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  • Day 7

    Wollemi National Park

    April 10, 2017 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

    A cold (5 degrees plus wind) night, but thankfully we stayed dry. Left Lithgow and headed up a one way road on a whim, turning out to be one of the best days we've had. Taking a rough track off the road for a walk, we found an area of huge Aboriginal significance by accident and was strangely not signposted. Under a huge overhang of cliffs are the outline prints of hands - some large, some really small ones and in red and white paint. They haven't been fenced off and there isn't much information on dates etc, but was a fantastic find.
    From there we drove further into the park area and went for a walk along a long gone railway line. This snaked up the side of a steep hill and rock face finishing at a 600m long tunnel through the rock. The whole thing must have been a feat of engineering and sleepers, rails and reinforcements can still be seen in places. The tunnel also held a large number of glow worms, so turning off the torch made the tunnel look like the night sky. We returned via an old coaching road carved through the hills, again a massive task.
    We left the paved road and continued on rutted and potholed gravel/mud tracks to the end of the road. Along the way we encounterd our first kangaroos and wallabies in the forest and by the roadside. Also spied a wombat, a massive ball of fur! Spied plenty of bird life including various species of parrot.
    So far we've also seen a snake (plus a huge dead one on the road) and funnel web spiders.
    The wild bush camp is in a clearing surrounded by gum trees and cliff faces, absolutely stunning. A group of wallabies wandered by and we watched them boxing while we ate our dinner.
    Another cold night, but with the nearest street lights 40km away the stars are out.
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