Coonabarabran Things to Do

This is one of Australia's most famous astronomical sites. Though you can't view anything from the telescope shown here atop the mountain, there is an excellent facility in Coonabarabran called "Skywatch" that I can heartily recommend.
If you have ever had any inclination to see what all the fuss about the stars is, then Skywatch is for you. It takes about an hour, is very informative, gets you access to a few different telescopes and you can buy souvenirs. The whole thing ended up costing me about $400 because I ended up buying my own telescope! Such was its influence on me.
There is a lookout up near Siding Spring and there are tours of the facility though, as previously mentioned, you can't look through their telescopes.
This view comes around halfway up the Split Rock walk.

4 more images

You don't have to go far from your accommodation at Camp Blackman to come across some wildlife. In fact, it will come right to you! Remember, don't feed the animals. What may seem cute and innocent all too easily ends up in aggression and nastiness.
Besides, you're sure to kangaroos as they are literally in plague proportions and one of their favoured grazing sites is the camp ground.
If you get lucky some of the emus will stroll in as well and I can guarantee you that there are scores of birds just waiting for an opportune moment. Look up in the trees and you will undoubtedly notice currawongs, magpies and crows.
Going for a stroll also gets you a nice long perspective on the Warrumbungle as well as some photogenic close-ups such as rocks (pics 2,3 & 5) with moss growing on them.

1 more image

Belougery Split Rock is one of the closest walks to the National Parks office where you pay your $7 entry fee to access the park.
A word here about our National Parks. Entry fees differ greatly. You'll pay more than triple that to get into the Snowy Mountains Park and, in some other places, nothing at all. It's all dependent upon the popularity of the park, i.e. more people wanting access equals more money to get in.
By that equation the Warrumbungle is a popular place to visit.
I digress. The walk up Split Rock takes you to the highest point (on left). Here it is shown with a foreground of native wattle (known as mimosa overseas) that blooms profusely from mid-winter to spring.
Belougery comes from the name of a property that was handed over to the public by a philantropic farmer.

4 more images

It was fairly early and I was ready. Rosemarie, on the other hand, wasn't feeling too well at all. Very sick in fact. Thus it was decided that I would go for a walk around the campsite at Camp Blackman, the only camp with powered sites for my motorhome.
So I wandered off and ascended a nearby crag that rises behind the new sites and environmental centre. It was a bit testing near the summit but eventually I scaled a lookout point but never did make the top.
The lookout point was better for viewing anyway because there was no vegetation obstructing the panorama of the Warrumbungle.
Though a trifle hazy for photography purposes it offers a lovely experience simply being there and the overall profile, as shown in picture two, really sums up the Warrumbungle for me.

4 more images

The rocky road is fairly well defined until you get about 80 metres from the summit, then it was a bit of a bush bash for me until I attained the heights.
Scrambling onto the crest the panorama opens up and what heights they were.
“Warrumbungle” is aboriginal for “crooked mountain”. From this outlook it is all so clear how it got its name. The jagged spires are irrevocably linked as seen from here and the famed Breadknife melts into obscurity alongside the more prominent spires of Belougery, Crater Bluff and the Grand High Tops.
I've made a practice of spending time when I reach peaks. Soaking up the atmosphere, taking the majesty of the place on board so that it is not forgotten in a hurry. I did so here, and the shots I've taken hopefully reflect that. In fact, I've even had the fourth one blown up and hung on my wall.
The faded sign of "Bress Peak" hadn't seen many visitors judging by the state of the track and the condition of the sign.
I found it difficult to get on the trail on the way back, getting misplaced several times though always being aware that I was headed in the right direction.
Still, at the end of the day and during those that followed as I downloaded the photos, I was pleased I had made the effort. Bress Peak had, indeed, been rewarding.

3 more images

The Bress Peak track is listed as 7.4 or 8 kms long for the return trip depending on which publication you read. It's also listed as "...very steep ungraded track, suitable for fit walkers only. Very rewarding."
The first 2.5km, which is actually the Pincham Trail, is deceiving. Even stopping and taking photos I was at the turnoff in around 40 minutes. That’s when it all changes. From the other side of the wooden bridge it’s all uphill – and there’s not a step in sight. Loose rocks, bordering on scree, are what you ascend for most of the next hour, and it’s only just over one kilometre. Not even the best of the best will do this without at least one stop.
There’s actually two named mounts, Bridget Peak at 860 metres is the first and by the time you gasp your way to the solid rocks that form Bridget, looking up can be daunting because it’s simply more of the same.
Somehow it looks just as far again (and certainly felt like it) but it's supposedly only another 240 metres.
Glimpses of Belougery Spire (pic 2) and the craggy ridges (pics 3&4) in the opposite direction help dilute the pain you are going through on the ascent.

Hey, I earnt it. I was second to the top on this particular day. Fast Eddie just beat me there but only because I stopped a few times to take photos.
Not that it was a race or anything, it was just nice being first car in the carpark on a gorgeous spring day and being where hardly anyone else will venture for some time.
Here I've just finished my drink and am soaking up a bit of shade before the descent.
One advantage of the Warrumbungles is that a lot of the views are quite open due to the sparseness of vegetation.

As you ascend and the trail starts to bite into your leg muscles (remember, heart on the way up, knees on the way down) little puffs of dust rise from your footprints as you part walk, part stumble along the well-defined track from the carpark.
Toiling ants traversing the trail, scurrying lizards departing the warming rocks, twittering *** (a type of bird) and restless robins flitting around the gum trees, the sparkling wattle vibrant yellow against the sombre green and grey tones of the eucalypts. Such is the scene found in the sclerophyll forests of Australia and you'll find no better example than here.
As you gain height the scenery becomes more vast. Here the highest point in the park, Mt Exmouth (1208 metres) rises behind the weathered rock of another nearby volcanic plug.