QLD 2023, 30 June – 4 July: Warrumbungle National Park winter camping

Friday 30 June – Wednesday 5 July

It’s a clear sunny day, and only 3 degrees when we wake up, and not much higher when we leave Goondiwindi just after 9am. Even when we drive through Narrabri around midday it hasn’t got higher than 11 degrees.

We are prepared for some real winter camping now, as we head into Warrumbungle National Park just after 3pm, where we check in, renew our NP pass at the park’s information centre, and proceed to one of the nicest NP camp grounds we’ve come across so far. We are sorry our friends Jenny & Graeme (whose recommendation led us here) are unable to share this time with us.

We have a great spot and decide that while the ground is dry with no rain forecast, there is no need to roll out the awning. We (like all other campsites) have a fantastic firepit and we don’t wait to get the fire going.

It is crisp and cold, and we enjoy the fire and the quiet around us. Today is the last day of school term, so we expect it to get a lot busier tomorrow and beyond.

We spend the next days here going on some hikes and enjoying the nature around us. It is a beautiful bush, and we see birds, many goats, wallabies, wallaroos and countless kangaroos. The Warrumbungle NP is classified as a ‘Dark Sky Park’ (ie no light pollution); a short video on this website shows the Warrambungles in all their glory. Arno popped in at the Siding Spring Observatory just down the road from the Park’s entrance, which is where scientists research with large optical telescopes for astrophysics and astronomy.

This region is well known and travelled by stargazers for the clear, dark skies, and where annual ‘star parties’ are held. We did a road trip to various observatories around this area a number of years ago.

Unfortunately this time around the sky is not as perfect as Arno would have liked for his star shooting, as the moon and some clouds get in the way. But we are likely to return here in the future.

Every day we have a fire, and on Monday evening we pack everything away, in readiness for leaving tomorrow. Overnight the rain starts and doesn’t let up until we arrive at our last overnight stay with our friends in Little Hartley (Blue Mountains), where the fire place is blazing, and we enjoy a great catchup with Phil and Deb.

Wednesday is sunny, and we arrive home safe and sound after 9 weeks and just shy of 10,000km on the road.

It has been a wonderful adventure, and we’ve enjoyed all the luxuries the new van has provided, and are super grateful everything went mostly smoothly with incredibly great weather.

Below the pictures are links to all the maps of the full trip in order and links to the relevant posts.