Chandelier of Stars - Warrumbungles N.P.

Over the weekend, Ben and I went camping up in the Warrumbungles National Park which is also the home of the AAT (Anglo-Australian Telescope).

Warrumbungles National Park, New South Wales

Wow - what a beautiful area this is and the night sky is absolutely incredible and unbelievable! In the words of the fabulous Australian balladeer (singer) John Williamson, it was truly a "chandelier of stars"! I have never seen the Milky Way so brilliant and distinct in my entire life not to mention the trillions upon trillions of even more stars that are visable in the Southern Hemisphere. I will have to say that Oz produces some of the most breathtaking sunrises and sunsets you've ever seen and they are not to be out done by the night sky out in the bush. Now I can see why they chose this location for a telescope/observatory.

One of the views from our campsite

We had sunny, bright and beautiful days but once the sun went down the temperatures plummeted as well. The first night after we arrived the temperature dropped down to a cool -2C (28F)! Brrrrr - welcome to winter folks!

I really didn't want to get out of bed that morning, not even to pee! Of course Ben was the hero here and braved the frozen tundra to built us a toasty little campfire so we could thaw out. Once the sun hit our campsite, Jack Frost disappeared in an instant.

Firestarter Ben - note the frost on the table and the newspaper insulation/barrier underneath his butt!

Once we defrosted and changed into tee-shirts and shorts we made our way through the park and up to the telescope at Siding Spring.
Our campsite with the telescope visible high on the mountain

Feral boy posing for the camera!

Not having my campoven instructor Adam on this trip, I was a little reluctant to try and make my first damper solo, but I "gave it a go" anyway. The good news is that the result was actually edible, maybe a little heavy, but any kind of hot bread with butter and honey tastes good. I even tried a little "cockies joy" (aka - "golden syrup" or light molasses) on mine and it was very tasty - yum, yum! I did come to the realization though that it will take alot of practice to master the art of making a true Aussie damper.

Lulu's freshly baked campoven damper - hot off the coals!

Chef Lu with her hot loaf!

Even after 5-years in Oz (can you believe that?) the incredible blue skies I see everywhere I go never do cease to amaze me. Beautiful!