September we found ourselves on the way to Melbourne to attend two weddings. We took our time and made the decision to spend a few days in the Pilliga scrub area in the North West of NSW. It's an area we had driven past plenty of times but have never taken the time to have a closer look.
As we needed a few supplies we called into Coonabarabran and while there got some details of the area from the Information Centre. If you intend visiting the Sandstone Caves it is necessary to get directions as it is not signposted (as a request from the Aboriginal community).
After lunch, we headed up the Newell Highway and then a 10 km sideroad to the Pilliga Pottery. They produce some nice pottery and we bought a jug with a gecko on it (which we thought we would use for
gravy).
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| Pilliga Pottery |
From the pottery, we made our way to the previously mentioned Sandstone Caves in Pilliga Nature Reserve for the one hour walk. The formations here are quite amazing and also include rock carvings of kangaroo and emu prints, as well as groves from the grinding of stone axes. A lovely walk, lots of shade and the wildflowers were very spectacular. Amazing what good rain does.
From the caves we crossed Timmallallie National Park and Timmallallie State Forest on No 1 Break Road (good dirt road) to Baradine and the main Information Centre - The Pilliga Forest Discovery Centre. We needed some more information on the area and to work out where to camp for the night. This is a fairly new Centre and has some excellent information and displays. We discovered the differences between State Forests, National Parks and Nature Reserves - human usage decreasing for each one until there is very little access to Nature Reserves.
We ended up camping at Salt Caves dam, a pretty spot in the National Park northeast of Baradine - and not another soul in sight.
