Rest area at Battery Rock, Gungal, N.S.W.

How good  it is to pull in off the road for a break every couple of hours at designated rest areas like this.  Battery Rock rest area is situated beside the Golden Highway, at Gungal, N.S.W.  Quantity is unknown when you don't frequent these places and this one had a special treat, just around the corner.

Google map:  Drove into the tarred section/upper level firstly, and could well have missed this little spot, complete with picnic table, if I hadn't wondered if I could sight more birds down there beyond, on the dirt road. 

There had been no evidence of these unusal rock formations until I reached this area at the loop-around.  Time to stroll around some more with camera/s for these snaps, take out the thermos (hot water), to make a cuppa (tea or coffee), and have a bite to eat.

According to The Hunter Valley Community Website, these formations are a natural phenomenon;  clusters of exposed, almost horizontal, columns of basalt rock, that formed about 35 million years ago by volcanic lava cooling, and then fracturing.

A little stream on the other side, with small plain buff-coloured birds darting quickly in and out of the reeds.  Making lots of loud song but have no idea what they were.I'd hoped to catch a photo but no luck. Also, another rocky outcrop.