2010/11 Australia trip - Warrabah |
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We were off south down the New England Highway, crossing from Queensland into New South Wales and Glen Innes, where we stopped for find out more about camping in NSW parks and to get access to the Internet. We got the park info, but it turned out that the only place for Internet on a Sunday was MacDonald’s, next door. They had free Wifi so we took the risk of a McDonald’s lunch and we can report that their Wifi is as good as their burgers; we never got to read our e-mail.
We had a pleasant drive south through Armidale towards Tamworth. We were going to Warrabah national park near Manilla, and there looked to be a short cut across the mountains from Bendemeer, so we headed that way, through really pretty farm and woodland country. The road began as blacktop then gravel and then dirt, just wide enough for the Troopie, and then it climbed into the mountains. Sandie was complaining about bits of road being missing and subsidence and sheer drops, but luckily I had the sun in my eyes and didn’t have to worry about that stuff.
There were some interesting hairpin bends including one where we had to cross our own path and loop around back to the hairpin. Then we saw the bus stop sign and were really glad we’d missed the bus! Eventually we emerged at Manilla and then it was a long drive on the Naomi River Road through 
an endless sequence of small sheep and cattle farms, cattle grids, and water crossings, until we arrived at Warrabah and set up camp just above the river.
By this time we had the setup down to a half dozen quick moves, and we were sat down drinking a beer in less than five minutes. Our neighbour from up the hill came down to congratulate us, probably because he had an elaborate camping and cooking shelter that took an hour or more to erect. He’d have been better off than us though if the weather had turned wet again.
Monday November 1st
We had some rain overnight and the day soon warmed up, hot and humid by breakfast. Our only neighbour thought there’d be storms soon so they were moving on before the creeks filled up and the water crossings stopped them from leaving. We wouldn’t be staying long as we had to be moving on too. A quick survey around the campsite revealed even more varieties of flowers, different from those at Giraween.
The park protects the upper reaches of the Naomi River Valley, and it is another granite park with big boulders on the hillside and a rocky river bed. We drove the quite good 4wd road further upstream. The road builders had put numerous large bumps into the road, to help with drainage, so we were porpoising our way up and down. We climbed down to the river and watched the cormorants fishing.