Sculptures in the Scrub Walk, Pilliga National Park - May 2022

Looking east along the Dandry Creek Valley first thing this morning - I had no idea the Pilliga had such interesting country.

While I was researching the nearby Sandstone Cave Walk last year I stumbled upon this little gem - yes, it seems as though there was definitely more to the Pilliga Scrub than Yowies and Cannonball runs up and down the Newell Highway. I didn't get a chance to check this walk out last year due to both lack of time and then some seriously wet weather, on this trip however it looked like all the ducks were in a row. This was the last day of our 2022 North Queensland Roadtrip and we were making the short jaunt from Narrabri back down to Chateau Feral. With only a bit over 1100 kilometres to get home we figured that we should have time for a 80 kilometre side trip into the scrub to go for a bit of a stroll (truth is we are trying to prolong the holiday feel as long as possible I think!). We headed in today along Number One Break Road and then Top Crossing Road, both these dirt roads were no problems in the ute this morning, however if there is a half decent fall of rain then these roads could close quickly I'm thinking.

The Day Use area here has some very nice facilities.

We were on our way pretty early this morning.

There was some long sections of dry stone work along the first section of this track. 

Arriving at the deserted carpark above the day use area we locked the ute and wandered out into the park to see what we could see. Picking up the well signposted walking track down near the long drop we headed east up the Dandry Creek Valley. After a few minutes out track split, the lower pad dropping down to head along the creek and the upper track heading east along the lip of a decent sized gorge, which was where the art installations were and the direction that we headed. Our track now climbed a bit up onto the lip of the gorge and it wasn't long before we started to pass by art installations, as to be expected the art along here mostly featured indigenous and environmental themes and each installation was well signposted with context and information. 

Once on top of the escarpment the views across Dandry Creek opened up...

... and we started to see some of the art installations (this is Scrub Spirits Yurrul Dwuhi).

Scrub Spirits Yurrul Dwuhi

We were now looking down over Dandry Creek.

I'm thinking that there were around six different pieces that we checked out, each of them located in beautiful spots near the edge of the escarpment looking down over Dandry Creek, so it was not only the art itself that was worth stopping to savour this morning. Once again the Pilliga surprised me this morning, I had no idea there was such rugged country here - from the lip of the gorge we could see sandstone cliff lined gorges snaking into the distance to the east and the south. Filing this away into the dark recesses of my Feral brain as a spot for future exploration we continued tracking our way east.

First Lesson Dhayaanduul Waanda

Sculptures in the Scrub Walk, Pilliga National Park.

Pilliga National Park

Yuundu

Early morning on the Sculptures in the Scrub Walk. 

There is also some nice art incorporated into the walks infrastructure....

... this is near the Connections installation.

Connections Yulaa

Connections Yulaa - this installation reminded me of some of the pieces over at the Sculpture Symposium Walk at Broken Hill.

Walking into the early morning sun meant that the photography could be a little tricky. 

Respect Mother Winangaga Gundidjarr

Respect Mother Winangaga Gundidjarr

With the walls of the gorge starting to flatten out a bit our track arced around to the north a bit to drop into the head of a wide gully. This gully allowed us to drop down fairly easily to meet Dandry Creek (this whole walk is sometimes also referred to as the Dandry Creek Walk). Dandry Creek is a ephemeral semi arid creek that only flows after some decent rain and we were lucky today to find it flowing well. After passing through a small picnic area Sam and I continued down the idyllic valley, with the creek flowing over a sandy base and plenty of big mature gums, not to mention the cliffs of the gorge that were never far away this part of he walk was also surprisingly scenic.

We were now dropping down into the gorge.

That's the escarpment that we'd been walking. 

The walls of the Dandry Creek Gorge are starting to tower over us...

... although I had an uneasy feeling that we were being watched...

... and I was right!

We mostly stayed on the north side of the creek, however eventually we reached a bluff that forced us to ford the creek, although with the water only just over ankle deep the water crossings weren't much of an issue. With the freezing cold water now soaking our shoes (well, my hiking Havaianas!) we soon started a climb out of the gorge, emerging into the sun as we climbed the little bit of extra warmth was welcome. It was only a very short climb before we re-joined our outward route and shortly afterwards we were removing our wet shoes and throwing them into the back of the ute, before settling in for the long drive home and heading back to work - our 2022 North Queensland Roadtrip was over! 

Making out way downstream beside Dandry Creek.

It would be hours before the sunlight reached this part of the gorge I think. 

It's unusual for Dandry Creek to be flowing - it looks like we'll be getting wet feet.

I'd come prepared.

We were only around 15 minutes from the end of the walk so wet feet weren't too much of an issue.

 

Leaving the idyllic surrounds of Dandry Creek...

... we climbed to meet our outward track. 

We were savouring every bit of warmth that we could get...

... as the day was still pretty chilly.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS we walked around 3.6 kilometres and climbed about 55 metres on this easy walk. The main issue with this walk is actually getting to the trail head I think, the signposting off the Newell Highway is pretty low key and once off the highway the numerous dirt roads through the scrub are a bit of a labyrinth, we came in from the north along the logical route, however our Sat Nav had us following a series of rougher tracks as we tried to re-gain the Newell Highway heading south, after water crossings, deeply eroded and overgrown tracks and numerous trees blocking the tracks eventually we had to abandon the southern exit and retrace our way out from the north along Number One Break Road again - it was a fair bit longer however a quicker option in the end (as of 27th May 2022). The walk itself is pretty good going with well engineered and signposted tracks, although with Dandry Creek flowing it did involve a could of above ankle fords - if the creek is flowing do that part of the walk last and it's not far back to the carpark if you are walking in wet shoes. There is information on the NSW Parks website about this stroll and it is also on Alltrails, I didn't find too much else floating around however my research was far from extensive! I used the Alltrails App and my GPS topos today.

Relevant Posts.

Sandstone Cave Walk, 2021.

It looks like this area of the Pilliga was burnt in the recent past?

Arriving back at the day use area and it was still deserted - it was time to head home and get back to work, our 6 week road trip was over.

This walk is well marked and maintained.