The Outback & Chilligoe Caves

An early start again as I dropped off the hire car and walked to my pick-up point for the trip to the outback and caves in a remote town called Chilligoe.
Our first stop was at a beautiful log cabin that looked out over farmland where mangos, limes, papayas and coffee are grown. We had coffee here and, oddly for breakfast, papaya jam and fresh cream scones (handy cos I got up too late for anything before I left 😅).
Then a huge drive into the Outback which took almost 2 hours. We arrived at a tiny town in the true meaning of the middle of nowhere. Chilligoe came about in the late 1800s after copper was discovered in the area. Also, in Chillagoe are the caves we came to visit, which were formed by rainfall eroding the limestone rock formations that are a feature of this part of the Outback. After an hour or so we went to the town pub for lunch.
Back in the bus again to a place with some interesting rock formation, including one called 'balancing rock' for obvious reasons! It was intensely hot here so we had a quick look around and back into the air-conditioned van.
Our next stop was at a little park where we fed the local wallabies by hand. Some had babies in their pouches, which was very cool to see.
After that, it was the very long drive home, so all in all, it was almost 12 hours of driving and sightseeing.
Although it was a long drive into the Outback, the map location showed we barely entered it. Australia is MASSIVE!Read more