Bushwalking in Warrumbungle National Park

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I was very lucky recently to have four days of bushwalking in the Warrumbungle National Park in NSW. The Warrumbungles is a spectacular mountain range shaped by millions of years of volcanic activity and erosion. It is also home to Australia’s first Dark Sky Park with crystal-clear night skies perfect for stargazing and astronomy. The national park is located approximately 550 kilometres northwest of Sydney and contains 23,311 hectares. The area attracts approximately 35,000 visitors a year.



Many years ago I returned home to Tasmania after finishing my midwifery course in Brisbane. I got a job at the local maternity hospital in Launceston. I met lots of nurses from all over Australia who had come down to Tassie to do their midwifery course. One I became good friends with had come from a place I’d never heard of called Coonabarabran in NSW.



I rejoined my old bushwalking club, the Launceston Walking Club and my new friend also joined. We both did lots of great walks that year before she returned home to NSW and I moved to Queensland. She was a country girl. I was amazed at her knowledge of cows. As we travelled in the bushwalking bus to different walks around Tassie she would name all the different breeds of cows. She told me about a place near where she lived called the Warrumbungles.


In 1992, I finally got to visit the Warrumbungles on the way home to Brisbane. We camped in the National Park for one night and did a short walk. My 37-year-old son was only 5 at the time. We were heading back to Queensland after living in Victoria for three years. I loved the area and always wanted to go back.



I finally got to return. Five of us drove down from Brisbane in early January this year. Kevin, our driver had been to the National Park before and done all the walks. He had booked us into two cabins in Coonabarabran at the John Oxley Caravan Park where he had previously stayed. The National Park is 35 km west of Coonabarabran and we planned to drive into the park each day to do day walks.



After our long 686km/ 7:44hrs) hour drive from Brisbane, we checked into our cabins, had a rest then went out for dinner at the local pub.



We planned to start our daily walks early because it was still very hot with temperatures over 30 degrees. The first day we drove 30 minutes into the National Park. Before starting our big walk for the day we did a short 1-kilometre return walk to the Whitegum lookout where we had beautiful views into the National Park.



This lookout offers one of the best views of the park’s impressive volcanic landscape. Rising majestically out of the vast plains, the mountains have been a meeting place for Aboriginal people for thousands of years.

After admiring the views from the lookout we walked back to the Pincham car park to start our walk to Burbie Canyon and Belougery Split Rock.



There was some excitement in the car park just as we were setting off. Renee sang out to me to look down. I was about to step on a Bandi Bandi snake. These snakes are nocturnal so it must have been heading off to bed. None of us had ever seen one before.



On that first day, we walked around Gould’s Circuit and climbed Febar Tor, Macha Tor and Belougley Split Rock. We walked a total of about 12 kilometres. It was a pretty hard day because it was very hot and we all suffered from the heat.





After driving back to the caravan park, we had a shower and rest and then headed out for dinner at the local hotel. We were all tired so we went to bed early.



We had an easy day the next day. We drove into the Park again and visited the Visitor Centre and the Siding Springs Observatory, and then did a short walk on the Wambelong Nature Trail. Along the trail, we saw emus, mistletoe plants and a copper-tailed skink (Ctenotus taeniolatus).



These skinks are a very common species of fast-moving skink, which are found along the East coast and ranges of Australia. It was an interesting, easy 1.1-kilometre circuit with two creek crossings.

The Siding Spring Observatory was officially opened in 1965. It was constructed on the boundary of the park because the park provides a light-free environment. The scientific facility consists of several internationally important telescopes. On 4 July 2016, the park was the first in Australia to be certified as a Dark Sky Park by the International Dark Sky Association.



We were the only visitors to the Observatory on our visit. It was very interesting looking at all the telescopes and reading about the history.

On day 3 we headed off early again into the National Park to do the Breadknife and Grand High Tops walk. The iconic Breadknife towers 90m above the ground. This walk is said to be one of NSW’s best walks.

We started the walk at the Pincham car park and walked along the Pincham trail, which followed Spirey Creek. The creek was dry.

Along the way, we had great views of all the major peaks in the park, including the Breadknife, and Belougery Spire. Part of the route was closed because a huge boulder had fallen down onto the track.

We stopped for a short break at Balor Hut campground. There was a sign on the hut with a contact to organize to stay there. There was also a toilet there. It would be lovely to wake in the morning with those fantastic views. We took the Grand High Tops trail to its summit where we had great views of the famous Breadknife, then walked to Dows campground, where three of our group climbed Bluff Mountain, and two of us waited in the shade.



Those three walked 18.5 kilometres with a 930m elevation. After climbing Mt Exmouth the following day, I wished I had climbed Bluff Mountain. I will have to return and do it one day. The three who did it raved about how wonderful it was. They saw eagles soaring above them.

I got very excited along the way when we saw some curious animals watching us behind the trees. I thought they were the endangered brush-tailed rock wallabies that live in the area. There are only a very few left.

They were thought to be extinct in 1991. They were rediscovered in the park in 1993. We learned at the information centre there is a recovery plan and it is estimated there are still only about 12 to 14 animals left in a remote area of the park.

I had seen brush-tailed rock wallabies on previous bushwalks in Queensland at the Lower Portals near Mt Barney. Unfortunately though after I posted some photos of the Warrumbungle creature on the mammal identification site, the wallabies were not rock wallabies, but swamp wallabies. They were still very beautiful.



On our fourth day, we all climbed the highest mountain in the National Park, 1206 metre high Mt Exmouth. It was easier than I was expecting, although it was a long hot climb.



Walking through Burbie Canyon was lovely. There was some water in the creek. We then walked up a fire trail for four kilometres to Camp Danu. It wasn’t too bad going up in the morning but was very hot coming back down. After having a snack at Camp Danu we headed up the track to Mt Exmouth.

It was very beautiful going through the different habitats with lots of grass trees, basalt rock formations, interesting vegetation and fantastic 360-degree views from the mountaintop. There were some praying mantis insects mating in some grass on top of the mountain, and we saw a small brown snake in some grass on the side of the track. On the way up we met a local woman who says she runs up and down the mountain for her regular exercise.

Track up Mt Exmouth

The walk via Burbie Canon was 16.8 kilometres with 770 metres elevation.



The whole Warrumbungle National Park is still recovering from a major fire, which occurred in January 2013. That fire destroyed 56,000 hectares and 90% of the national park was affected. The bush is recovering.

I lost contact with my friend from that area all those years ago. I would like to tell her I did finally get there and loved her bushwalking paradise and her lovely hometown of Coonabarabran. I would also like to tell her we were both in a movie made way back in those Tassie days. Norton Harvey, a well-known Launceston photographer made the film of one of our Launceston bushwalking trips to Freycinet National Park in 1973 as part of the “Do you know Tasmania” series. I managed to buy the DVD many years later on a trip home to Tasmania.


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