Waterfall Way
Trip Start
Jun 18, 2008
1
48
72
Trip End
Ongoing
Dorrigo,
New South Wales,
Australia
Saturday, October 4, 2008
The Waterfall Way is the name given for a long, bendy and slow road that links the farming regions of inland mid north NSW with the coast. In between are many national parks, which naturally contain a fair few Waterfalls in their midst. It was along this road that we spent a few nights in early October 2008...
Our first stop was Oaxley Wild Rivers NP, home of the second highest (tallest?) waterfall in Australia. I have no idea where the highest is, so second highest will have to do, okay? It's name is Wollomombi Falls, and in early October, it's not flowing. Well, at least that's what we thought. See, we had walked down the wrong hiking trail, which took us down to the river, from which you can't see any waterfalls
Crystal Shower
. When we eventually made it back to the carpark, we noticed the sign for the main lookout, which was 40 seconds away. So, in early October, the falls are indeed flowing, you just need to read the signs. It was indeed high. Too high to get in one photo without zooming as far out as possible, which meant you could barely see the water. However, in person, it really was quite nice. Next up was the smaller but wider Ebor Falls, in Guy Fawkes River NP. This took about twenty seconds to walk to, it was definitly flowing, but not as impressive as Wollomombi Falls. What was impressive however was the lookout onto the valley floor below, which showed just high up we were - we had no idea at all, even though we had been climbing up and up on the drive. Also great fun was following a small stream down through the forest to where it to became a waterfall, and myself being stupid almost went over the top - the things I go through to get a decent photograph eh?
Hooking back on ourselves, we went down to New England NP, to a fantastic lookout called Point Lookout, which is some 1500m above sea level, and the view...breathtaking. Much like the Blue Mountains near Sydney and the Great Smokey Mountains in North Carolina/Tenennesse, the vast forests produce a sort of blue haze that looks like smog or low cloud. What this does then is make the furthest hills look almost blue...and it's just such a cool sight to see. Even with it being the school holidays, we had the place to ourselves. Even when we eventually camped for the night, next to the Styx River, it was practically empty - and this was a free campsite. Considering it was free, it was fantastic - right on the river (full of Trout), surrounded by forest which once night fell was pitch black - as dark as I have ever seen - and full of wildlife, which were very noisy all night long
Crystal Shower
. Awesome. If only because the Van needs to be charged every two days, we would have stayed again.Leaving New England NP behind, we went up to Dorrigo NP, following the Waterfall Way through various farming "towns" and a hell of a lot of basking Snakes - counted at least four, just by the road or slithering across.
Dorrigo NP is home to a lot of Rainforest...and more Waterfalls. The facilities in the park are top notch - the walking trails are paved, fairly easy to complete and follow some interesting routes with all sorts of information on the way around. It also has a "skywalk", which juts out of the escarpment / cliff face about 20m up, from where you can see more breathtaking views of the Valley below, and further on, the Pacific Ocean. The Wildlife was really abundunt too - loads of Bush Tuckeys, Skinks, Honey Birds and even a very large Lace Monitor (or Goanna, if you will) which was rooting around just off the hiking trail, obvliovous to my camera. It was also a very hot day - according to the Radio, the Mercury was hitting 36 degrees, which under a thick rainforest canopy was somewhat cooler but very humid. I can't really describe the sounds or smells either, but it really was a fantastic hike, including two Waterfalls - one of which (Crystal Shower) you go behind, which was very nice indeed. Helen also told me that I didn't moan once, so it must have been good.
