He arrived at Dawsons Spring campground late afternoon and was greeted by the local kangaroos while setting up camp.
It being winter and at an altitude of over 1,400 metres it was always going to be a cold night. The next morning the temperature was almost freezing.
It didn’t deter him from setting off on the 8km Kaputar Plateau walk that took in some fantastic views.
There were also some pretty wildflowers to be seen.
And a nice waterfall on the Dawsons Spring nature trail he walked in the afternoon.
All too soon Monday had arrived and it was time to pack up the tent and move on. It was nice to pack up a dry tent for a change due to the wind overnight keeping the dew at bay. There was time for another quick trip around Dawsons Spring circuit to look for the pink slug that comes out in the rain or on misty days. There was a thick mist in the morning but no sign of the pink slug. It was still a good walk with plenty of photo opportunities.
The drive to Lightning Ridge from Mt Kaputar was very wet. It rained the whole way and it didn’t stop until sometime early the next morning. After bumping into Shane & Sophie, who had wisely decided not to take their trailer on the back roads from Nindigully with the others, in the Lightning Ridge visitor centre Cos spoke to Don and arranged to meet up with the rest of the group for dinner at the bowls club. There were very few options for dinner in town, the other main restaurant didn’t come highly recommended. The bowls club was very busy but coped well with all the food orders and the food was good. At dinner Don & Tracy, Dave & Chris, Shane & Sophie, Ben, Scott, Terry & Cos made plans for the next day.
The rain had thankfully stopped the following morning but with all the rain it meant any unsealed roads would likely be treacherous to drive on. So people just wandered around town in the morning. A few of us visited the John Murray art gallery, a local artist who paints a lot of outback images. Most of the group also had coffee at a cafe where the local police were buying coffees for people as part of a Coffee with Cops program. We had a chat with the top cop and he asked for a photo with us that ended up on their Facebook page.
The whole group went on a combined tour of the Chamber of the Black Hand and an opal mine tour. Our tour guide for the opal mine was an entertaining and very chatty third generation opal miner. We were in the mine for about an hour and a half before we did a self guided tour of the Chamber of the Black Hand. This was a series of chambers dug out and then carved into all sorts of various figures by one man and his single butter knife.
The Welcome Chamber
Australian Flora and Fauna
The Egypt Chamber
The Superhero Chamber
Famous Faces
The Space Chamber
Wednesday saw Don lead the group to Warrumbungle NP southeast of Lightning Ridge. Don changed the route slightly to make sure we stayed on the bitumen as any unsealed roads probably hadn’t dried out yet. The drive was a nice one through a lot of farm land and great views of the approaching Warrumbungle range later on.
We camped at Camp Blackman which had plenty of space for all of us and powered sites too. We took up the sites from 27 to 33 in Camp Blackman 1. All the sites had little fire pits with grates on top so you could cook. Our section seemed to be the only area with a giant fire pit that you could use to have a proper fire. There was a lot of wood burnt in that fire pit over the two nights. We knew it would be cold and everyone had brought along at least one bag of firewood which nobody wanted to take home. You had to keep an eye on your food or the birds that surrounded you would take their chance and grab some.
Cos spent the evening taking photos of the kangaroos boxing in front of the mountains and watching the stars come out.
We woke to a very chilly thursday morning.
The whole gang drove over to Siding Spring Obvservtory for a tour, apart from Cos who chose to do one of the many excellent bush walks available in the park. The Bread knife and Grand High Tops walk was a tough walk with lots of steps but the views were worth it.
There were lots of goats around the area too.
After the bush walk Cos drove to the spectacular Whitegum lookout for lunch.
There were lots of wildflowers out and even an encidna foraging.
There was still time in the afternoon for another short walk along the Wambelong Nature track.
There was a wedge-tailed eagle flying around.
Friday morning found the gang splitting up again. A few headed over to Stanthorpe to break up the journey home. Terry and Cos drove straight back to Brisbane. Cos decided to take a quick detour to Sawn rocks in Mt Kaputar NP on the way. It was only a short walk to the lookout to the impressive rock formation.
I was expecting google maps to take me back to the highway through to Goondiwindi and Toowoomba but instead it took me a back way through Bingara, north to Yetman then east to Texas and from there up to Warwick. It was a very enjoyable drive with very little traffic on the road.
I look forward to seeing all the other photos of the parts that I missed. Thanks to Don for organising another great trip.
