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
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