Coolah Tops NP - where it's really cool (COLD)

Shhhh… now block your ears….. what can you hear? Nothing! Zip Zilch Nothing. It is so quiet out here. We are only on the edge of nowhere and it is quiet. We sit around the campfire at night and there is no noise. (partly due to the fact that our children are tucked up in bed and are not asking a bazzillion questions or fighting)

And when it’s not deadly silent there are hundreds of birds in the trees letting us know they are there.



3 Smith's on a log - 'Breeza Lookout' Coolah Tops NP



Grass Tree's



Our Camp - Coolah Tops NP



We are spending our last of three nights in the Coolah Tops NP, it’s about 30km from the town of Coolah. This place is massive, and once again has offered us many options for bush camping. We are staying at a campsite called ‘The Barracks’ years ago this area was logged for timber to be made into railway sleepers. I won’t bore you to tears with the whole history of the place, but one thing we have to say is that there is so much history here.

We are about 1240m above sea level, which provides us with lot’s of ‘look out’ opportunities. Coolah Tops is where the Liverpool Mt Range, The Great Dividing Range and the Warrambungle Ranges all meet together. At the look out’s, the term ‘as far as the eye can see’ really hits home. Because as far as you can see the land just goes on and on.

But what goes hand in hand with camping on top of a mountain range this time of the year? It gets very cold, no actually is it REALLY REALLY cold. The days are lovely at about 15 degrees, let’s just say that the nights are super cold, in the mornings we have woken up to ice on the windscreen and frost on the ground. Always one to look on the bright side of things…. Your ice doesn’t melt in your drink or esky. In fact who needs ice?

If anyone has any tips on keeping a four year old inside his sleeping bag during the night, it would be greatly appreciated.

We’ve been lucky to cook on the campfire in this National Park as well. It may sound like we are focusing on meals quite a bit, but when you are camping and you have time to sit around and plan and cook a meal, it actually becomes an event. And with Geoff being the pyromaniac that he is… he likes to do a lot of the cooking, which suits me down to the ground. The kiddies are even getting into this washing up in a bucket caper. (mind you. we have only been away for one week). By the way, if anyone gets the chance to pop into the butcher up the street in Gerringong, can you let Adam know that all that meat we ordered has been spot on and is keeping really well? Ta.

We haven’t had the pleasure of Possum antics here, however if you were a bird watcher, you would be most excited to say the least!

We are going very well being quite self sufficient in the bush which is an exciting prospect. Cooking on the campfire, and being able to run one fridge on gas and relying on solar power to top up our 12V batteries to run our other fridge and lights.

Bidding farewell to Coolah Tops and heading to Coonabarabran for all the essentials then to meet our dear friend Dill at the Warrambungles for a few nights of fun can’t wait.

Love to everyone

From the Travelling Smiff’s