We went west for the last week of the school holidays

I have been quiet over the last week as we packed up the camping gear and headed out west for the last week of the school holidays.... so we had no phone or internet for nearly a week.... it was a great unwind and a chance to reconnect with the envirnoment for us all. 

It also provided plenty of outdoor time for our month of April Get Outdoors Challenge.

Gundabooka National Park

We saw so much that I have decided to gradually upload some of our highlights in various posts - which I will link to below once we have completed the blog entries.

1. Insects and spiders
2. Bushwalking
3. Lizards, frogs and birds
4. Flowers
5. Scats and tracks
6. Cultural heritage

But today I will start with some of our general exploring out the back of Bourke. 

 We decided that it would be a good time to head out west for several reasons,

• the Darling River was in flood,
• there has been lots of rain in north western NSW so the country should look good, and
• it was going to be warm (close to 30oC - compared to the almost 20oC we are getting in Orange at the moment)

Here are some photos of the kids exploring a range of outdoor things in and around Bourke.

on the reconstructed wharf at Bourke... the Darling River was in flood.... there is another level to the wharf under water..

walking over the Old North Bourke bridge...

the Darling River flooding out onto the river plains as seen from the old North Bourke bridge......

exploring the natural environment with Grandma...

and the boys enjoying some dirty outdoor time...