Warrumbungle National Park

1 - 3 March 2015

The morning dawned clear and with good forecast weather we left Tenterfield with a view to camping at the Warrumbungles. We stopped at Glen Innes at the visitor centre, and following the recommendation of staff drove up the the "Standing Stones"  for morning tea before heading along the Gwyder Highway towards Inverell, then on to Delungra and Bingara for lunch. Then it was on the Inverell and Coonabarabran, before driving into the Warrumbungle National Park.

The view from our camp. Lots of Kangaroos grazing in the paddock.

We chose to stay at Camp Blackman and quickly set up the tent as it looked like rain. We checked the BOM and the forecast fine weather had been replaced with a severe weather warning! The rain radar showed a storm, headed our way, but it didn't look too big or too severe. We packed a survival kit (consisting largely of cold beverages) and retreated to the covered area to wait out the storm and then resumed our camp set up. The rest of the evening was meteorologically uneventful, but the campsite was inundated with a large group of Norwegian students on a whirlwind Australian tour.

White-winged Chough

Much of the park had been burnt by bushfires in 2013 with some damage to infrastructure, including the destruction of the visitor centre. This should not detract from a visit as there is much regeneration evident. We headed over to the temporary visitor centre when it opened at 9.00am to book a second night and found the staff member on duty to be very well-informed about the location of certain bird species. She made several suggestions about walks which may yield the target species. We chose first to try the Spirey Creek track, a short drive away. We took the left branch, which was apparently easier than the other one. The track is very well made, even paved in sections, and makes a very slow, steady climb so that all the uphill work is on the way out, and the way back is just a gentle downhill walk. Because we had left late, we were walking in the heat of the day so turned around and returned to camp after an estimated 5km walk.

Female Turquoise Parrot. The bird I didn't know I had seen until I edited the photograph.

Yellow-tufted Honeyeater were seen on most walks.

Later in  the afternoon we set out for a walk that would take us to a creek that may have some water from  a spring. We were told it should take about 20 minutes to get there but after walking across open ground, in the hot sun, for about 45 minutes we gave up and turned around. This is not a walk we would recommend. There was little bird life, and almost not shade - but it is fairly flat.

We packed up camp early on Tuesday morning so we could have another go at the Spirey Creek walk - this time taking the west track. We kept walking until it started to go uphill, then turned around. This is another nice walk. All up we estimated we walked about 15km over the three walks we did over tge two days. Not a bad effort - but our bodies were feeling it a bit, so we treated ourselves to ice-creams when we stopped for supplies in Gilgandra.

Red-rumped Parrots were very common but still a delight to encounter.

Cockatiel rested in the trees around our camp during the heat of the day.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo showing off on a nearby power line.

Another common species, the Superb Fairy-wren.

After a picnic lunch in Dubbo, we made our way to Cowra and a cabin for the night. Mick was feeling unwell and he had to visit a doctor on Wednesday morning go have the stitches removed from his finger.