Today we went for a drive to Yarrangobilly Caves. We had planned to leave our campsite early, but Toby slept in, and in, and in. He had had a bit of a fever overnight so I wasn’t suprised that he slept late, particularly given his exhausting day yesterday. He was still hot when he woke up, but he didn’t seem unwell so we went ahead with our plans.

We made it to the caves at around 11:30 after a couple of stops for a motion sick Toby and another stop for a play at the playground in Adaminaby. We bought tickets for the 1:45 tour of Jillabenan cave. Tickets were $20 per adult and kids less than school age free. We ate our lunch in a picnic area that had a big shelter complete with free electric BBQs, kitchen for washing and even power points.

The cave was small, but the formations were beautiful. There were lots of delicate little stalactites hanging from the ceiling, some water pools with formations happening at their edges, stalagmites and columns and even a shawl or two. The tour went for about 45 minutes, and we were shown stones with fossils of sea creatures, a sign of the coral reef that the area used to be. There was also a column that had been cut in half, and it was so interesting because you could see the original stalagmite that was engulfed when the stalactite met it to form the column. The cave was said to be 2 million years old.

When the cave tour was over we drove to the carpark for the thermal springs and walked the 700 metres down a steep track to the swimming pools which are a constant 27 degrees celcius. I only had to carry Toby the last bit, but was already dreading the walk back up to the car! Nathan and Andrew had a great swim in the deep pool (2.5 metres maximum depth) while I dangled my legs in the water and held a very tired Toby who dozed. We saw a little water dragon and Nathan told me he’d seen it swim across a corner of the pool! I had a little swim with Nathan after Andrew got out, and it was really nice. There was a lot of algae growing on the edges of the pool and weeds growing in the bottom.

It was an exhausting trip back to the car carrying Toby the entire way. But we made it, of course. We drove back to our tent site, stopping at Adaminaby for dinner at the pub and a photo with the giant trout.

The weather was perfect today. Perfect for going on a walk. We chose one that we haven’t done before. It was approx. 6 km in length (Andrew recorded 6.9 km), a loop with a waterfall at around the halfway point. We packed our lunches and drinks into our backpacks. The kids each carried one and we had one other. The big problem with going on walks while we are here is that I didn’t bring a carrier of any description because Toby just hasn’t wanted to be in one for a long time. So I sort of forgot to bring one for carrying a tired child on walks.

Toby slept until 8 am this morning, so I figured we had plenty of time before he got tired, even though we arrived at the walk at 11 am. Well, I figured wrong. He was asking to be carried well before we reached the waterfall. So it ended up being a really slow walk, because I did a lot of carrying of Toby. Andrew also did some while Toby was asleep.

It was a beautiful walk, going through some lovely bush. At one point there was a lot of orange flowers out (egg and bacon flowers?) on bushes. The ground was a little undulating. Andrew had a little program on his phone which indicated we had just under a 200 m elevation throughout the walk. The waterfall was nice but there wasn’t anywhere to stop there to eat your lunch, so we crossed the fence and perched ourselves in the shade on a large rock near the water. On the way back we went through an area of large granite boulders which was pretty interesting. Andrew and Nathan climbed one of the boulders to see the view while I rested with the sleeping child. It seemed to take forever to get back, but we finally made it to the car.

Yesterday it didn’t rain a lot, but it was really, really windy. Unpleasantly windy. We went into Jindabyne to do a bit of grocery shopping. Otherwise it was a day of sorting out our campsite and I wanted to update my Wispy Threads website with a heap of new hats, so I spent a while taking photos of hats which wasn’t easy with the wind and the rain. We went back into Jindabyne at around 7:30 pm to go to Carols by Candlelight. The kids had fun running around and rolling down the grassy hill, and both loved the fireworks. It was the first time Toby had ever seen fireworks too!

Today the weather was significantly better and we spent some time down at the river this morning. The water was freezing, but it didn’t stop the kids paddling in it and throwing stones for about an hour. This afternoon Nathan, Toby and I went to Bullocks Hut. The kids rode while I walked. It was fine getting there, the kids had a ball, but getting back was too difficult for Toby. He still often has day sleeps but I had hoped he’d be ok today without…but he wasn’t. He rode some of the way back, then he walked some and rode some, then he wanted me to carry the bike, and then he wanted to be carried as well. I did for a few minutes and by that time he was asleep, and it was impossible to carry a floppy nearly-3-year-old as well as his bike, so I texted Andrew (thankfully there was coverage, i had my phone and it wasn’t flat) to ask him to come and help us. I just sat on a log in the shade and waited for my hero to arrive. 🙂

Andrew and I shared the carrying of Toby back to the campsite. He didn’t stay asleep when we put him in the tent, but that didn’t matter as he’d already had a decent nap. A bit of food and a drink and he was ready to go at full speed again. Andrew took the kids back to the river while I cooked dinner and updated my blog. After dinner we tried to give them a bit of a wash in warm water, but the black bag we were trying for the first time to heat water using the sunlight had already cooled a bit and the air temperature had dropped as well. The boys shivered through their wash and then ran around a bit more, talked to people and rode their bikes for a bit more before falling asleep more quickly than normal when they went to bed. Once again I wasn’t too far behind them.

At the start of the walk to Bullocks Hut

Come on Mummy! We are waiting for you!

Nearly at the hut.

We left on our regular pre-Christmas camping trip yesterday. We had been undecided about where to go now that we have the camper trailer, and finally decided on the northern part of Kosciuszko National Park. We left home a bit later than we’d hoped, and we decided to just go to our normal campsite and we’d make a day trip to the northern part of the park, or maybe even come home that way and spend a night in a campground up there.

We also decided that now that Toby is better at traveling in the car that we’d try to get to the mountains in one day instead of staying overnight in (or near) Albury. That was fine with me as it was raining all day and the idea of setting up the camper in the rain and then probably packing it up wet again the next day to keep traveling just didn’t appeal.

We had a break for lunch at Euroa, another in Albury for the kids to play on the fabulous Adventure Playground there and then it was straight to the campsite. Poor Toby had his usual bout of motion sickness while traveling on the Alpine Way. We made it to our campsite quite late but there was still some daylight to get the camper set up.

It continued raining while we were setting up the camper, and when it wasn’t so hard or stopped briefly the kids went splashing in the puddles in their gumboots or riding through them on their bikes. At least it has cleaned off all most of the mud that was still caked on their brakes and wheels from our last trip. We had a very late dinner with two overtired kids going crazy, but finally they were in bed and asleep. I wasn’t far behind! It’s been a very busy few weeks.

Today we got going quickly since we wanted to catch the 8:30 am discovery tour and we were supposed to be at the Visitor Centre half an hour before the tour. We were the only ones on the tour, which was good because the kids weren’t always quiet. We went back to the Walls of China lookout that we went to last night, but we were able to walk around the sand dunes and formations with the guide, who’s name was Robert. Robert showed us old middens, bones that were both in the ground and sitting on top, and he talked about the aboriginal culture a lot.

After the tour we started driving around the Mungo Drive loop which took us past several points of interest. Red Top Lookout was our first stop where we saw more of the eroded formations and Mungo Lake (it has been dry for 17,000 years). We were all hungry for lunch, so we bypassed Rosewood Rest and Mallee Stop and headed for Belah Camp. The mallee scrub was quite a different landscape to the low shrubs of the dry lake.

We found a shady spot at Belah Camp for lunch. It was bushier than the main camp where we set up our camper, and there was a toilet with water. I have been impressed with the toilets at the park which have all had a tank to collect rainwater that could be used for hand washing.

After lunch we stopped at Round Tank where there is a feral goat trap. They come to the water to drink and are unable to get out of the fence surrounding the dam once they are inside. They are then sold and the money raised supplements the funds of the park.

Our next stop was at Vigars Well which was used as a watering spot years ago. Just behind the water were sand dunes which were incredible to walk on. We sat on top of a dune and built sand castles….you just couldn’t find a better sand pit to play in! Unfortunately it was a bit windy, and Toby was pretty tired, so we didn’t spent as long there as we would have liked to.

The last stop before we got back to the visitors centre was another old woolshed. Then we went back to our campsite and started cooking our marinaded flat chicken and roast veggies for our dinner. Afterwards we went again to the visitors centre for showers and then it was back for bed. It was another beautiful evening, and although there were plenty of flies around during the day, there didn’t seem to be many insects at night. I also managed to snap a few Major Mitchell cockatoos as well before it got dark.

A formation in the Walls of China

Bone artifacts

Climbing a sand dune

At Red Top Lookout

Baked Emu footprint

Feral goat trap

Nathan with emu on the sand dunes

We made it!

A great sand pit!

We did a bit of packing up last night so there was less to do this morning. Our plan was to get going as early as possible and pack up the camper, go for a shower at the shearers quarters and then head into Menindee for a few supplies before heading south towards Mungo National Park. We managed to do all those things, but we certainly didn’t set out as early as we had wanted. Nathan decided to sleep in, and sleep in, and sleep in!

It was lovely to have a shower, and Andrew filled up the water tank on our camper as it had run dry since it was last filled at Broken Hill. In Menindee we bought some milk, bread and locally grown apricots. We also topped up the car with diesel.

The road to Pooncarie was mostly dirt, though funnily enough there were a few kilometres of bitumen when we crossed into Wellington shire…just enough to make us think we’d left the dirt road behind before hitting more dirt. We saw one snake, several lizards, kangaroos, emus and stock on or beside the road on the drive.

We had lunch in Pooncarie where there was some lovely green grass and a playground for the kids. Then we kept driving, this time on bitumen for a while, until we got to Top Hut Road, the road into Mungo National Park. It was dirt and was open, so on we went.

We arrived at Mungo National Park at around 3 pm and decided to stay for two nights. It was the same deal as Kinchega National Park, there was a $7 per day park entry fee and an additional $10 per night for camping ($5 per adult, kids under 5 were free). There are toilets, rubbish bins and water at the campsite and not far away at the visitors centre are showers.

I cooked pasta for dinner, though it was hard work to get anything to cook due to the wind and it took a lot longer to get the meal organised than anticipated. While we were washing up the kids went for a ride and didn’t come back, so I sent Andrew off to find them and he didn’t come back. I ended up taking the car to go and find them, and there they were chatting to some people half the campsite away. I was told my boys were very sociable! Yes, I know Nathan is, perhaps not so much Toby.

We finally got everything packed away and we drove to the Walls of China lookout in time to see the sun set. It really is a beautiful spot. On the way we saw some Major Mitchell cockatoos..the first I have ever seen in the wild. It became my mission to photograph some before we leave Mungo National Park.

Lizard on the road

Toby asleep in the car still clutching his drawing things

Advertising the local garage

Our road to Mungo National Park is open!

At Walls of China lookout

Boardwalk to lookout

Walls of China at sunset

Kangaroo and Emu footprints

Today was a lovely, sunny day which got up to around 27 degrees C. After breakfast Nathan, Toby and I went for a walk along the road to photograph some animal footprints that Nathan and I saw last night but we didn’t have a camera with us. The road was a lot drier than it had been yesterday, although it was still a bit soft in parts. We had a lot of fun trying to work out what animals the tracks came from.

On our way back we met up with Andrew who had finished the things he was doing and had decided to walk in the direction we had gone in. We turned around and walked a bit further until it was time for lunch and we went back to the camper.

After lunch we thought it was time to test out the road, so we drove to the woolshed. We had to pay for another day and another night of camping in the park, and we tried to call to find out if the road south was open or likely to be open tomorrow. We chatted to a park ranger who gave us some numbers to try tomorrow, but he said the road was still shut. Then we explored the old woolshed, explaining to Nathan and Toby what a shearing shed was all about. The two boys then acted out being sheep and shearers…it was so funny! They did it over and over again, taking turns in who was the sheep and who the shearer.

We went for a drive around the park to have a look at the lakes, but the picnic area we went to wasn’t really as nice as we thought it would be, and the lake was inaccessible. The lake was really lovely though, and there were some accessible places along the road.

We drove back to our campsite via the old homestead site where there was little more than some old rubble lying around and a few information boards to tell us what used to be there. It certainly was an interesting place before it became a National Park!

Back at our campsite and I discovered that the road we want to drive on is now open, so we are hoping for an early start tomorrow. The plan at the moment is to pack up the camper, drive to the woolshed for showers and then head south (assuming the road is still open).

Emu footprints

kangaroo footprints

Woolshed

Toby the shearer

Nathan the shearer

Wool sorting table and press

Sheep holding yards

Star trail

It rained half the night and most of the morning. The rain turned the ground into a sticky mucky mess that caked to the bottom of your shoes and was really slippery. It was quite obvious that our plans to explore the park today were not going to happen as there was no way we were going to try to drive the car out. Even if we made it out, we would have wheels caked in mud and would probably destroy the dry-weather-road-only road in the process. Instead we had a relatively relaxing day….relatively, because it’s never really quiet with two small boys and their boundless energy being cooped up in a tent. Still, we spent a lot of time photographing birds, something that neither Andrew nor I have done for a long time.

In the afternoon the sun finally came out and the ground started to dry out. When the boys could no longer stand being cooped up the gumboots were put on and the bikes made an appearance. It wasn’t long, however, before the bike tyres were caked with mud and could not be walked, let alone ridden. Andrew also managed to fix the broken screw that had us worried we wouldn’t be able to get the camper up again if we did manage to get it down. It took a hammer, screwdriver and brute force!

We had sausages, steak and potatoes cooked over the fire for dinner, with boiled beans and carrots as well. The kids were excited about having a fire because we could have toasted marshmellows which they both adore. Well, I think it’s more that they love the marshmellows making an appearance, because they love to eat them, toasted or not!

Andrew had a go at making some star trail photographs last night, and just as we were packing up to go to bed we had a little frog jump through our campsite. I took a couple of photographs and probably blinded the poor thing with my flash. It was very pretty though.

I think our plan now is to stay one more day at Kinchenga National Park and see if our road south is open on Friday. If it isn’t then we will have to drive home the way we came, via Broken Hill.

Nathan couldn’t ride his bike….he could barely walk it for all the mud on his wheels

Toby’s mud encrusted bike tyre

Activities for children where it’s too muddy to ride or walk much

Sunset

Our frog visitor

Menindee to Pooncarie: closed. 🙁