We’re heading to the notorious Pilliga Forest first up this week for yet another truck driver yowie sighting! If you’re new to the show or haven’t heard of the Pilliga Forest, it’s a massive, ancient semi-arid woodland covering over half a million hectares (more than 3,000 square kilometres between Coonabarabran and Narrabri), in north-central New South Wales, Australia. The Pilliga includes national parks, nature reserves, and state conservation areas, it features rugged sandstone landscapes, rich Indigenous heritage, and immense biodiversity. The Gamilaraay (Gamilroy) Nation has a deep spiritual and cultural connection to the land spanning tens of thousands of years. Recognised as a vital biodiversity hotspot, it houses hundreds of native plant and animal species, including koalas, eastern pygmy possums, rare barking owls, and mallee fowl. The Pilliga is also characterised by flat sandy plains, white cypress pine forests, ironbark, and ancient rock formations. It is also a place of high strangeness where truck drivers often refuse to stop. I’ve personally taken nine reports of yowies and other strange happenings from that area over the years, and there are many more stories out there that I’ve heard and I’m sure many that I haven’t.

Today we talk to one of those truck drivers, Baz. I first interviewed Baz about his yowie sighting in the Pilliga several years ago, so first up I’m going to share an excerpt of his original interview, and then I caught up with him a couple of months ago for a catch up chat. Baz shared what happened when he and a mate went looking for yowies in the Glenbrook/Blue Mountains area of NSW (another yowie hotspot) – and I’m talking a whole heap of what I’d call typical yowie activity and moments of feeling that nameless dread that so many people report. Baz also tells us about the time he had full blown sighting of a black panther, and how he’s worked out a great way to broach the subject of yowies with new people to find like-minded friends.