North to Alaska oops! Queensland

While in Dubbo got the pushbikes down and cycled to western  plains zoo spent the day riding around the zoo very relaxing

 

Went for a drive south of Dubbo came across a disused open cut gold mine quite impressive

Visited Parkes observatory that is a big dish they have there We then set off for Coonaburrabran and off into the Warrumbungle National park for a couple of days camping the wildlife here is amazing they are not afraid of humans at all full of kangaroos with joeys and birds While we were having lunch a couple of cheeky kookaburras swooped on our sandwiches in our hands we had to retreat to the caravan to finish lunch

Yes that is power you see there this campground has power and Hot!! showers tomorrow will bring a bit of hiking up the peaks you see there don't think we go up all the way though its 6-7 hrs to the top Will also pay a visit to the Siding spring observatory which comprises 13 telescopes including the largest optical telescope in Australia  It is sited on Mt Woorut above our campsite
Anyway I have found a bottle of Bourbon  wild turkey so catch you all next time I log on

We went for a walk up Fans horizon 1000 steps good view from the top

We also went up Mt Woorut to look at the telescope boy was it cold ice forms on the telescope dome on a night and falls off in the day did not stay long much too cold

After leaving Warumbungles we headed for Burrin junction for the night The attraction here is artesian bore hot springs a lot of caravans here parked in a gravel area some for months the therapeutic  value of bathing in the hot springs 37 degrees being the attraction we did not bother thinking it could not be healthy stayed the night and moved on to Lightening Ridge opals are mined here black opal in particular found in only a few places in the world however after Coober Pedi this place did not appeal to us
 So we carried on stopping for a night along the way we found the area around here to be mainly cotton farming and fairly boring so we decided to head towards the coast Toowoomba in this case

Boy what a horrible road the Warregoe hyw is terrible surface more trucks than I have ever seen glad to be off it Toowoomba in a really nice town very large and full of gardens

The Japanese gardens above were extremely well maintained

Went for a drive up to picnic point had a good view of Table mountain from there so decided to drive there for a look but Marion had the wrong shoes on so only walk half way up still a good view though

From there to Spring Bluff an award winning garden railway station in the Lockyer Valley

That's enough for now catch you all next