Our Travels

Today we headed back towards the coast to explore. The first stop was Cathedral Rock National Park whose main feature was of course, Cathedral Rock. The walk from the car park was 5.8 km return and we didn’t have the time or the inclination to devote the energy to see a stack of rocks. One the way in we had passed Ebor’s old cemetery and Jacky was keen to browse so I read a book while she looked at the headstones, many of which dated back to the 1800’s.

From here we drove through Ebor, a very small town on the main road that seemed to be really struggling to exist and headed for Dorrigo. With an annual rainfall of 2000 mm, Dorrigo is the wettest town in NSW. It was lunch time so we headed into the Dorrigo National Park to find a quite spot to have lunch. The Never Never picnic ground looked promising, it was 11 km into the park. It was a very picturesque setting with an old timber and stone shelter with a shingle roof looking over some lush green lawn and forest.

Never, Never Picnic Shelter, Dorrigo National Park

After lunch we headed back to the Rainforest Centre where they have a skywalk out over the forest with views right to the coast. We tried to have a cup of coffee at the café but would you believe, it was 2:30 and they were closing.

Selfie at Dorrigo NP

From the Rainforest Centre there was another picnic ground with several bird walks leading off it so we decided to stretch our legs, the birds were scarce but the walk was good. I did manage to get a couple of photos of some birds back at the picnic ground. Now it was time to head back to camp and get the fire going.

Silvereyes, Dorigo NP

The road from Armidale back to Coffs Harbour is called the Waterfall Way so today’s plan was to see what they were talking about. The expectations were not particularly high as the countryside around here is quite dry and brown, most of north-eastern NSW has had little rain over the past 6 mths.

The first stop was down the road from the campsite to the Point Lookout, at 1563 mtrs, the view was pretty impressive. While it doesn’t snow here often there were a lot of snow gums near the lookout and all the wooden railings were covered with lichen and moss.

New England National Park

We then headed off to Wollombi Falls, apparently the 3^rd highest waterfall drop in Australia. From the lookout you could see a trickle of water falling down into a massive gorge. There was another waterfall in a separate gorge leading in to the main gorge but it had even less water. We checked another lookout for a different view then had lunch in a stone and timber shelter.

We headed towards Armidale and stopped at an old historical town of Hillgrove, in 1905 there were nearly 3500 people, today there are just 100. A few of the old buildings remained but most had been removed and only markers indicated what had been there before. The old school house had an interesting museum with many relics and photographs from the old gold and antimony mines that kept the town thriving. It certainly gave an insight to how hard and dangerous mining was in the pioneer days.

By the time we left here we were running out of time the visit the other waterfalls I had in mind and with the general lack of water in the area I didn’t expect them to have much water flowing over them so we headed into Armidale for a little shopping and a cup of coffee. Then it was back to camp, collect some firewood to ensure we had a good hot fire for the evening.

Today it’s time to leave the coast and head inland away from the rain, our destination today is the New England National Park. We stopped in Grafton for fuel and supplies, we found a nice shopping centre on the north side of town over this old bridge did our shopping, bought some gloves and an extra beanies. Jacky even persuaded me to buy a set of flannelette sheets as were expecting the National Park to be a little chilly. It is about 70 kms from Armidale where the forecast overnight temperature was going to be -4^oC. Thungutti campground was in a nice bush setting, there was even some firewood provided so once the tent was up we got the fire going and sat around the fire as the temperature dropped.

On this side of the Clarence river was a small town of Iluka, mostly holiday homes, many of the towns on the NSW north and central coast are holiday and fishing destinations. From Iluka we went back to the Pacific Hwy and over the old steel bridge into Australia’s Scottish town of Maclean.

Some of Maclean Tartan Poles

Nearly every power pole had a different tartan pattern painted on them, we had look around the town, headed up to the lookout which provided a nice view of the area back to the coast. From Maclean we stayed on the south side of the river and headed into Yamba, like Iluka, this town was very focused on holiday destinations though on a bigger scale. We bought fish & chips and headed down to the beach for lunch. There was a nice swell coming between the point and the river mouth groyne, and there where quite a few surfers taking advantage of it despite the relatively cool weather. We got chatting to a Victorian couple who recommended another little town further down the coast called Angourie. There are two old quarries right on the headland where they cut the rock for the groynes on the Clarence River mouth. Both quarries have since filled with water, one with fresh water (Green Pool) and the other was so close to the ocean that it filled with salt water (Blue Pool).

Blue Pool, Yamba

The Green Pool did look a little too green to swim in I might suggest. On the way back to the car park I took a different track and ended up dragging Jacky up and down several steep gullies before we came to dead end and had to back track. She was not happy, kept muttering something about sticking to the main track.

The sun is shining and it’s time to leave Byron Bay, we headed south along the coast and stopped at Evans Heads for lunch. We had bought some Chinese takeaway and headed down to the estuary to find a table for lunch. The park on the river was a very pleasant spot and there was a nice caravan park right on the river that looked like a very popular holiday spot.

Evans Head

On someone’s recommendation we had planned to camp at Woody Head, it’s a very popular camping spot right on the beach front run by the national parks. At $28 per night I felt it was a little steep for an unpowered site but we checked it out anyway. The sites were quite small and close together and in addition to the $28 they also expected a $7 / day park entry fee. We declined and headed back to a caravan park we had passed and found a nice unpowered grass site for $25. Most of the sites were occupied by retired people in their own park homes but everyone was friendly and it was a nice spot to base ourselves while we explored the Clarence River area

The rain was still falling so we had a leisurely breakfast and read our books, later that night I checked the weather information and Byron Bay had 50 mm over that day and a half. By lunch time I was feeling claustrophobic so after lunch we headed off inland to check out Minyon Falls. It was an enjoyable drive through narrow country roads zig-zaging back and forth up and down steep hills. There was not a lot of water going over the falls but the drop was pretty spectacular, about 100 mtrs into a gorge.

Minyon Falls

The water flow in NSW rivers has been much less than what we saw in Queensland, much of the north eastern sections of NSW have had little rain in the last 6 months

Rocky Creek Falls Dam

On the way back to camp we stopped at a nearby dam, Rocky Creek dam, and it was only half full

It rained most of the night and was still raining off and on when we got up. It market day in Byron Bay and we had heard that it was pretty big. As we found a parking spot there was a few spots of rain but we decided to brave the weather and head in. It was one of the first and one of the largest markets I had seen where 90% of the products on sale were either locally grown or locally made. Many markets these days have stalls selling junks straight out of containers bought in from Asia. 10 mins into the browse the rain got heavier and we decided that was enough. We headed back into town, found some parking and strolled up the main street of Byron Bay looking for somewhere to have lunch. You can certainly see where Byron Bay gets its reputation from, as you walk the streets. We have never seen so many middle aged hippies in one spot. It was still raining off and on and yet some people were walking around rugged in bright coloured clothing up but with bare feet.

Jacky spotted Hogs Breath and venue for lunch was decided. After lunch we went back to Woolies for a bit of grocery shopping and were once again reminded of where we were by a lady in Woolworths, who would have been in her mid-sixties with dread locks down to her waist and bare feet.

The whole purpose of coming to Byron Bay was to stand on the most eastern point of Australia so we headed up to the lighthouse. Cape Bryon is national park, all 50 acres of it, so they can charge you a $7 entry. The car park was quite small, about 30 cars, and even on a day like today it was full. Fortunately people were not staying long and there was a kind gentleman standing in the rain with his yellow raincoat collecting $7 and directing you to where you could park.

Cape Byron Lighthouse

Cape Byron

Jacky enjoying Cape Byron

In between showers we took some photos of the lighthouse and the cape, at one point the clouds came in so low you couldn’t see parts of the lighthouse. The track to the very tip was about 100 mtrs downhill and given the weather conditions we felt that getting to the lighthouse was as eastern as we needed to be. The little café there was doing a good trade selling coffee and tea so we sat on the veranda of the old keeper’s house, read some of the history and enjoyed a cuppa

Today we left the Border Ranges and headed to Byron Bay. We arrived just after lunch, set up camp and got stuck into the washing. The forecast was for rain for the next 7 days so it was important to get the washing dry which with the assistance of the dryer we managed to do.

With the forecast of rain and the proximity on neighbour we decided to put the walls up around the canopy. For those of us who are interested in statistics this was the 50^th time we had set up the camper trailer this trip.

We had not had pizza since leaving home so with Internet access, I browsed the local stores looking for good pizza. It turned to be an excellent pizza with thick topping but at $34 for the family size you would want to expect that.

After an hour or so of discussing photography and cameras with our neighbours, John & Marie, we finally headed off to explore the Border Ranges National Park. There was one waterfall, Brushbox Falls, near the campsite so we headed there first.

Brushbox Falls, Border Ranges NP

From there we headed along the national park road we couldn’t find yesterday, the first stop was to check out another campsite, Timber Top, but it was walk-in for tents so the spot we had chosen was the better option. Then we took a loop road to an Antarctica Beech look out. They are very fond of this tree over on the east coast, fossil records indicate that it was around in the dinosaur era, so nearly every national park with some remnant rainforest highlights their Antarctica Beech trees. The next stop was the Pinnacle lookout, this one was spectacular, it was about 800 mtrs off the road but the last 100 mtrs went along this rock ridge where there was a spectacular drop off on both sides. Jacky had decided to sit this one out but I was so impressed that I hiked back to the car and persuaded her to come and see it for herself. From this point you can see back to the Springbrook National Park and the Best of All Lookout where we had been two days earlier.

The caldera valley surrounding Mt Warning

We had lunch at Black Butt lookout which had picnic table right close to the escarpment so you could admire the view. The view is of an ancient volcano cauldron, you can see a huge escarpment that forms a circle around Mt Warning that must be nearly 100 kms in diameter. Mt Warning is north west of Byron Bay and is the first part of the Australian mainland to receive sunlight each day. It’s about a 3 hr hike to the summit so it’s an early start if you want to witness the first rays of sunlight before anyone else in Australia.

We finished the afternoon off with another walk through Antarctica Beech forest on Bar Mountain.

Eastern Yellow Robin, our friendly camp visitor

Packing up today was more interesting than usual; we had a visit from a 3 mtr carpet python. First, I nearly stepped on it as it slid pass the tent, then it coiled itself in the sun just 1 mtr from the tent for nearly 30 mins before sliding off into the bush. Despite assurances that it was non-venomous Jacky kept well away and totally avoided that side of the tent.

Carpet Python

Today we were heading into NSW via the back roads, we passed through numerous little villages and up and down many hills but it was certainly very scenic.

Entering NSW

The first major town we came to was Murwillumbah where we found a nice bakery and we enjoyed nice fresh salad rolls down by the Tweed River.

From here we headed back inland to the Border Ranges National Park, the campsite we were heading to was on the other side of the park and Hema GPS indicated that the roads into the park did not connect so we ended up taking quite a long route through Kyogle. After several checks to verify we were on the right track. We arrived at Sheepstation Creek campsite and found there were limited places to set up a camper trailer but we managed to fit in next to some else’s caravan. Fortunately they were a very friendly couple from SA with strong interests in photography and bird watching.