Our night's sleep was slightly disturbed by light rain (batten down the hatches) but otherwise quiet and peaceful. It was a nice place to stay. After the morning routine, we drove around to the newer campsite - just to see what it was like. It was quite nice, though smaller, had a clearer view of the river but would have been harder to find level ground for a motorhome - may be meant for tenters.
Driving on through farming country, we stopped at Warialda Information centre. There were a few things we might have done there, but they all involved walking in the rain - so we've saved them for another day. Further south Bingara had a lookout, so we headed up, up, up to it on a very steep road. The view was extensive across the town and valley and we walked to another lookout section along a bush track 250m each way before having lunch. This gave the transmission fluid time to cool down - the warning light that it was too hot came on on the way up the hill ...well, I told you it was a steep climb up! It was a very steep descent too, but it was a sealed roadway, which helped.
Barraba was the next town on The Fossickers Way. We visited their Information Centre too and the supermarket for a few basic supplies. There was some rain and very dark clouds moving through the area. We had one flash of lightening and one clap of thunder and saw & heard no more. On the way south we went into two parts of Split Rock Dam but didn't really like them enough to want to stay, so we drove on to Manilla. It also had a lookout which we drove up too for nice views - the road up to it was less extreme than the previous one!
We then headed in the direction of Gunnedah, stopping at Lake Keepit State Park for the night. It is quite busy here, being a Friday. However, it is a very extensive area. After tea, we walked the length of the main part & back and that took nearly 4,000 steps - close to 3kms round trip. It's a nice fairly flat walk, and all the fcilities are stretched along the shores of Lake Keepit.
It is nearly time for the 10pm curfew on noise, so we'd better get this sent and get to bed.
Steps for today were 10,150.
