The No Refund Trip '24 | FindPenguins

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Trip start
October 2, 2024
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Day 1
Wednesday, October 2, 2024 at 9:37 AM
⛅ 20 °C
Altitude: 225 m
Australia Serpentine Lagoon -28.546754, 150.32870128°32’48” S 150°19’43” E
Breakfast pit stop
October 2, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
Four and a half hours on the road called for a peaceful quick stop for a breakfast of champions, Macca's, at this cute and very nicely maintained park.
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Day 1
Wednesday, October 2, 2024 at 1:35 PM
☁️ 20 °C
Altitude: 1,496 m
Australia Mount Kaputar -30.273544, 150.16450630°16’25” S 150°9’52” E
Mount Kaputar
October 2, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
A couple of guests for us in this sight seeing detour this afternoon. Able to drive up to the summit here at 1500 metres. But before we got there we did one stop at a lookout and interestingly the sight that caught our attention was a pair of black snakes rolling around in the bushes.

Then continuing up to summit we were greeted by a pair of mountain goats at the stunning lookout. On a clear day it says you can see 10% of NSW.

Some nice walks here too, but we didn't have enough time unfortunately.Read more
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Day 1
Wednesday, October 2, 2024 at 3:44 PM
☁️ 24 °C
Altitude: 210 m
Australia Culgoora -30.313544, 149.56469430°18’49” S 149°33’53” E
Australian Telescope Compact Array
October 2, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C
So Alex did mock me while we were here because I didn't read any of the information signs... So I am probably not the best person to teach you anything about this facility.

But it was cool to see and walk around at. Sorry about your research though, I forgot about my smart watch.Read more
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Day 1
Wednesday, October 2, 2024 at 5:04 PM
☁️ 23 °C
Altitude: 217 m
Australia Collins Park -30.328032, 149.78481630°19’41” S 149°47’5” E
On Lee Chinese
October 2, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
No country town can exist without a huge and strangely popular (for the town's population) Chinese restaurant. And great prices too!
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Day 1
Wednesday, October 2, 2024 at 6:00 PM
☁️ 21 °C
Altitude: 210 m
Australia Collins Park -30.328327, 149.78579730°19’42” S 149°47’9” E
Narrabri Accommodation
October 2, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
This is a bit cute and different. Called The Loft and it's the entire top floor of what was an old flour mill that has been converted.
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Day 2
Thursday, October 3, 2024 at 7:45 AM
☀️ 15 °C
Altitude: 350 m
Australia Warrumbungle Shire -30.996351, 149.23548530°59’47” S 149°14’8” E
Pilligra Forest Sculpture Walk
October 3, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
My favourite, dirt and gravely road with rocks and corrugation for 50kms to get in and out again for the hour walk. What a way to wake me up.

But complaining aside, a beautiful walk filled with wild flowers the whole way and some gorgeous sculptures along the way.Read more
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Day 2
Thursday, October 3, 2024 at 11:19 AM
☀️ 20 °C
Altitude: 1,128 m
Australia Westons Mountain -31.275239, 149.06788231°16’31” S 149°4’4” E
Siding Spring Observatory
October 3, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
One of the largest optical telescopes in the southern hemisphere within the Warrumbungle National Park one of the first Dark Sky Parks specifically for keeping the night sky as light pollution free as it can.

We got the regular look through today, unfortunately missing their annual open day on Saturday.Read more
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Day 2
Thursday, October 3, 2024 at 2:30 PM
☀️ 23 °C
Altitude: 310 m
Australia Apsley -32.621175, 148.93834832°37’16” S 148°56’18” E
Wellington Caves
October 3, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
Wellington Caves has a claim of difference to other caves as theirs is that the caves were formed from an ancient coral sea and fossilised sea creatures. Also while it was a river and cave other prehistoric fossils have been found including giant goanas, rodents and birds that lived in this area 10s and 100s of thousands years ago.Read more
Andrew Gawvery stylish hats :)
10/3/24Reply
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Day 2
Thursday, October 3, 2024 at 5:05 PM
☀️ 17 °C
Altitude: 892 m
Australia Bletchington -33.255845, 149.09579133°15’21” S 149°5’45” E
Orange Botanic Garden
October 3, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
Beautiful temperature and time of day to do a walk around a big gorgeous garden. Ending the day with a leisurely walk around the track.
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Day 2
Thursday, October 3, 2024 at 5:39 PM
☀️ 16 °C
Altitude: 861 m
Australia Orange -33.283007, 149.10998533°16’59” S 149°6’36” E
Orange Accommodation
October 3, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
Cute country cottage that's really quite big inside with 3 bedrooms. The strange thing is it has a strong smell of roast beef... But not from the oven.
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Day 3
Friday, October 4, 2024 at 10:00 AM
☁️ 18 °C
Altitude: 713 m
Australia Goulburn -34.755688, 149.73692934°45’20” S 149°44’13” E
Goulburn
October 4, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
Morning stop at Goulburn for a break in the driving. Somewhere we have been to before and explored. But we still stopped in at the Rocky Hill War Memorial tower, definitely the best view of the area.

Then over to Goulburn Historic Waterworks to have a look, but we didn't have any cash to go inside so just a walk around. Beautiful garden and flowers on display.Read more
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Day 3
Friday, October 4, 2024 at 11:12 AM
☁️ 20 °C
Altitude: 531 m
Australia Mount Ayre -34.799194, 150.01907934°47’57” S 150°1’9” E
Bungonia National Park
October 4, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
Quick stop at the lookouts here in Bungonia NP. Interesting to go to a lookout like this and bring faced with a giant open cut mine. A big limestone mine that was the hole of the Sydney Opera House originally. Outside of that it was a stunning landscape. I'm the last picture, I want fast enough to get a good photo but it does contain the first wild Echidna we've seen which was exciting.Read more
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Day 4
Saturday, October 5, 2024 at 9:49 AM
☁️ 17 °C
Altitude: 658 m
Australia Fitzroy Falls -34.648369, 150.48260334°38’54” S 150°28’57” E
Fitzroy Falls
October 5, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
One of our favourite places to go, I think this is our third time now. The two times before we did the West track, so this time we wanted to have a look at the East track instead. It is very windy today and the cicadas were screaming. That added a unique experience and a beautiful rainbow 🌈 in the waterfalls. We only did half the circuit today. I guess we will have to come back again, what a shame.Read more
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Day 5
Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 8:25 AM
☀️ 18 °C
Altitude: 28 m
Australia Charlie Bali Reserve -33.763498, 150.85993933°45’49” S 150°51’36” E
Chang Lai Yuen Gardens
October 6, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
Nice little break to stretch our legs here on the outer skirts of Sydney. There is heaps to do in this location but we just walked around the very nicely maintained Chinese gardens.
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Day 5
Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 10:39 AM
☀️ 23 °C
Altitude: 118 m
Australia Kariong -33.431722, 151.27752533°25’54” S 151°16’39” E
Girrakool
October 6, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
Today was a lot of driving, so another break to have a small walk around the 2km Girrakool loop track. Containing an Aboriginal site, and a couple of little waterfall areas. We loved all the wild flowers everywhere we've been on this trip.Read more
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Day 5
Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 11:49 AM
☀️ 25 °C
Altitude: 10 m
Australia Alison -33.276632, 151.4065433°16’36” S 151°24’24” E
Naughty Treat
October 6, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
A little naughty stop to carb load for the rest of the drive. Ending up being another 5 or 6 hours of driving so we needed a sugar hit to get us through the journey. Actually a very tasty selection, accompanied by milkshakes (not pictured).Read more
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Day 5
Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 5:30 PM
⛅ 21 °C
Altitude: 1,047 m
Australia Trevor Park -30.530282, 151.65186830°31’49” S 151°39’7” E
Armidale AirBnB
October 6, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Cute guesthouse in Armidale of a converted house stables. Extremely comfortable for a small space and really nice host there too greet us.

Incredible Indian restaurant there in Armidale, probably the tastiest takeaway Indian we've had in an extremely long time. A great way to end a long day driving.Read more
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Day 6
Monday, October 7, 2024 at 9:42 PM
☁️ 23 °C
Altitude: 7 m
Australia Hamilton -27.435055, 153.07453627°26’6” S 153°4’28” E
Dedicated to Mum
October 7, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
This trip has been dedicated to my late Mum who passed away in February. Who's birthday was on the 5th of October during this trip.

Instead of celebrating, we did what she enjoyed doing the most and wanted us to keep doing... Getting out and enjoying our life and the time we have.

Getting onto the road of this beautiful country and exploring. Experiencing and enjoying each and every moment that we can. The entire journey filled with the purple flowers that represent her along each and every road we took. The wild flowers that were so symbolic of who she was as a person. Every corner we took in this 2,500km journey a reminder that she is still watching over me.

While not the original plan that we had to do this trip as a family, it was still an incredibly fulfilling journey to new places with new experiences and I know she would have been happy that I spent her birthday out of the house and loving life.

Love you and miss you Mum.
JamieRead more
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Trip end
October 7, 2024