The Pilliga Forest is said to be the largest remaining native forest on the Australian continent. It covers 500 000 hectares (1.25 million acres!) west of the Great Dividing Range, from the Namoi River in the North and Warrumbungle Ranges in the South. Nearly half the Pilliga forest is managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service to protect this unique area including the habitat of declining woodland bird species such as the barking owls, turquoise parrots, a large koala population. However although we spotted turquoise parrots and heard the barking owl?, we didn’t see a single koala!
Yet Narrabri Shire visitor information guide states: Under Pilliga Forest lies one of Australia’s largest onshore natural gas reserves. Gas from this area along could supply current levels of NSW gas demand for the next 50 years!
The Salt Cave
Forest Lookout tower
View from part way up the tower
View from the top - Pilliga Forest looking south towards the Warrumbungle ranges
Straight down
Salt cave camping ground
New barbeque and water tank
Native Pine – white cypress-pine (Callitris glaucophylla)
Red Iron bark and Cypress-PIne
Feral pigs early one morning at a nearby dam -
Wallaroo? with Joey at the dam – here we saw small groups of turquoise parrots at the waters edge.
No comments:
Post a Comment