Into the Outback

 Grateful Gaylord

We set up camp in a stunning paddock bordering the Warrumbungles National Park, a 15-million-year-old volcanic range near Coonabarrabran, famed as Australia's Astronomy capital. Our sole companion was a backpacker named Gaylord—a common French name, but he took me straight to the scene from 'Meet the Fockers' 😆. Unfortunately, his rooftop tent had become infested with ants and mosquitoes, so he was pretty stoked for our stash of Mortein and Bushmans.

Strife at the Breadknife

On our first morning, we set out to explore one of the trails encircling the ancient 15 million-year-old volcano. The "Breadknife" trail, touted as NSW's best bushwalking track and marked as a moderate 4-hour trek, seemed like an ideal choice for a cool day. Wrong! A recent rockfall forced us onto a longer, steeper detour. The 15 km journey ended up taking us nearly 6 hours. Halfway up we realised we'd forgotten our water 😖. Too lazy (and stupid) to turn back, we pressed on. The higher we climbed, the hotter it got, but the breathtaking view from the summit made it all worthwhile.

View of the Breadknife, Warrumbungles

Halfway down, dumb realisation #2 hit me – I'd left my brand-new reading glasses at the top of the mountain 🙈. Too dehydrated and exhausted to go back, I pondered on how my Aussie adventure would go now ... sightless! A few days later, hoping for a small miracle, we checked with the Visitor Centre to see if anyone had turned in my glasses.  By good karma, turns out a 

young French backpacker had just dropped them off that morning.  Yay– what goes around, comes around.  Thanks Gaylord, you're a helluva fabulous Focker! 👊

Everything has 2 or 3 purposes.  Sand-free beach towel triples up as picnic rug and tablecloth

Outback bush pubs rock

With vision fully restored 👀, we headed for a tiny little outback town called Carinda, made famous in 1993 when David Bowie filmed the video for "Let’s Dance" there.  Of course, a new Spotify playlist was born and we belted out all our favourite Bowie tunes all the way there.

The tiles, decor and dust are exactly the same as they were 40 years later!

Thirsty for some more unique outback culture, we decided to rock up to the Glengarry Hilton, a bush pub in the middle of opal fields on the promise of free camping, great grub and friendly folk.   Yes, it was a far cry from any Hilton I stayed at in my corporate days, but what it lacked in luxury, it made up in oodles of character.  Whilst we tucked into our tucker, which was indeed, sensational, a local Opal Miner plonked himself down next to us and shared stories of his fascinating finds.   It was truly enlightening.

The facilities at the Glengarry Hilton

Important signage on the back of the loo door ☝