Up, up, up and over...

…The Great Dividing Range. We made it! And not without a few scary moments. After the flat lands of the central NSW outback, we started to see the more scenic hilly regions of the state.

 

From Broken Hill, we followed the Barrier Highway through Cobar (home of the Big Beer Can), and made camp at a freebie site along the way. Just after 11.30pm, a road train decided to also stop at the same rest area. A few minutes later, the bleats of the lambs and calls of the ewes became rather loud! The next few days we travelled along the Oxley Highway through Coonabarabran past the Siding Springs Observatory and into the foothills, Gunnedah (home of the Koala), Tamworth (home of country music and the Big Golden Guitar), Moonbi (and the big Chicken – no idea why!) and onto the New England Highway to Armidale where the fun really began.

We’ve also come to the conclusion that the Aussie’s idea of where a big rig can get in and out of and our idea are two different things. This photo was taken at Little Styx River Campground, a site at the entrance to the New England Forest, 50km east of Armidale. This was reached via a 10km dirt road that made our previous roller coaster ride on the sealed road (New England Highway) seem like a walk in the park. After a couple of kilometres and a few hairy moments, Mark put the ute into 4WD mode and pulled the rig up what seemed like a vertical incline. The scenery was lovely and as the sun was setting, the mist came down the mountains and gave a very eerie feel to the entire area. It also got really, really cold! I’ve called this photo ‘Tigger rig in the mist’. We didn’t barbeque that night otherwise I could have called it ‘Grillers in the mist’ J

 

 

 

 

 

The journey the following day to Grafton took us up and over the Range. This was even scarier than the day before, with lots of winding roads and hairpin bends (mostly 35kph limits) and one 15kph bend that can only be described as a left hand turn as it was too tight to be called a bend! Add to that the logging trucks and it was definitely an experience but one I wouldn’t want to repeat in a hurry.

From Grafton the sugar cane fields started and we had our first sight of the Pacific Ocean – nice.