Coonabarabran - 12 June 2019
Our forced stay in Coonabarabran took us to places we would never have otherwise seen! We've had a lovely day exploring, while car repairs are progressing - to the point where we hope to be back on the road tomorrow.We had a quiet morning, waiting for the weather to warm up and for Neill to get some news from Toyota. Upon hearing the parts had been ordered, would arrive tomorrow but that work could start this afternoon, we knew we were here for at least another day so took the opportunity to explore the local area. That started with elevenses at a coffee shop in town, an explore of a couple of shops, and a check in to Toyota before we drove out towards the Warrumbungle National Park. First stop was the Siding Spring Observatory. Built in 1974 (and opened by Prince Charles), this giant telescope contains a 3.9m diameter mirror inside this dome.
We went up inside to see it, and learn about what it does, how it works and how they replace the mirror lining! At 1100m elevation, in a part of the world where there is very little light pollution, the physisists see some very interesting astronomical activity here. The visitor centre also gave more of an insight into activities here, including this old control panel from the telescope.
Next to the visitor centre was a small cafe which served a reasonable lunch, so we spent a pleasant and interesting few hours here.
Driving back down the hill, we then headed into the National Park. With hills and valleys reminiscent of the Flinders Ranges, we were fortunate it was a clear sunny day so we could enjoy the mountain ranges. We did a walk to one of the lookouts, which was pretty spectacular.
There's also some great campsites out here - but not convenient if you only have one car for two caravans! The most scenic route was a 140km loop road but given it was 3:30pm by this stage, we figured we had already seen more than we would ever have otherwise, so we headed back to camp. Afternoon tea, some planning for tomorrow's travel options assuming everything goes well with car reapirs, the lighting of the campfire as it is quite cool at night here, and then a delicious hot pork and prawn soup rounded out a pretty good day.
posted by Tracey @ 9:47 pm
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