Day 19 Saturday 13th Narrabri, Fish, Fingerlings and Fantastic Mt Kaputar N.P.

We headed out about 10kms from Narrabri to one of the largest Aquaculture Farms in the Southern Hemisphere, specialising in the breeding of native fingerlings and yabbies. We did a tour of the farm and learnt so much! Our guide, Rick was in the process of developing the area into a tourist attraction, adding cabins and camping facilities in the nearby bushland surrounding the 100 ponds. Most of the fish he breeds ends up in rivers, streams, and other waterways to ensure the continuation of the species. DNA tests are conducted to ensure the health of the species and all of the fish which are used for breeding are micro chipped. Our guide was also part Aboriginal and at different stops along the tour he showed us some of the digeridoos he had made and also played a few for us. We finished the tour by visiting a pond where some huge Murray Cod lived. Rick fed the cod so we could see how large they were. Following this we called in to a Narrabri bakery for lunch before heading out to The Sawn Rocks, located in the Mt Kaputar National Park. This was one of the reasons we had wanted to visit Narrabri. After a 30 minute drive we, took an easy walking path to a viewing area of these amazing rocks. This basalt formation known as organ pipes were spectacular and reminded us of the similar formations we had seen in Iceland on the black basalt beaches. From here, we had quite a long drive to the other side of the National Park to visit a magnificent lookout. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best but we still enjoyed the magnificent view the lookout afforded us (the photos don’t do it justice). Again the interesting geological features formed due to lava flow were on display and we were very high up here at over 1,000mt. Talking about the weather, we have once again had to change out “loose” plans for the coming week. We had intended visiting a mountainous area close to the Queensland border. We checked the weather in the area for early next week and found out that due to an “Antarctic Blast” some of the places will struggle to reach 8 degrees as a maximum and others had snow predicted. We’ve changed our plans!