Namoi River - Warrabah National Park NSW

The 4000ha Warrabah National Park is near Tamworth NSW & lies on the Nandewar Range, a belt of granite that extends to the Queensland border. The Namoi River cuts back into the west side of the Great Dividing Range from the tablelands onto the western slopes, bisecting the park & dropping 245 metres which has carved a gorge fifteen kilometres long. The weathering & erosion of the coarse granites with incursions of basalt has resulted in spectacular rock formations.

The Namoi River is lined with river oaks, river red gum, tea tree & bottlebrush while on the higher hills grow black & white cyprus, Caley's ironbark & hill red gum.

Over one hundred species of birds have been recorded. Grey kangaroos, swamp wallabies, wallaroos, brushtail possums, ringtail possums & marsupial mice are common in the park. Over 120 bird species have been seen, including the rainbow lorikeets & the wedge-tailed eagles. The parks rocky terrain is an ideal habitat for reptiles, including the copper-tailed skink, southern spotted velvet gecko & the red-bellied black snake.

In 1917 an old Beaumont-Adams .50 calibre double-action five shot percussion revolver was found in poor condition inside a hollow log with nail hole markings "THUNDERBOLT 1865" clearly readable.

With a cold morning start & the thermometer showing zero, we found the handpump would not pull water from the camper trailer water tank as the pipe had frozen. Luckily we could open the top of the Safari Can to fill the kettle for a morning cup of tea boiled on the campfire. It was suggested we could warm our hands in the Engel fridge which was set to 3 degrees.