Sidings Springs...

I only had one full day after Scrub Stitching before heading off again and I penciled in a visit to Siding Springs Observatory.  The weather was perfect, clear and bright, and it was a lovely drive out through the Warrumbungles.  The Observatory is located in the Warrumbungle National Park, a dark sky park.  I checked out the Exploratory Centre first which was very interesting...before heading up the hill to the Anglo-Australian Telescope...

An emu sculpture on the path up to the telescope building...

The telescope itself is located on the fourth (top) floor of the building and is huge...

There are information boards around the walls as well and a video of how they clean and maintain the telescope lens. The Anglo Australian Telescope is now 100% Australian owned.

The views across the Warrumbungles are pretty amazing too...

I wasn't organised enough to deal with timings and booking a tour but maybe another time.

 

On the way out to Sidings Springs I saw the Emu Farm at Tooraweenah was open (I hadn't expected it to be) and I was too late coming back for their tour times as well...but as I passed the gate the emus were out in the paddocks so I felt like I'd seen them - ha ha ha...another one still on the list for another time.

 

Happy Stitching...

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...

Off to Scrub Stitchin' - Tuesday...

Tuesday morning I took a look at Hillston, doesn't take long it's pretty small, and found a silo in progress...

It was interesting to watch the artist for a few minutes and Hillston is on the list to view the finished silo next time through that way...

 

There is a small reserve/park from which to access a gated swing bridge over the Lachlan River.  Painted emus - Emu Antics - in the reserve.  The gate can be seen behind.

So much detail on each emu!...

 

I started over the bridge - it felt solid, I don't do heights or swing-y things...a little way across and oh not so solid but I managed to get over and back - slowly! (it isn't very long which helped!).  It leads to a circular walking track around the island/along the river but I didn't have time to do that...

There were also 100's of corellas - quite literally hundreds!...repeatedly every few minutes they all took off, very very noisily, swirled around and re-settled back into the tree tops...they were very very noisy!...

The morning was marching on so I set off to keep heading north...I'd made up a couple of rolls for lunch in the car fridge and I reached Condobolin around lunchtime, so I stopped at the Utes in the Paddock park for a bit of a leg stretch and lunch...a few of the creative ideas in the paddock for old classic Aussie utes...

This fellow was sitting on a log by the path from the car park to the Visitor Information/Cafe building...I didn't go in or walk down to the Jockey's Memorial...maybe next time...the sculptor had put so much detail into the carving...

There were only practical stops planned for the day...the utes were a diversion from the plan...a Coles stop in Narromine, fuel in Gilgandra and I arrived "home" late afternoon to Cabin 3 in Tooraweenah Caravan Park to rest up for the night...because tomorrow...Scrub Stitching!!!! Yay!!!!!!!

 

Happy Stitching...