Cos, David, Chris, Robert and Robert’s friend Isacc, Ben, Mariana and Indiana, Don, Tracey and granddaughter Chelsea, and Scott met at Jamworks at Glen Aplin just after lunch. From there we turned off at Ballandean towards Sundown National Park. The unsealed roads outside the park were quite smooth and we made good time.
Before heading to the Burrows Waterhole Camping area, we called in at the Red Rock Gorge lookout.
The drive in was certainly picturesque in the fading afternoon light, tree covered mountains and also some areas of grassland on the top of some hills. We suspect that these grassland areas may have had something with the old mine workings we checked out on the way…it is a good theory anyway.
When we got to the campgrounds it was still surprisingly hot and humid, but within a few hours of the sun going down we were sitting around the campfire and reaching for coats. David had picked a moonless night, and the clear night sky was absolutely magnificent!! You forget how many stars are actually visible when the light pollution is removed. I’m sure David will post up some photos. The center of the Milky Way was overhead in the early part of the night. It was much quieter and tranquil when the two excited little girls fell asleep!
Ben and Mariana did a short night drive back along the track to find reception to check the lights at home…. (the wonders of modern technology hey…) and came back excited at the amount of wildlife they passed in the dark : kangaroos, deer and hares.
It was still pretty cool the next morning.
The kids were disappointed that we decided that the river looked a bit too stagnant for swimming, but they still had fun around the campfire and doing what kids do when there are rocks, sticks and water handy.
The was also some wildlife around the campground.
We did a few short sidetracks on the way out. We were pretty selective – it was too hot for winching or road building.
(Cos is missing from the group photo as he had gone on ahead by this stage to get his vehicle ready for work Monday.)
A great trip - thanks to Dave for organizing and leading the trip.
