27. – 30. April

Next destination was Moree to the caravan park which has 4 artesian pools on its ground. These pools are set to different temperatures (35, 36, 37 and 39 degrees) we spent our time in the hottest pool as well as in the lap pool which should be at around 30 degrees. It was relaxing to have a dip in the pool in the morning, after breakfast, in the afternoon and before going to bed. The dip at night was the best – the pools look different when the lights are on and you can watch the stars. You could really feel the minerals on your skin – after you stepped into the pool you had a lot of bubbles on your skin and when you were dry again you could see them as well. You could really experience the difference between the pools – they are warmer if the water comes from a deeper side.

In Moree the bore-depth is around 650m, in Burren Junction and Pilliga around 750m and in Lightning Ridge over 1000m.

Cheers, Tom and Anja

20. – 26. April

Now we headed to the warmest pool in Lightning Ridge. This pool should be around 42degrees but felt more like 50. The first time I couldn’t get in – it was way too hot. Every one staying in the pool for around 15 minutes turned red like a lobster so everyone was nearly cooked. I was able to get into the pool the other day – it feels cooler in the morning – but you had to get out and cool down after 15 minutes.

As you couldn’t stay all the time in the pool we did some exploring and fossicking as well but we just found nice stones one might have a little opal layer in it.  There are 4 coloured car door drives which go along the city through some opal-mining fields and one or two other attractions like the black queen (this is a kind of a restaurant where a story is told), a hand-build castle (all stones look differently), walk-in mine (go underground and have a look around plus their little museum), cactus nursery, a house built of bottles and where you could see beautiful sunsets or the mine “chambers of the hand” which is an old mining site with two levels; second level is where they demonstrate the mining and on the first level is their exhibition – different figures carved in the walls (they’ve native animals of Australia, jungle animals, fairy-tales (the pipe player of Hameln), Egyptian mythology… it was amazing and really good especially as I talked to the artist while he was creating “Dora – the explorer”.

Bye, bye, Tom and Anja

17. – 19. April

Our next stop was the Mt. Kaputar National Park famous for the “organ pipes”. This stone formation was created while the magma cooled down and of course the circumstances were correct. The six- to eight square pillars create the big stone wall. At several places parts of the pillars have been broken off – some lay on the ground others were washed. The pillar formation is visible at different places; on the ground where former pillars were standing; within the pillars lying on the ground and of course still at the wall. I guess the pillars on the ground form just a small part of the wall but they are still big pieces – up to 2m wide and tall and around 1m long. But still it’s an amazing sight and it really looks like an organ pipe.

 

Australia Telescope was our next place to visit. This radio telescope is a collection of 6 telescopes which could be linked together with the telescope in the Warrumbungle and in Parkes to form the biggest in the southern hemisphere. This formation is called the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The dishes are 22m in diameter each and situated on a railway track so they can move on an east-west track. The tourist information centre has some other things on display which you could read on your own and even some to play with. – Everything strictly scientifically! - We camped at Lake Yarrie a natural occurring lake (they thing a  meteor formed it years ago) where you could swim (only during summer I guess) and do water skiing which a lot of guys did starting early in the morning and not ending before all light was gone.

Next stop was the Pilliga bore which offers free camping as well. This bore is a bit cooler than Burren Junction but doesn’t have the beetles. May be the beetles don’t like rectangular forms as this bore was created as a lap pool. The ground was quite slippery so you could do some water skiing on the ground. This was fun but also a bit scary. We didn’t stay long in Pilliga as a big group arrived and took all the space for themselves.

Cheers, Tom and Anja

14. – 16. April

Then we decided to have a look at the Artesian Waters again – and hoped not to get drowned ;-) We left Dubbo to drive north – in the direction of Lightning Ridge. Our first stop was Burren Junction which has a bore bath with free camping. The bath was good – water temperature is around 39 degrees and it has a lot of minerals in it. You could just swim around in the bath – it was in a circular shape with a concrete island in the middle. You just had to be watchful of the beetles swimming in the water – they liked to bite and these bites were itchier than mosquito bites and they stayed around much longer. A lot of the campers (grey nomads) stay there for four weeks and more returning every year. It was also a good spot to watch sunrises and sunsets.

Have fun, Tom and Anja

11. – 13. April

We decided to have a look at Mudgee – ok we actually stayed some days and did some house- and dog sitting . The dog sitting was the most important part of our weekend and took the most time. The dog was a 5 months old Staffy – still cute, cuddly and already strong and quite heavy. And he loved his walks but he didn’t like the laundry – he liked to pull the washed clothes off the line and dragged them into his bed… Apart of the dog walks we had a look at a vinery which also had a little museum of vintage motorbikes. It was really little – just 20 bikes but most in working order as they were leaking oil.

Cheers, Tom and Anja