Australia So Much to See

Having enjoyed the Pilliga bore bath, we headed for The Pilliga Forest. The road south from Pilliga to Baradine was mostly a smooth white unsealed road which much of it being through native Cypress Pine forests. We passed former timber milling towns of Gwabegar and Kenebri. A few old dwellings remain. These were two of many former timber milling towns, with both hardwood and softwood mills. Only a few mills remain.

The Pilliga Forest, an area incorporating Pilliga National Park, Timmallallie National Park, Dandry Gorge Aboriginal Area, Pilliga Nature Reserve and Pilliga East Conservation Area, is a vast, ancient and unique forest covering 500,000 hectares. The Pilliga Forest is the largest native forest west of the Great Dividing Range. The Pilliga Forest, is a refuge for wildlife including over 240 species of birds and a large population of koalas. Over 300 native animal species and over 900 plant species are found in these forests of the Pilliga.

There are a number of bird-watching drives; obtain a map from the Pilliga Discovery Centre in Baradine. Some of these drives incorporate visits to small dams. There are over 50 dams scattered through the Forest, but many may be dry depending on seasonal conditions.

This story was told to me by a mate and he was still shakin' after 20 years

Well that's what he told me anyway.

I was drivin' through the Pilliga gettin' tired of the road

Pulled over for a breather stretch my legs and check the load

It was gettin' close to sundown been away near on a week

When I pulled into this campsite on the banks of Toolie creek

Well I walked around the trailer the bush was pretty still

Checkin' ropes and kickin' tyres the night air had a chill

I was climbin' in the cabin when I thought I heard a moan

And I got this sudden feeling that I wasn't on my own

Oh there's somethin' in the Pilliga I've heard old timers say

There's some won't even camp there some never go that way

And if you listen to their stories they'll make yer skin just crawl

Some may offer their opinion and some never talk at all

Well I put it down to maybe the wind blowin' in the trees

Completely disregarding shaky feelings in my knees

I was climbin' in the camper 40 winks was all I'd take

When I felt the cabin shakin' I was really wide awake

Oh I grabbed the tyre lever out from underneath the seat

I was creepin' round the bullbar out roared this awful sound

And my hair was standin' straight up I was frozen to the ground

Hey there's somethin' in the Pilliga I've heard old timers say

There's some won't even camp there some never go that way

And if you listen to their stories they'll make yer skin just crawl

Some may offer their opinion and some never talk at all

Then this thing came chargin' for me it was all of 10 feet high

With hair all covered over, murder in its devils’ eyes

And I must have started screamin' like a banshee in full flight

For it roared and grunted somethin' and then vanished in the night

When finally I woke up I was lyin' on the ground

In an eerie kind of stillness nothin' moved or made a sound

Both my eyes were big as saucers still seein' in my mind

That primeval apparition red eyes burning into mine

Oh there's somethin' in the Pilliga I've heard it rant and roar

And my nerves were shot to pieces rememberin' what I saw

It was big and it was hairy, its perfume really reeked

Yeah there's somethin' in the Pilliga mate on the banks of Toolie creek

Let it stay there in the Pilliga on the banks of Toolie creek

Tooley Creek runs through the Pilliga Forest and crosses the Newell Highway near the Pilliga Rest Area. Anyone ready to spend the night there?

What is a Yowie?

The North American continent has legends of Bigfoot (or Sasquatch), and Yeti (The Abominable Snowman) is said to be seen in the Himalayas. Australia has tales of a giant ape like creature often called a Yowie or Yahoo. Stories of the Yahoo date back to Aboriginal legends.

An Aboriginal source suggests that the creature is a part of the Dreamtime. “Old Bungaree, a Gunedah Aboriginal ... said at one time there were tribes of them [Yahoos] and they were the original inhabitants of the country — he said they were the old race of blacks ... [The Yahoos] and the blacks used to fight and the blacks always beat them, but the Yahoo always made away from the blacks being a faster runner.”

The Yowie is usually described as a hairy and ape-like creature standing upright at between 2.1 metres and 3.6 metres. The Yowie's feet are described as much larger than a human's, but alleged Yowie tracks are inconsistent in shape and toe number, and the descriptions of Yowie foot and footprints provided by Yowie witnesses are even more varied than those of Bigfoot. The Yowie's nose is described as wide and flat. Behaviourally, some report the Yowie as timid or shy. Others describe the Yowie as sometimes violent or aggressive.

From Wikipedia

Home to the Aboriginal Gamilaroi Murri people, explorer John Oxley and his party were the first Europeans to see this Pilliga, in 1818.

We first saw the Pilliga Forest in 2004, when driving through the forests of mainly Cypress Pines via the Newell Highway. Myths of Yowies in the forest came to mind. This time we would take a better look through the forests, with more than Yowies on our minds.

With many stories of Yowies being seen in the Pilliga, who can forget Slim Dusty singing “Something in the Pilliga”?

Baradine

Baradine is a small town, suffering the effects of loss of industry with only one timber mill remaining. Most businesses were closed, but there is a small modern IGA grocery store. There is also the modern Pilliga Discovery Centre; the Visitor Centre and office of Parks and Wildlife for the Pilliga Forest region. There are great displays of the history, flora and fauna of the Pilliga, and helpful staff give one-to-one information about where to go and what to see which enabled us to tour for several enjoyable days. The railway ran as far as Gwabegar, but this is long closed.

There is a Cypress Pine mill at Baradine, a town which once had three softwood and one hardwood mills. Native White Cypress is a specialty timber, highly valued in the construction industry because natural oils impregnating the timber make it termite resistant. This means that it can be used for house framing and flooring without having to treat with poisonous chemicals. The value of the white cypress industry in the Pilliga is reckoned at $12.5 million annually. One third of all the White Cypress milled from the Pilliga is exported, mostly to Japan and the United States of America.

At Baradine, we stayed at Camp Cypress, at their showground and racecourse. Just outside of the town, this was a lovely environment amongst Cypress trees with all amenities, so we chose to stay a few days while touring around the Pilliga Forests.

Camp Cypress, Baradine Showground

Three sections with multi power outlets and several taps

Over twenty powered sites with plenty of room for unpowered camping

Donga style amenities, very clean

Basins have good mirrors, handwash, paper towels and a hand towel

Showers with communal dressing area, some curtain sub-divisions.

Bathmats provided by caretakers.

Washing machine (no fee) in male and female bathrooms. Laundry room with two washing machines and one dryer (coins) can be accessed by request

Newer disability toilet with ramp

Dump point

Four cabins

Road train drivers carting grain from the area camped in the showground halls