We are half way through our stop in the Bungles. It is time for a day of rest, Allthego is feeling a tad stiff after the Breadknife walk. So it is into the car for a drive around the sights. Weather remains ok, cloudy and sunny no rain.

First port of call was the Siding Springs Observatory. The facility seemed deserted, we only saw one other couple having a look around. Big telescope here that looks out into space and all the stars. Good views too over the Bungles.

The visitors centre is rarely open but there is a small exhibition area on the 4th level of the dome where you can look in at the big telescope. There are other displays of distant star stuff that only Captain Kirk and his mob will have actually seen before the Star Wars people destroyed it all. A TV screen plays a short video of scenes of the night sky. Quite impressive.

Back in the Park we had a look at a couple of the other camping grounds below the impressive Split Rock, an old volcanic vent through which very sticky lava flowed and piled up to form a small mountain.

Some fellow campers joined us by the fire that evening after dinner to tell stories of vanning adventures. These tall tales and true were helped along by a couple of glasses of red, there was no doubt embellishment of achievements by some. It went on past 10 pm and Allthego used more wood and red than he would have liked. But it was an enjoyable chat, vanners always like a chat!

The new day brought more nice weather and Allthego had loosened up enough to tackle the Fans Horizon walk (named after an earlier pioneer who liked the lookout at the top).

Now this is a relatively short walk, only 3.6 km return, but it is all uphill. The sign says ‘over a thousands steps’, now Allthego hoped this meant 500 steps up and the same 500 back down. But no, it soon became apparent that it was 1000 up and then 1000 down. A thousand steps in 1.8 km is a fair gradient and the heart certainly got beating on the way up.

As with the High Tops walk the effort was rewarded with a great view of a different Bungles vista. The wildflowers were also out in all their splendour.

Back at camp Homealone was contending with a mini cyclone riping through the campground. It knocked our van awning down, no damage thankfully. Nearby campers had their standalone shade tent blown over and top taken out, their general site set up was a little worse for the wind as well. They had gone out for the day and returned after dark to have to deal with the mess. Seemed to cope ok.

There was to be no fire on our last evening, preserving some wood and red for another time. We took precautions to pack up outside as heavy rain was predicted for the morning and we wanted to make a dry get away. We had light on and off showers through the night, around 6am it started to bucket down for about an hour.
Allthego watched these two guys put on their morning Punch and Judy show after we had waited out the rain. A video,hope it works.

Next stop is Coonabarabran for a couple of nights.