I was pleased to be leaving Coolah, it hardly stopped raining while I was there and the caravan park was muddy, lots of pools of water, an ancient toilet block, a blocked toilet, no camp kitchen, not good. For example, when I was packing up I had to move my van to avoid big puddles and even then to do up the last two roof clips I had to move it again to miss another puddle. Definitely don’t stay at Coolah, I booked in before I saw the park, I had stayed here a few years ago and it was in excellent nick, but run by different people.
So I headed off for Cranky Rock Scenic Reserve a few hundred Ks further north. On the way I passed through Barraba and saw the water diviner silo art again. I was going to take a drone photo this time but my drone was not working properly, something wrong with the camera gimbal.
Cranky Rock Reserve is a delightful camping area and perfect for a drone shot, if my drone was working. There are tress scattered through the park, most of the power sites back onto the bush, you can have fires and the caretaker lights a communal campfire each night. There is a short walk to the “Cranky Rocks” that gave the park its name. The local legend is that a “cranky” Chinese cook killed a local woman after an argument with her, he was “cranky”. He ran away into the bush and was rumoured to have jumped from the balanced rock, on the right in the photo below, and died, hence “Cranky Rock”.
The truth is that he ended up on a station about 30 miles away where his body was eventually discovered. It is amazing how these massive rocks just balance without falling and have done so for eons.
There are so many of these balanced rocks.
As I said the camping area is delightful and very peaceful, one to put on the list for a revisit.
Next stop Tenterfield and a couple nearby National Parks
Cranky rock looks beautiful!
It is a great spot, well worth a visit.