines don't allow casual visitors. We found a vantage point from which we could see some of the enormous dump trucks and a very large 'swing' bucket that digs by swinging a 70 ton steel bucket at about 180 km. The Old Schoolhouse serves a nice morning tea and the family that runs it is real nice. That's about it for Singleton.

For the finale on our tour we stopped in at a couple of favourite wineries in the lower Hunter Valley, including finding the best deal on quality wine - really great wine for $6 per bottle. We'd love to tell you where this is but we were sworn to secrecy by our friends who live near the Drayton's winery.

Ratings

Thanks again for traveling with us.

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