On Walkabout In: Namadgi National Park’s Orroral Valley

After hiking through the ACT high country from Honeysuckle Creek, the trail I had been following began to make a steep switchbacked descent into the Orroral Valley:

The Orroral Valley is wide open valley with occasional trees and a lot of grass land. It is ringed on three sides by steep, heavily forested mountains:

A open valley filled with grass means one thing in Australia, a whole lot of kangaroos:

Here is a closer look at the legions of kangaroos:

If you are in the ACT area and want to see kangaroos in the wild, this is the place to go. There are absolutely kangaroos everywhere in this valley:

Many of them came over for a closer look to check me out:

Many of the kangaroos brought their baby joeys to come check me out as well:

Others couldn’t be bothered and just sat around in the shade of this tree:

At least one kangaroo though wasn’t to happy to see me:

I have seen this occasionally with kangaroos before where they will crouch and then start flexing their muscles and grunting. That is sign that it is time to start moving along. At the very end of the valley the ruins of the old NASA Orroral Valley Tracking Station came into view:

The tracking station was opened for twenty years between 1965-1985 and was used to receive signals from satellites and during its later years it even received signals from the space shuttle. Today nothing remains, but concrete foundations and asphalt parking lots.

This hike took up my whole day and was well worth it. On the drive back home I even was treated to this spectacular sunset:

If you have the time while visiting the ACT, Namadgi National is definitely worth a visit for its great hiking, spectacular views, and abundant wildlife.

Prior Posting: Honeysuckle Creek

Back to the ACT Archive