After saying farewell to our family in Narrabri we set off back into Narrabri and then turned southwards on the Newell Highway. Our intended destination was Warrumbungle National Park. Along the way I made good use of our Starlink Roam service to book a powered site at Blackman Campground. Blackman Campgound is huge with 70 unpowered sites and 30 powered sites. We scored site 93 and it was the last powered site available. I thought we were lucky to get one seeing as it was school holidays. It would be interesting to get there and see how many sites actually have campers on them.

Warrumbungle NP also has a park entry fee of $8 per vehicle per day and if you are staying overnight you need 2 passes. I also purchased those online. The digital passes are linked to your rego so you don’t need to print them or display them. The rangers are able to enter your rego to check if you’ve paid.

I find the NSW Parks website very easy to use and on most bookings I’ve made you are able to pick which site you would like. Most times there is even a photo of the site. Well done NSW Parks.

Our little travel buddy cheerfully said farewell to his cousins with lots of ‘see you on Friday’ from them all. We waved Erin and the children off as they drove out before us. Once we set off he listened to his music. How many 6 year olds are huge Michael Jackson fans? This one is. He knows most of the words to all the songs. I think a set of good headphones might be a good birthday present!

The Newell Highway is a good road and is the main artery from Victoria to Queensland so it is used by lots of heavy vehicles. Driving through the Pilliga forest we sighted a few feral goats but not a lot else. It was only a couple of days ago we were driving along the western side of the Pilliga and now we drove right through the middle of it.

Arriving in Coonabarabran we parked up at the visitors centre and went in to check it out. They have a fabulous display of the megafauna Diprotodon. They even have a giant skull in a big glass case. Another glass case hold a skeleton of a Diprotodon. Victor is fascinated with these ancient creatures.

One of the staff even gave him a ‘dippy’ jawbone to hold. His little face lit up at holding a real ‘dippy’ bone.

We picked up some pamphlets on the Warrumbungles and set off again. But first we had to attend to the chores. Filled up with fuel, drove to the dump point where we found a couple of inconsiderate travellers had parked their vans alongside the dump point blocking anyone’s access. They were having a party in the park. So we had no access to the water tap either as our hoses would not reach past their vehicles. Grrrr! We used the dump point but had to try elsewhere for water. We tried the skate park….no luck however the skate park is located in a recreation reserve and we found a tap we could use. Victor made good use of the skate park while we filled up.

Chores done we set off westwards to the Warrumbungles. They are quite spectacular mountains. It is a good tar road all the way and we arrive in the middle of the day.

First stop was the visitors centre where Victor finally bought a souvenir and we checked in to our camp. We had to drive to Blackman 3 camp and find site 93. It is a good level site with plenty of room and had a fire pit and a picnic table. Victor quickly made some new friends with some children a couple of camps away.

The children built a cubby on top of the very steep hill opposite our camp. They even went for a walk to see if they could reach the top of the very steep hill. I went some of the way and the views were spectacular looking across at the rugged mountains and down to the camp.

Victor and I went for a bush walk along the creek to see if we could spot a platypus but no luck although Victor and Ziggy later went down to the creek and saw a pair of platypus. Lucky boys.

Victor and I made a damper and cooked it in the camp oven on the open fire. Victor invited his new friends over for some damper with butter and golden syrup. Yum. They did enjoy it. They came back for seconds!

We settled in after dark around our little fire and waited for our Shepherds Pie to cook. I asked the boys their thoughts on our day.

Rich enjoyed the drive today with not a lot of traffic. Facilities in Coonabarabran were good and the drive into the Warrumbungles was spectacular and he was looking forward to the Shephards Pie.

Victor says we left early from Narrabri and we had safe travels and the road wasn’t too bumpy. He likes how he learnt to change the wallpaper on his phone today. Now he has a very cute photo of his little sister Nancy on his phone. He also enjoyed making damper with Gran and sharing it with his brand new friends. The fire was burning well and he was also looking forward to the Sheperds Pie. He enjoyed scootering around the park and making the cubby house out of sticks with his friends.