Going to Goobang


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October 13th 2011
Published: October 18th 2011
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Going to Goobang

We decided to leave the Warrumbungle National Park today, to give us a slow meander back towards Canberra, also there was somewhere else that we wanted to try on recommendation from Sandra and Jeff.

An easy start to the day with a cup of tea and some breakfast, we made headway into packing up.

The one significant thing that I have noticed with the set up of the new rear section to the landcruiser and of course with the TVan, packing up is so much easier.

Most things have a home and providing you put things back into that home then you cannot go far wrong, however we are still trying to work out what needs to go where for convenience, we mostly have it but it does need refining.

I was going to say in no time at all we were packed up, but that was not really true, packing up was not really too much of an effort, but it was still gone 10.00 by the time we moved off site.

On our way out we stopped at the amenities for a shower and once again hit the road and retracing our tracks out of the Warrumbungles on the Tooraweenah road and back towards Gilgandra.

I was a little disappointed that we did not get into the small town of Coonabarabran this time, but it was out of our way and there was no need to do that, we planned to stop at Dubbo en route to pick up some fresh supplies.

It as a beautiful day, the wind had died down which made the conditions much more pleasant, the previous few days the wind has been quite cool and it had been difficult figuring out what to wear, one minute you were comfortable and the next minute the cold wind would really bite into you. Never mind, we are in the big outdoors and enjoying the fresh air.

An uneventful trip to Dubbo, we had a quick trip around the super market and we were soon restocked, the shopping was put away into it’s appropriate place in the truck and we were back on the road again heading towards Parkes.

We were not going to get into Parkes or even see the dish this time, we are turning off early and heading into the Goobang National Park, there are two areas for camping one in the North and one in the South. We head to the South section. Camps 5 is slightly incorrect in it’s description, it says it is 6 kilometres from the turnoff on the main road, but it is not, it is about 22 kilometres in and then 6 kilometres north from the dirt track.

We do not see a single vehicle on the road in, the park looks as if it has taken a bit of a battering in some of the bad weather that has been experienced, a lot of tree debris is lying on the ground and you can see where large amounts of water has rushed through.

We find the site we are looking for, there are about 5 marked out campsites with a communal area in the middle for camp fires. There is no one here but us and a couple of wallabies, I figured that this would change as people start to think about finding somewhere to stop for the night.

We have a short drive around and Andy spies a lizard trying to hide itself in the vegetation, we jump out of the truck to look, the lizard is completely still, the lizards colouring makes it so hard to spot, it is so well camouflaged.

We prepare our fire, Andy chops the wood and I get on with making the curry. In no time at all, the camp oven is sat on the fire with the curry cooking and both Andy and I sit and read whilst the curry bubbles way.

The afternoon light fades and we are plunging into darkness, our curry is eaten with plenty of left overs and still we are on our own here. The only sounds are from the possums screeching at each other in the trees, the sounds of the wallabies and kangaroos thudding around in the darkness.

The night turns quite cold, and we head indoors early for a change, to get warm, even the camp fire was not keeping us warm tonight.

I reflect on the similar situation we are in here as to when we first camped at Apsley Falls, way back in the early part of our trip nearly 3 years ago(3 years!), obviously back then not being accustomed to being remote or entirely on our own, I
The set upThe set upThe set up

It still needs some perfecting
remember Andy getting the camp fire on the go, and he asked if I was comfortable here, I said yes, there was no one else around except kangaroos, but we had dinner and the darkness fell and I suddenly felt insecure, a sudden uncertainty and fear set in about the environment and I wanted to go to bed so that I could feel safe - we have come a long way since then.

We had a great evening just sitting around the camp fire in the darkness, listening to the sounds around us.

It was soon time for bed.



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