Warrumbungle Walkabout __ Australia’s Best Hike_

Well after a long 7 hour drive from Sydney, I've finally made it to the Warrumbungles. I'm pretty damn excited to be here. The Warrumbungles have been pretty high on the list for the last year or two. It's meant to be one of the best hikes in New South Wales, so I'm really keen to see what's in store. I arrived so late yesterday, although I just slept in the back of the jeep last night. And the Warrumbungles is Australia's first dark sky national park, and just the stars last night were unbelievable, like insane, I've never seen so many stars. So I'm really looking forward to getting up in the mountains, just laying back on the rocks and just looking at all the stars, I think it's going to be a really nice trip. So let's go down to the trailhead, we'll strap on the boots and get on our way. Bloody hell, they definitely won't lie when they say it's one of the best views in New South Wales. That is an absolute cracker. So what you're actually looking at is an ancient volcano, and these big rocky monoliths are actually the lava that came up out of the volcano, and then it's solidified as rock, and then the rest of the volcano has eroded away and just left behind these rocky monoliths, which is pretty cool to think about. Just blows your mind, just the scale of time, this is I think like 20 million years ago or something like that, which is just mind boggling, I can't even comprehend it, especially my small brain. So yeah, absolutely unbelievable. But what I'm going to do now is go back down and hike over to these big rocky crops over there, we'll probably camp over there somewhere tonight, and then tomorrow make my way over to that bigger mountain over in the distance, so yeah, should be a good couple of days, especially if the weather stays like this, it is such a nice day out here, absolutely loving it. So let's get on our way, make our way over there. You guys got to see this, that's ridiculous. Oh man, this thing is insane. So they call this a bread knife, it's probably only about 3 or 4 metres wide, but it's really tall. Seems like a rock climber's heaven this thing, it's like Australia's version of El Capitan. Oh man, look at the view too, it's ridiculous. This place is so bloody cool, absolutely frothing on it. Really enjoying today's hike. Bloody hell, this view is insane. Wow. So definitely have to be up there, it's probably one of the best places I've ever been. That is just ridiculous, eh? Oh, I'm one happy bloke right now. Such a nice time of day to be out here as well, there's no one else around which is good. Sunlight just lighting up all the mountains, man. Golden hour. Oh, I am absolutely stoked right now. This definitely beats my expectations, eh? Wow, this is probably one of the biggest grass trees I've ever seen. It is a monster. That is huge. Man, this thing is a monster. Considering the growth rate is up to about an inch a year, this would be a couple hundred years old easily. Yeah, she's an old girl. Man, so cool. Definitely one of the biggest ones I've ever seen. Alright, we've got the tent set up. Probably got about another 20 minutes left of light, so let's go try and find a good spot to take in the sunset. We got a little bit of rain last night which I wasn't really expecting. Not heaps, but just enough to sort of make everything a bit wet. Just got the tent sort of laying out trying to dry out in the sun, which it should dry pretty quickly because at the moment it is such a beautiful bluebird day. Honestly couldn't ask for better weather, eh? It's an absolute cracker. It's going to be another really nice day hiking through here. Such a good time of year to be doing this as well, eh? I think I chose a good time. We're in the first week, or second week of June. It's just some really nice beautiful temperature during the day. At night time it's a bit chilly, but not too bad, eh? Really good time of year to be out here. Last night after I put the camera away, just sort of laid out here. Actually I went down to the cliff's edge and then I came back and just put my mat out here and laid down next to my tent and just looked up at the stars. Honestly, some of the best stars I've ever seen. Just from horizon to horizon, the Milky Way just lit up the sky. It was insane. Just shooting stars going everywhere. It was just a really nice time, eh? Just chucked in the airpods with some nice ambient music and just laid there for about two hours, I reckon. It was a really nice way to spend the night. Plan for today is I was going to go up to Mount Exmouth, but I don't think I'll do that. I think I might climb up to Mount Bluff, which is just behind me. They're about the same height, but Mount Exmouth is a little bit of a detour. Whereas here, that one's right there. After I finish that, I can easily just go back down to my car and do this big loop back down to my car. I think that's what we'll do today. We'll get camp all packed up and then we'll go climb up there. I'm just at the start of the track to go up to Bluff Mountain. I decided to leave my backpack down here at Dow's campsite, which is at the base of the mountain. I figured there's no point carrying extra weight up to the top, so I'll leave that here and I'll get it on the way back down. I'm really liking all the cypress pines around here. It gives the place a very American feel. I almost feel like you're hiking through the Sierra Nevadas or something. It's really cool. Man, this is so cool. There's just grass trees everywhere. And they're massive. Look at the size of that one. That'd be about four metres high. Monsters. Oh yeah, that's crazy. This snow. Or snowy ice, at least. That's insane. We got a big storm about a week ago all across New South Wales and a lot of places have got snow, but I didn't think it'd still hang around. That's nuts. One thing I definitely never thought I'd see is snow and then a grass tree in the same shot. That's really cool. Oh man, this is definitely up there with one of the best views I've seen. You can just see for days, from horizon to horizon. Oh, it's absolutely insane, eh? It's out that way, you've got the Western Plains and basically that just goes on forever. You could walk all the way to WA if you wanted to. Man, it's so cool. You can definitely see how this was once a volcano. All around you can see the mountains start to drop away in the distance and it levels out to the plains. Man, incredible. I think how long it must have taken for this to erode away to leave behind these lava mountains. Mind-boggling. Absolutely insane. This is such a nice day to be out here. It's so still. I was just sitting down for about half an hour before had the camera off and there's just barely any sound. You just hear a few flies buzzing around and a few birds every now and then. Apart from that, it's just absolute stillness. Today's a Tuesday as well, so it's just definitely a nice way to spend your Tuesday that sure beats being at work. Well, what do we have here? Guzman y Goma's receipt. Man, I could actually go for some Mexican right now, eh? That would be the dream. But anyway, remember guys, leave no trace. Let's take that home. Alright guys, well, there you have it. The Warambungles. If I had to describe that in two words, that would be bloody epic. That was a really nice overnighter. Some of the most gorgeous country I've hiked through. It definitely blew every expectation I had out of the water. But anyway, for now, I'm going to drive into the closest town, which is Coonabarabran, find a nice motel to spend the night, rest up, and then jump back in the car tomorrow and then go explore Pilga Forest because I've got the rest of the week off and Pilga Forest is just north of here and it's meant to be a pretty cool place, so I'm looking forward to that. But for now, let's wrap this one up. I just want to say a big thanks to all you guys watching. I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I'll see you guys in the next one. Hooroo!