NSW - Exploring Old Volcanoes - from Ray and Penny Pares
From: Ray and Penny Pares - Travelling through NSW checking out the old volcanic remnants ("Ray and Penny Pares" )

50 million years ago, the Indo-Australian Plate that carries the Australian continent started to move north over a fixed 'hot spot' (zone of melting and volcanic activity) in the upper mantle of the earth. It was then that Australia split from Antarctica. The estimated rate of plate movement closely matches the ages of the central volcanoes ranging from Hillsborough in Queensland (35 million years old) to Mt Macedon in Victoria (6 million years old).

The result of the activity was that some magma broke through the old (about 200 million years old) sedimentary rocks and some remained below the surface in fissures of the old rocks. The latter were subsequently exposed by erosion of the sedimentary rocks and the appearance of the subsequent rock formations varies greatly depending on the original magma behaviour.

The idea of this trip was to explore the volcanic rocks in some parts of the line of volcanic activity and the sites chosen were Warrumbungles near Coonabarabran, Nandewar Range near Narrabri, Gibralter Range near Glen Innes, Giraween National Park and Bald Rock NP near Tenterfield.

Having always travelled and camped with tents, and only towed an unbraked 1.8 m x 1.2 m trailer, this was to be a new venture. We had a new camper-trailer of dubious quality. We had already had a lot of trouble with it and had a lot of warranty work done. Because of that we christened the unit 'Penny's Folly' and the only real worries were associated with it: the braking system that seemed to change in characteristics on a whim and cause slight panic in the driver (it always seemed to be me driving when it happened) and always happened in the towns where I had to keep slowing down to go around roundabouts, etc; whether we had chosen roads the car/van could handle; how long it would take to travel the distances and what else could go wrong.The first day alone gave us answers to most questions and induced a lot of adrenalin and concern and showed that we hadnšt chosen the roads well and the brakes did still change at whim to give me a persecution complex. Penny also found out how taxing towing a camper-trailer can be when you come into very close proximity to a semi-trailer on a very narrow road.

I was driving from Gloucester to Nowendoc, the road had been done up, had a good surface and was wide but all of a sudden we came to a hill that was very steep but not overly winding. It kept going and going and going for what I thought was about 10 km (I was to find out later it was 5 km, just felt longer) and didnšt flatten out even slightly at any point and had no areas to pull off. The Subaru Outback kept getting slower and slower and I was seriously considering what I would do when it ceased to go forward. I had it locked into 2nd gear and went down to 1st a lot. I felt like I was flogging a dead horse but we made it to the top and I heaved a huge sigh of relief. It showed me the car has great pulling power packed into a small engine. The thing is that wherever you go from the coast you have to go over the Great Dividing Range.

The second incident, more frightening than anything else in the day, was after Penny took over, 25 km past Nowendoc at the Tamworth turnoff. This time the road was downhill, narrow, winding with lots of sharp corners that were blind and only really had room for no more than a couple of cars. Of course something had to happen. I was contemplating a map and heard Penny yell out 'shit', Iooked up and there, about 30-60 cm in front was the engine of a semi towering above us and we almost ran into the wall side (fortunately for us we were on that side) and the semi was centimetres from the fall. While we were quietly panicking he started to back down the road and was perilously close to the edge, how he judged it we don't know. He then started to swing out towards us and we were even worse, then away again and we both SCRAPED past. He had obviously had this happen before, mind you I don't think that such vehicles should be allowed on such a road. Quite an experience for Penny on her first attempt to tow the Folly, and quite an off-putting occasion for me. It took me a while to get my knuckles to change from white.

We then had an uneventful trip to Tamworth. It was here that the brakes went berserk going through the many roundabouts. I found this very unsettling and I kept wondering how people could like driving around in vans if brakes like that are normal. I have since found our that it isnšt normal.

Then on to Keepit Dam. This is associated with a very nice camping ground in a State Park managed by a Trust of local people, as a community facility. All funds from fees are used for Park maintenance and improvements ­ none goes to the Government. It has a kiosk that sells fuel and is open every day of the year. There was a continuous stream of planes towing gliders up from dawn to after dusk and these came from the Soaring Club at the near-by airfield where they have a Glider Flying School.

The next day we arrived at the Warrumbungles. There were a lot of people there and space not easy to find but we ended up finding a pretty good spot with power. This was the start of our volcanic exploration.

On our first full day we decided to attack Belougerie Split Rock, a 4.6 km walk but ranked as 3 hours which seemed a long time but it rapidly became clear to us why they say 3 hours. Within about 100 m the track starts to go up in a gentle hill and then the slope increases more and more. It goes up to an eventual height of 770 m and at the end the path is very steep and you have to scramble over rocks and stones all the way. It gets steeper as you get higher and towards the end the path is up sloping steep rock faces and the footholds are little more than chips taken off the face. No smooth walking here, and at the end you go up 150 m using ladder and chains.

The rock type is trachyte and the dome is believed to have formed by repeated extrusions of highly viscous magma. Being so thick it didnšt flow far but merely piled up around the vent, a bit like Mt St Helens. In some places you can see the outer envelope of breccia (rock consisting mostly of broken angular fragments often produced by explosive volcanic activity). The split in the rock is a result of weathering along lines of weakness in the trachyte.

After clambering down again we walked along a nice, easy fire trail and into Burbie Creek Canyon, down the dry creek bed and found a log to sit on to have lunch before the walk back to the car. Quite a long day but very interesting.

And we thought Split Rock was a good days walk! Well, it was nothing compared to Grand High Tops via the Breadknife. It is 12 km and rated as 4-5 hours. After about 5 km you come to a rock formation known as the Breadknife, a trachyte dyke with some good examples of breccia on the lower parts. The walk up along the base of the breadknife was steeper than the previous parts, covered with large rocks and the dirt between is deeply eroded by water that washed down after recent heavy rains, very tough and slow going. On the left you get a good view of Belougerie Spire, a 1,057 m green trachyte volcanic neck. Passing the breadknife it gets even steeper and tougher to get to the Grand High Tops for a great view of the area and the top of the breadknife. Then there is the struggle back down which in some ways is more difficult than going up. By the end we knew we had been walking, but it made for a good sleep.

It is a pity that New South Wales-NPWS donšt maintain the paths properly for the money they charge ($15 per night and $6 per day visitoršs pass). For this you get poor roads in, poorly set up camping sites, eroded paths and boulders on the path. In Queensland the parks are much better maintained and their information sheets are very well presented. For that they charge $10 per night and donšt have daily use charges even if you arenšt camping.

Off the hobby horse and on with the trip. We had a day off from walking and drove to Gulargambone (had morning tea in the park), Coonamble (nice little place but going down as are lots of the small towns), Baradine and back to the Warrumbungle National Park. A few rough dirt roads along the way just to keep the Subaru alert while allowing it to stretch its legs (wheels?) without the load of a camper-trailer.

We then decided that it was time to move on. Only a short drive of 120 km along the Newell Highway and we were at Narrabri. We came in over 2 nice, modern bridges across the Namoi River and then Narrabri Creek, turned right off the Highway and down near the end of the street was a council caravan park. The brakes were playing up like hell and we decided to take it to an auto-electrician before we left and he didnšt know what was wrong but gave me a few hints on adjusting the system. They went off again in no time. We then heard that on the night we left the Warrumbungles they were hit by a wild storm that ripped some tents to shreds, we were lucky with our timing.

Narrabri Shire covers 13,000 square km in the heart of the Namoi Valley. The administrative centre is Narrabri and the 2 other major centres are Wee Waa and Boggabri. It is a rich agricultural region producing high quality wheat, cotton, fat lambs and beef and there are 3 major agricultural research centres are located in the Shire: I.A. Watson Wheat Research Station, Australian Research and Development Corporation and the New South Wales Agriculture Cotton Research Centre.

It is apt that the town's name is said to mean 'forked waters'. As you drive through Narrabri along the highway you will notice this splintering of the waterways. First you pass over the Namoi River, then Narrabri Creek and, finally, the creek's sub-branch, Horse Arm Creek.

The name presumably derives from the language of the Kamilaroi tribe who were the original occupants. In 1818 John Oxley became the first European to set foot in the district. Allan Cunningham explored the Boggabri Plains in 1825 and escaped convict George Clarke roamed what is now Narrabri Shire from 1826-1831. His tales of a vast inland river prompted the expedition of Thomas Mitchell into the district, thereby opening it up to settlement.

The first squatting run was the 'Nurrabry', taken up in 1834. A townsite was first recommended in 1848 at what had become a road junction to the south and west. A hotel was licensed in 1858 and the town was proclaimed in 1860. A post office and police station were established but a catastrophic flood devastated the township in 1864.

Court services were transferred to Narrabri from Wee Waa and a courthouse was built in 1864-65. A coach service commenced in 1865 and the first public school opened in 1868.

Bridges over Narrabri Creek were built in 1877 and the Namoi in 1879. The railway arrived at Narrabri West in 1882 and a settlement began to develop around it. Narrabri was declared a municipality in 1883.

Cotton was introduced in 1962. Intensive research and improved irrigation have created the largest cotton yields in Australia, bringing renewed prosperity to the town.

We arrived at Narrabri in a weekend and as we drove over the Narrabri Creek bridge we noticed a market open. Once we had set up camp we walked back to the bridge and down to the market in a park under the bridge where they had all sorts of things for sale. Many traders were packing up as the day was ending, but it was interesting to wander around. One fellow had the largest collection of 2nd hand tools (and things) I have ever seen and he must have a teriible time trying to pack up so much stuff. We then walked up to the Tourist Information Centre and arrived there at 2:00 but business must have been slow and it closed for the day.

The next morning was a Sunday and Penny had the strong, but greatly misguided, belief that it was Motheršs Day and put the phone on so the kids could ring and conned me into getting breakfast. We went to the Tourist Information Centre and got lots of information, including instructions for the Cotton Tour, and it was here we then found out it was a week early for Motheršs Day. There were a lot of people in town for the big ŒCotton Expoš in the hall of the local Catholic church. We wandered along so we could find out all about the cotton industry. Paid our way, received a returnable guide sheet, walked in and Š it was just a craft exhibition with everything made out of cotton. We wandered around to get our moneys worth, there were some great works but not what we went for.

Tours of the cotton picking and gin operation in the harvest season (April to June) are very good, full of information and are organised by the Namoi Cotton Co-op, at 10:30 and 2.30 every each of about 2 hr.; Mt Kaputar is one of the main attractions; CSIRO Australia Telescope is 25 Km west and is really near Wee Waa and can be fitted in with a trip to the cotton tour. It is an array of 5 radio telescopes, the whole lot forming the Paul Wild Observatory. The display centre is open 8-4 weekdays.

Our first move in this area was to have a day of education that centred around the cotton industry. Our instructions said we go to the coffee shop in Wee Waa and so we did. There was only one and we went in and asked a waitress what happened then. She said we just wait inside or outside or walk around until 10 ošclock and we decided it better to sit down and have a cup of coffee. Then still nothing and we went out into the sun and stood around. We noticed a few others arrive and park their cars and wander around and we played Œpick the ones for the tourš. After a while a large, pleasant lady introduced herself as Lee-Anne Ferguson and said she was the guide. We all jumped into our vehicles and followed her to the ginning complex where she explained and showed us everything and it was most interesting.

We found out that cotton is the 4th largest export in Australia, but only 3% of the world supply but of a very high quality. We only have one spinner so almost all of the crop is exported and then bought back as material or made up into clothes ­ seems a poor economic exercise.

While a cotton gin is a thing we have all heard of, I really had no idea what the hell it did, exactly. After listenimg and looking for an hour or so we found out the raw product, which is 60% seed, comes in as 18 tonne bails which is then sent whizzing through the machinery accompanied by extremely loud noises and a huge amount of dust. We were appropriately equipped with ear-muffs, dust filters and hard hat. While all this happens the raw cotton goes from 10% to 5% water; separates into lint, seed and trash and gains moisture to reach 8%. The trash, called Œmoteš, is re-processed to produce 'moss cotton' and a different trash which is put into the ground. The cotton is packed into 123 kg bags and sent to the warehouse for classing. All cotton classing in the world is done to the same standards and these, of course, are set by the USA and they put out new standards each year. This means they can always have top standard cotton produced there. If we were setting the standards on our cotton then they probably couldnšt.The Americans set the standards for every aspect of the building: temperature, room colours, ceiling height, lighting, equipment Š . Classing is done 24 hr a day, in 2 x 12 hour shifts with a 30' lunch and 2 x 10' breaks. Some have 60' and 2 x 15' ­ arenšt they lucky?

One of the highlights of this part of the world is Mt Kaputar National Park. It has been described as an 'ecological island' of 38,816 Ha. It is 53 km east of Narrabri in Nandewar Range. The peak (1,524m) is accessible by car, with views of 360 deg taking in 10% of New South Wales from Doug Sky Lookout. It is reputed to be the highest peak between the western edge of the Great Dividing Range and Africa. The Nandewar Range is the remnant of a much-eroded volcano active about 17-21 million years ago.

There are 12 marked walking trails in the park: Dawsons Spring Nature Track (1.5 km); Mt Kaputar (2); Lindsay Rock Tops (2); Sawn Rocks (1.6); Barraba Track(1.7); Bundabulla Circuit (3); The Govenor (2); Bridle Track (1.5); Kaputar Plateau (6); Mt Coryah (4); Yulludunida (4); Scutt's Hut & Kurrawonga Falls (19).

Our first move was to see Sawn rocks in the northern part of the park. It is a 40 m cliff-face formed of polygonal columns of basalt. . We set off towards Moree and then took the Bingara road which was good dirt with the only impediments being groups of cattle that were reluctant to let us through.The site is signposted off the Bingara road about 40 km NE of Narrabri and a 900 m walking trail goes through the bush from the car-park. When we arrived there was a nice carpark and toilet block, a sign pointed to the rocks along a track made of blue stone and asphalt and we sounded like an army crunching along. All of a sudden you get a glimpse of this unreal cliff face in the distance, through the trees. It is a truly spectacular sight from the viewing platform and the creekbed. Then you get to a platform and you are quite close and it is unbelievable, never seen anything like it. The rocks are formed after slow cooling of magma below the surface which induced good crystal formation. The rocks rise up in a cliff face after the sedimentary rocks were eroded above Bobbiwaa Click ­ click ­ clickŠ I then could see a bit of a dirt track out the back of the platform and leading down to Bobbiwaa creek and off I went with the camera blazing ­ Penny described it Œlike a kid at Xmasš. I had a great time as large bits of the columns had fallen off over the years and you could touch them, walk on them, take all sorts of photos of them. These very large bits were all along the creek bed. Enough photos to bore anyone (except me) to sleep, guaranteed. We had a late lunch on the way back beside the banks of Bullawa Creek near a very old, narrow, picturesque bridge.

Our attempt to visit the peak of Mt Kaputar and see 10 % of New South Wales was a failure. The road up was narrow, steep and winding. We kept on going and came to a bit that had been washed away and was very dicey. A little bit later we looked at the peak and could see nothing but a thick mist ­ no view from the top. We pottered along for a while and came to a wide area to park and turned around and called it quits. We know someone that has been there twice and seen nothing. I donšt know whether we will ever bother again. Itšs a good thing to look at the peak before you start the drive up ­ if you can't see it donšt leave.

Our next port of call was Glen Innes and we headed there through Moree, Warialda and Gravesend. We had heard, at Narrabri, that 1,000 semis go through Moree every day. We found it hard to believe until we had been on the Newell Highway for about 5 minutes. There are large trucks, semi-trailers, B-doubles and others that I donšt know the name of and there are lots of them and they move like the wind. It is all a bit of a worry when you are in control of a small vehicle towing a 1,000 kg trailer at 90 kph. The thing is, by the time we got to Moree we were surprised it is only 1,000 per day.

We thought Glen Innes was a nice, progressive town, pleasant to wander around and with lots of historic buildings. There is a strong Scottish influence and they have an unusual tourist attraction known as the Standing Stones, the significance of which I didnšt quite grasp. It is a man made design of 38 giant granite monolith stones set upright. 24 of them (representing the 24 hours of a day) in a large circle. There are 3 central stones, 4 cardinal stones (north, south, east and west) and 7 stones in solar alignment. This set of stones is unique in the world in that it is aligned to accurately mark the solstices. If you look down from above, which you canšt if you are there without a helicopter, and imagine lines going through certain stones you can see the Celtic (Ionic) Cross or the Southern Cross depending which lines you imagine. A nice park is on the edge of town and known as Beardy Waters Woodlands and we had a pleasant lunch there one day.

The major natural sights in the area are Gibralter Range and Washpool National Parks. We went to Gibralter Range and drove into an area known as Mulliganšs Hut. The original hut was built by Bill Mulligan, a grazier and miner who came up with a plan extract minerals, from old mining deposits in the Tablelands, by making use of hydroelectricity from damming the creeks. The project was never approved by the authorities.

Surrounding the hut there are camping, picnicking and toilet facilities as well as a number of walking tracks. We headed off for an attraction known as The Needles, a collection of 6 huge, granite tors sculptured over millions of years by removal of the old (250 million years old) sedimentary rock and then revealing the previously underground granite formations from volcanic eruptions. We thought the walk was great, along small bush tracks and eventually through a rainforest with great patches of bracket fungi on fallen stumps and branches. They had wonderful designs on them and were the subject of lots of photos taken by us (including on the digital video).

The track then went up fairly steeply at the end to the Needles Lookdown, the only place you can see them. This was the big disappointment of the trip. Even though the walk was nice it is certainly not worth the effort if you only went just to see the Needles. Of the 6 supposed structures we could only see the tops of 2. I guess the trees have grown to hide them or the 6 could have only be seen if you flew over or had abseiling gear.

On the way back into Glen Innes we spotted a sign to Raspberry Lookout and decided to have a look out of curiosity. The view was magnificent down a deep valley and lots of large rolling hills. Well worth the visit, it pays to occasionally follow a sign from the road, on a whim.

From Glen Innes it was only a short (90 km) drive on the New England Highway to Tenterfield which is not a bad town, we quite enjoyed our walk around the place and the Dutchman in the Tourist Information Centre was very friendly and most helpful. We set up camp in a rundown park but it was quiet, the Folly went up like a dream including the awnings, the brakes had worked 100% and we were on a roll as far as the van was concerned.

There were 3 main natural attractions (Boonoo Boonoo Falls , Giraween NP and Bald Rock) and one building, the Tenterfield Saddlery. In our wanderings around the town we found one of the best butchers we have been to, great meat.

We went to the butchers and the Saddlery after we set up camp. The latter was very interesting with the leather-working gear and lots of articles of all sorts, you could probably walk around for hours, there are not only things to buy but lots of artefacts from the past. You could almost see Peter Allen's grandfather working away in there, more clearly than the crosses in the Standing Stones of Glen Innes.

Into the great outdoors and first stop was BB Falls which were only about 11 km along a good track from the carpark. The walk was good, the valley views were great and the Falls were just ordinary. On our way out we took another sign post on the road and ended up at Thunderboltšs Hideout, the bushranger was hidden amongst a large collection of volcanic rocks and it was worth the spur of the moment effort to visit. He wasnšt a very smart bushranger with a notice on the road and a cleared path to the rocks!

Back onto the Lindesay Highway and a very short drive to the turn off, onto the other side of the Highway, and you are at the carpark for the walk to Bald Rock. It is a huge dome 750 m long x 500 m wide x 200 m high above the surrounding ground, 1,341 m above sea level. This gives the right stats to be claimed as the largest exposed granite type rock in Australia. If you wish to be technical it isn't a true granite it's a Stanthorpe Adamellite of Lower Triassic age, that age being approximately 250 million years.

After a very short walk you are presented with a choice of tracks. One is 1.2 km up the rock face and the other 2.5 km through the bush, the 2 meeting before the last climb to the top. As one of our main activities is wildlife photography we chose the one through the wild rather than look at a bald rock face, leaving the other to those who are there just to get to the top.

The walk was fascinating, through different forest types and the whole area is scattered with large granite formations. In some places the track goes around, through or over these formations. Some of the rocks have native orchids holding on in cracks that have filled with debris through the long period since the volcanoes. Snap, snap, snap went the shutter. I must have spent as much time taking photos as I did walking. At one point you are confronted with the sight of a huge, bare slab of rock ­ this is what you have come for.

The 2 tracks meet up and then the white paint dots go up flat, sloping rock faces and across the sloping face. In some places it is quite a steep slope, not really for the faint hearted. Well worth the effort as you are rewarded with spectacular views.

After a break and a bit of lunch it was down to the bottom, well pleased with the days activities. One of the better walks I have done and would be lovely in the spring as there are lots of native wildflowers.

This now left the last part of the whole trip. Giraween NP was very well looked after and we chose a nice walk past Castle Rock to The Sphinx and The Turtle. Again a very pleasant walk through Eucalyptus forests filled with all sorts of volcanic rock formations, all of which needed to be looked at and photographed. Great fun and a fitting couple of days to end the volcanic voyage.

A few days on the coast (walking on beaches, collecting shells and stones and photographing all manner of things near water) refreshed us for a short run of 2 hours back to home and spacious living conditions again.

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