Sculptures in the Scrub...

I took the long route back from Baradine to Tooraweenah on the Sunday afternoon, after we had packed up Scrub Stitching and said goodbye to Camp Cypress for this year.  The plan being to start ticking off destinations from last year that I didn't manage to get to with the whole covid fiasco...first calling in to the Pilliga Forest Discovery Centre in town to check conditions with the Ranger and Sculptures in the Park was accessible so I headed out to Dandry Gorge in the Timmallallie National Park.

An unscheduled stop on the roadside heading out of Baradine to check out some emus...

The destination...

The track to the sculptures rises above the gorge...I was the only one on the track so it was lovely to be able to soak in the bush atmosphere and quietly look around...and then...the first sculpture emerges...

 

Yurrul Dwuhi (Scrub Spirits)...metal...

Dhayaanduul Waanda (First Lesson)...metal...

Yuundu Yuundu (yuundu means axe)...stone...

Yulaa (Connections)...stone...

This was my favourite space, as I walked into it, before I even saw the sculpture, there was something about the space that I can't describe, it just felt "right"...all the spaces had seating so time could be spent and I felt like I could stay in this space for a very long time...even when I was walking back the other way through the spaces I went more slowly through this one...

Lastly there is Winanyaya Gunidjarr (Respect Mother)...mosaics...

I felt like I had to apologise to the artist because this space was my least favourite...it did not have the wow factor for me that the other spaces did...maybe I was just starting to feel rushed as the afternoon was fading and I needed to get moving back to the car, daylight saving had finished the weekend before and being that much further north it gets dark that little bit earlier than it does at home...the track down through the gorge was closed and the option was walking down and along the creek (should be passable in dry weather)...given the time of day I wasn't about to take the risk of having to turn around further along so I went back the way I'd come instead...which meant experiencing approaching the sculptures in reverse from the other direction and seeing them again.

An amazing project and well worth the trip out...I'll be keeping it on the list to do again - with more time!

 

Happy Stitching...