walcha

walcha is a small town i visited on the way down to port macquarie. the town is littered with sculptures thanks to an initiative by one of the artisans many years ago residents.


i thought i would do some art of my own while i was here too


i was also quite proud of the burgers i was able to make out of mince meat ^__^

butterleaf national park

you'd think i'd have learnt my lesson after my first hike. but no. i decided to go to butterleaf national park this time to cycle for an hour...

try five.

my phone with the map died and i spent hours trying to find my way back to the track. my water ran out quickly and to my chagrin all the fun downhill cycling in the first half meant pushing my bike uphill on the way back.. who would have thought. the only thing that kept me going was the memory of a strawberry farm on the way in to glenn innes that said they sold the best strawberry smoothies



finally i made it back to the shop



and they did indeed have the very best strawberry smoothies

washpool national park

Fwhat not to do when hiking:

1) don't pack your bag with canned soups, they weigh a tonne


2) dont start your hike at night, you may get lost (i did)


3)check if it is due to rain before you start or you may find yourself wedged beneath a rock


4) dont leave your dinner bowl outside your tent


5) dont listen to short stories about killer trees, there are lots of creepy trees


6) watch out for spider webs


other than making some rookie errors i had a good time at washpool national park which offers a diverse range of environments along its 50km world heritage track




i cooked some decent food


saw a giant tree


other pics

glen innes

glen innes is a large small town in north west NSW.

i liked it there, it is surrounded by national parks and spent several days using the town as a touch point to launch into adventures nearby. i camped in a spot just south called stonehenge recreation reserve (pictured above) which was full of sheep! (pictured below)


i also spent a lot of time dozing/bathing at the local pool (where i saw this butterfly)

i met a bipolar felt artist who was patiently waiting for a manic episode to hit her so she would be ready for an upcoming exhibition..


i met an alpacca farmer who described, in detail, an alternate history/alpacca fan fic where Charles Ledger (champion of alpacca import to australia) had successfully convinced the government 100 years ago to continue investment in the smarter and softer animals rather than siding with the sheep

i made slut spagetti


i painted this at sunset

i was woken up every morning by this guy

jason's mistake

after leaving llangdon i promptly took a wrong turn in the wrong direction, up a road called 'Wards Mistake'.

being out of reception i resolved to see the mistake thru to the end and suffered a long drive through lush rolling pastures, cows and trees all the way to glen innes.

pics from the journey

road

plane

cows

little llangothlin lagoon

a really nice find... a huge world heritage listed pond, filled with birds and kangaroos and 1000s of tiny grasshoppers that scatter like popcorn on approach. day use only but completely deserted so i decided to spend the night. i cycled around the pond (5km dirt track) pursued the entire way by a cloud of flies... here are some pics


abandoned shack


pond

cow

fly selfie

drop toilet


dinner