Saturday 6th April 2019
An easy start to the day as we are both quite weary. After packing up DB found an alternate route home via Quirindi for a change of scenery. Avoiding the main motorways/highways and just enjoying the peacefulness of driving without traffic through farmland. It was a pleasant day with a surprise cafe lunch at Qurindi. A lovely little adventure was had, a few mountains, some animals, good exercise and peaceful night with amazing stargazing. Yay.

Thursday 4th April 2019
We started out reasonably early (about 8.30am) as the hike for today was 14.5km with an estimated time of 5-6 hours. We haven’t done a long hike in a little while but we are looking forward to only carrying our day pack. As usual we go prepared for everything with rain gear, thermals, snake bandage, satellite phone and food. We always like to have gear in case of emergency. Hopefully if we work on this theory we will always be prepared but hopefully will never need it. The hike starts from Pincham carpark and started along a fire trail before heading along a 5km paved pathway with bridges over the creek. The pathway was an initiative for unemployed and has made for a very comfortable hike, albeit uphill.

We had a couple of decisions along the way for extension to the hike, DB not too keen to add more time but as always we want to see as much as possible. Our first decision was to decline the long cut of Goulds Circuit as this added a couple of extra kms, maybe 3 to our already long hike. We took the short sidetrack to Spirey View which was a view out to the Breadknife. Then we headed to the Breadknife and Grand High Tops. This was a climb further uphill and presented us with an amazing view. It was only midday so we decided to save our lunch stop for later on but enjoyed a snack at this viewpoint. Onwards we go as we still have 7km to get back to the carpark with a big decision on the Bluff Mountain summit which we have been told gives an amazing 360° views. We decided to see how we felt we reached the sidetrack. The decision was quite big as it was a 300m climb in elevation over only 1.3km distance. So a tough climb. My vote was to do it, Dave was not so sure, but in the end we decided to have a go. It was very tough, uphill all the way with some steep and very steep sections. All in all it was worth it as the view at the top was magnificent. We enjoyed a lovely lunch at the top.

After lunch we headed on our way as we still had the tough trek down the very steep 1.3km, which although isn’t so hard on your heart, it is very tough on your legs. Also it was still a good few more kms back to the car. It was a lovely walk. A big day but made oh so much easier without our heavy overnight packs. Our total hike distance ended up being over 17km and our day out was about 7 hours. Phew! Time for dinner and rest. We were ever so grateful for the hot shower at the end of the day.

Wednesday 3rd April 2019
Well we got away reasonably early for us and drove via Merriwa to the Warrumbungles National Park. It was a lovely warm day, we went off track a little just for something different. Stopped at Whitegum Lookout just before arriving at the Warrumbungles National Park. It was an amazing view of where we are headed for the next few days. The campground  was amazing, BBQs, flushing toilets, hot showers and lots of kangaroos. All this for just $6 each per night unpowered. We arrived by 5.30pm and managed dinner in the daylight. There were only about 10 other campsites being used so it will be a very peaceful couple of days.