Day 3 – Wellington Caves to Pilliga

A little voice woke us about 6.30am. It’s like having an alarm clock with us! We didn’t waste any time having breakfast and packing up camp so we could get to Dubbo to have morning tea at our cousins place. It’s only a 45 minute trip to Dubbo from Wellington and it seemed to go by very quickly.

Along the way Victor said ‘I wonder what Auntie Catie will have for morning tea. I’ll bet it’s something delicious’. Sure enough we arrived to find Catie had prepared a plate of little cakes, oat slice and melting moments. Victor was right!

We spent a lovely hour with Catie and Robert before saying farewell We headed back into Dubbo to go to the Showground so we could use their dump point and fill up with water. Pa took Victor across to watch the Pony Club in action while I waited for the tanks to fill.

We left Dubbo around midday and headed towards Coonamble. Stopped at David Gillon Park Rest Area right next to the sandy and dry Castlereagh River for a lunch break.

In the early afternoon we arrived in Coonamble where we filled up with fuel before continuing out of town towards Pilliga.

We passed through the tiny village of Pilliga and drove approximately 2km east to the Pilliga Artesian Bore Baths. This fabulous campground is provided to the community by Narrabri Shire and they charge $7.50 per vehicle per night. You pay via their website or scan the QR code on a sign next to the pool. Sadly when I tried to do either of those the website was not working. Oh well. We did try to pay.

The bore baths are set inside a fully fenced area and the rectangular shaped pool is concrete. There is a large pipe on one end where the piping hot water is pumped into the pool from the bore. There is a set of metal stairs with handrails on the shallowest end to allow easy access into the pool.

Outside the pool fence is a large concrete area with picnic tables, BBQs and a toilet block with two toilets and a shower. The water for the shower comes straight from the bore so it’s nice and hot. Just near the pool is an old fridge that has been set up as a library. Leave a book and take a book.

The large flat campground is large enough for many vehicles and we reckon there were at least 50 or so RV’s of every type. I wondered if any of them had paid the small camping fee.

As we drove in another motorhome was leaving and we wound down our window to chat to the lady driver. She said she’d just vacated the very corner spot on the right so we thanked her and drove there. What a great spot! Close to the pool but with lovely views of the creek. There was a picnic table next to us but it was on the wrong side of us. We set up our chairs outside facing west to we could watch the sunset across the creek.

After setting up camp we all walked across to the pool, Victor carrying a pool noodle. Wow! what a great experience soaking in the warm artesian water. All our muscles were very relaxed after an hour long soak and our skin was all wrinkly.

Back at camp I heated up some of Great Gran’s famous sausage rolls for our entree and made chicken schnitzel burgers for dinner. While I was getting all that ready inside Pa and Victor got our little Kings Fire Pit set up and had a lovely fire going.We enjoyed a gorgeous sunset and even had a Pelican glide by on the creek. We ate our dinner outside around the little fire. Ahh the serenity!