Australia’s version of Yosemite. That’d the best way to describe it. Nestled away 6 hours north west of Sydney, Warrumbungle National Park is Australia’s slice of tectonic evolution usually only seen in volcanic arena’s of the world colliding with native Australian bushland. And my gosh it is beautiful.
Quick Stuff
- Where Warrumbungle National Park – 6 hour north west of Sydney
- Cost $20 per night
- One word review A hikers paradise with mountain ranges unlike anything else in Australia.
Hitting The Road to Warrumbungle!!!!
I’d been here before but Erin had no idea of the natural beauty. We had a night at a Zoo planned that week which was a fair drive out of Sydney and i leapt at the opportunity to tie in a camping trip and show off this volcanic wonderland.
Packing the car was the usual stuff. Swag, walking shoes, backpacks, blankets for the cold, the most delicious camp food we could think of, camera gear and a bottle of tequila for campfire margaritas.
Hitting the road was no problem after a quick stop to drop off the dog. Luckily for us Rufio is amazingly well behaved and hasn’t barked in 7 months so finding a dog sitter is quite simple. We drove through the blue mountains in a lingering fog, stopping in Lithgow for a coffee, Mudgee for a camp stove and a pint and Coonabarrabran (a very odd place indeed, ravaged by Australia’s ice epidemic and lack of regional growth) for a few other last minute essentials. Finishing our drive around 3pm, a weary 7 hours hours later. However driving through the Warrumbungle entrance with a setting sun glinting of the red rock walls of the jutting spires scattered throughout the national park was well worth the drive.
Heading straight for Blackman camp, the biggest and most spread out campsite in Warrumbungle National Park, we found our spot and set up for a night of first night fever and campfire tomahawk steaks. Our spot was on the highest side of the camp, a place resembling an open field, looking out to split rock with Belougery spire in the distance.
Pack your warm stuff
We soon found out we’d been thwarted by strong winds delivering an Icey tundra feel around our campsite. With our open field delivering little natural protection, lowering our grilling potential and hindering our margarita consumption, leading to an early bed time. Its amazing inside a swag, 5 degrees outside, 25 degrees inside, while winds raged outside our canvas protective door, we were as snug a could be inside.
Dawn broke to a gentle 5 degree’, popping my head outside to a mob of kangaroos nibbling on the local grass i popped the Jetboil on for a morning brew and got the camera out to snap off a few frames of the locals. We spent the morning doing our research on local hikes and picked out a few to tick off over the next few days. A quick stop to the information centre gave us a map of the park and provided some learning on how the park has been formed.
Warrumbungle’s Main Attractions
There’s a few different thinks you can do in Warrumbungle National Park so here’s a quick overview of what’s available.
- Hiking – Offering breath-taking scenery and gorgeous mountain range vista’s, hiking is high on the to do list with 20 or more established tracks throughout the park.
- Camping – The park has 3 dedicated campsites. Blackman, with dedicated bookable spots, toilets, powered sites and barbecue’s. Wambelong, nestled next to a creek along the main road, and Gunneemooroo, my personal favourite. Private, remote and far away from everything.
- Stargazing – With some of the darkest skies in Australia there’s always a show to be seen, so much so the southern hemisphere’s largest telescope is located here which you can also visit.
- Climbing – The Warrumbungles are a haven for rock climbing however it is all quite advanced. There are no bolted routes and trad gear is needed everywhere so you need to know what you’re doing.
- Information centre – There’s a lot to learn about the park and how it was formed so definitely allot at least an hour for this.
- Local offerings – Coonabarrabran isn’t the greatest place as i mentioned earlier so we spent as little time as possible there. However we did go see a great Emu farm and learn about the medicinal properties of emu Oil at Emu Logic.
Getting the Warrumbungle boots dirty
We launched into our first walk with a semi ambitious 17 kilometre loop of the breadknife and grand high tops loop. Thankfully after we’d increased our elevation by over 600 metres only to realise we were a third of the way through, we found out the whole loop was closed. Looks like this was set to be an 11 kilometre up and back. Starting from the carpark meandering up along quite a nice stream the path takes a rather verticle turn about 2k’s in, not insanely steep but enough to get the heart rate up.
After not too long we came to the highlight of the walk, the breadknife feature, bourangerie spire and Mt Nathan all make for an amazing lunch time backdrop. After looping around the bredknife we passed Balor Hut to link back to our original path to finish off the walk in a little over 4 hours.
A side note about Balor hut, the remote little tin shed. Bookable on the national parks website, we toyed with the idea of racing back down to the car and grabbing our gear to spend the night. However, the complexity of getting our car camping kit back up the mountain proved too much. I’d love to spend a night there in the future.
Lowering the Tempo
Day 2 provided some more relaxing Warrumbungle sight seeing with a trip to Tara cave along a 4 km return. This is a relaxing walk, mostly paved and minimal gradient. The main attraction although unique by featuring indigenous tool sharpening remnants, isn’t the giant cave that springs to mind and more of a sheltered alcove. This little trip does provide a few short glimpses of the main range which is nice.
Escaping the wind
In an attempt to not have our evening cut short by the arctic winds we decided to move camp to the lower Blackman area, finding a sheltered spot with more kangaroo’s and a nice fire ring. This turned quite successful and allowed me to whip up something i had been imaging for a few days, campfire katsu curry! It turned out pretty good but with a few minor amendments I’m sure will be a real treat.
Our third and final night of camping we relocated to Gunneemooroo, a very remote camp on the other side of the main range. It’s a 10km drive in, protected by a locked gate with the code provided by national parks when you book, and has no phone reception. The camp site on a little creek and is my idea of camping. An amazing spot that we had all to ourselves in nature. We spent the night around the campfire staring at the stars. I even managed to take a night-lapse which turned out pretty well considering i forgot to bring a tripod. (you can also check out my astro portfolio here)
A Unique & Feathery Trip Home
With our time coming to an end we casually packed up the car and made our way to Dubbo for our zoo adventure, stopping along the way at a roadside waterfall that actually very much over delivered and Emu Logic, one of Australia’s largest Emu farms. I had no idea that emu’s were farmed for their oil so this turned out to be a very informative little stop to inspect these strange creatures.
A slow 7 monotonous hours later we were back living our main life reality, dreaming of the next escape…
Warrumbungle Costs
Fuel – Depends what car you drive… I drive a range rover so this was the most
Camping – All campsites are relatively cheap, about $14 per night
Observatory – Free however make sure you check the opening times correctly.
