Coonabarabran Things to Do

The 1st stop you should make is at the Coonabarabran information centre located on the Newell Highway.
Another excellent centre, the lady on duty was most helpful, helping us with our accommodation, and telling us about events and attractions in the area.

There are plenty of brochures and maps, all for FREE, Souvenirs and gifts are available here too. There is plenty of parking, FREE clean public toilets, FREE electric bbqs, picnic tables and chairs, and the "Driver Reviver " is located here as well. Just a gold coin donation for a cup of coffee or tea, plus a biscuit.

As the Siding spring Observatory is NOT OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC IN THE EVENINGS, we were given information on private people in the area that do astronomy viewings. There are a few to choose from.

The fee if you wish to do this was $15 in 2009.
Website for more info. www.tenbyobservatory.com

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When I visited the Coonabarabran Information centre, I picked up the "Easy Walks in Coonabarabran" leaflet.
I always think this is a good way to see a Town.

The walk here, wasn't very long, about 1.3kms, and probably took less than an hour for me to do. The leaflet gave me information on the buildings I were seeing, so I have listed a few I took photos of.

* The West End Bakery.......You can only view from the outside as it is now a private residence. Evidently, the Baking ovens are still in place, although unusable. The Baker used to live next door, and was able to move between the two buildings in order to keep an eye on the rising bread early in the morning.

* No 36 Dalgarno Street........Located on the opposite corner to the Bakery, this home was built by the Hagan family. It has pressed metal external walls and interesting decorative features. The House gables are typical of homes built during that period. The house has been a shop at previous times, but is now a private residence.

* The Court House.......Built in 1861, this beautiful sandstone building is an example of early Australian colonial architecture. There is a Tree located to the right of it which is locally known as the "Tree of Knowledge" particulary by the Aborigines. They have used this site as a gathering place for as long as people can remember.

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Yes, a tip about Cartons of Milk, but not actually filled with Milk!

Located in the Siding spring observatory museum, is a row of Milk Cartons. All of them are different weights, representing the weights that the different planets are made of. You will be amazing at the differences, one I could hardly pick up it was that heavy!

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Found at a location near Coonabarabran, Diprotodon is the largest marsupial ever to have lived. It is often likened to a giant sized wombat.
The remains of the Diprotodon were found in the creek bed of Cox’s Creek near Tambar Springs in 1979.

Although the remains are believed to be about 33 000 years old, it is thought that the Diprotodon roamed Australia somewhere between one and two million years ago and became extinct as recently as 20 000 years ago.

The jaw and another part of this extinct animal is on display here, as well as other fossils.

OPEN daily from 8 - 5pm

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On the John Renshaw Parkway that takes you into the National Park from Coonabarabran, watch out for some unusual Letterboxes. Some people have been pretty creative in this area.

These are on private property before you reach the national park.

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The observatory is used by Professional Astronomers to study the southern skies.

It is AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST OPTICAL ASTRONOMY RESEARCH CENTRE, with a total of 11 telescopes housed here.

This IS THE HOME of the giant 3.9metre ANGLO AUSTRALIAN TELESCOPE.

You can visit the observatory during daylight hours.
We took the walk up the hill to the 37metre domed observatory, then the lift to the 4th floor where you can take a look at the telescope through a glass window. It is huge!

Outside, there is a viewing area which overlooks the Warrumbungle ranges, nice views!

Included in the price is the Exploratory centre, which enlightens you on the facts and figures of the Universe.

If hungry or thirsty, there is a café which sells light meals, drinks, and souvenirs.

If you are coming to the observatory, remember that it is a lot cooler up here, even on a warm summer’s day, and it can be quite cold if a wind is blowing, so, throw in a cardigan, just in case!

The observatory has an open day ONCE A YEAR IN OCTOBER.

REMEMBER, THE OBSERVATORY IS NOT OPEN AT NIGHT as it is a research instrument. If you wish to view the stars, then you have to book in with a private astronomer.

Open 9.30 -4 pm weekdays and 10 – 2pm weekends

ADMISSION IN 2009 WAS $5.50 adults.

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TRAVEL THROUGH SPACE FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT!

You can, when you tour ...........
"THE WORLD'S LARGEST VIRTUAL SOLAR SYSTEM DRIVE."

A different idea has been adapted to road travel in this area.
It's called "whirl through space," a scenic road journey taken by car, following different Planet signs until you end up at the Siding spring Observatory, which is the planet "Sun."
All the tours end up at the "sun."

Along the way, there are 3 dimensional planet models attached to starry billboard signs that have been scaled to 38 million times smaller than outer space!
The distance between each sign has been scaled also.

Pick up a brochure at the info centre for the routes that you can do.

There are 5 different routes....

* route 1 departs from the town of Dubbo......
* route 2 departs from the town of Gulgong.....
* route 3 departs from the town of Merriwa.....
* route 4 departs from the town of Tamworth..........
* route 5 departs from the town of Moree.........

So, here we go, .........travelling at 100kms per hour by car.........

meaning......we would be virtually hurtling through space at a ........

million kilometres per second.....................

MORE THAN 3 TIMES FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT!

e.g...........START FROM DUBBO,

* sign 1 is PLUTO at 190ks from Coonabarabran....
* sign 2 is NEPTUNE at 119ks.........
* sign 3 is URANUS at 79ks.............
* sign 4 is SATURN at 40ks........
* sign 5 is JUPITER at 21.5ks......
* sign 6 is MARS at 5.5ks.........
* sign 7 is EARTH at 4.1ks.........
* sign 8 is VENUS at 1.9ks....
* sign 9 is MERCURY at 1.2ks..........

and the final destination is the SUN (Siding Spring Observatory)
The distances are approx. only.

This is the only route with all the planets, others have less.

This was quite an interesting way to see the sights around the countryside of Coonabarabran.

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Unbelievable, but this EXCELLENT small Museum was FREE!

Well worth going into for a look, there is a well set out display of local minerals and fossils, plus displays of Crystals from the U.S.A., China, Africa and Europe. Lots of Crystals in all shapes and beautiful colors are on display.

"The WORLD'S MOST COLOURFUL CRYSTAL" - "ZEOLITE" is on display here.

The displays are done, so that you take a journey through time, starting on the side the arrow points to, you walk your way around , passing through the ages. Looking at the fossils, it was amazing that they were so intact and well preserved.

As you leave the Museum, you will pass through the Gift shop where gems, specimens, jewellery are for sale, have a browse, buy if you wish, there was NO PRESSURE AT ALL TO BUY, I didn't.

It is amazing that it is FREE, and it was EXCELLENT!

OPEN daily from 8 - 5pm