Waterfall way - Port Macquarie, Australia
Port Macquarie, Australia
Leaving Grafton, we drove back down to the coast after being disappointed to hear that the museum containing Russell Crows boy’s toys was closed. Yes, a museum containing all his collection of old motorbikes and film set costumes and other stuff.
At the coast Coff’s Harbour was heaving so we headed straight for the beach where Peter tested out the water. His swimming technique is definitely improving now he has his floatation devise as well as googles and nose clip. I gave moral support from the beach and a beautiful beach it was, with golden sand as far as you could see.
We had a walk to the nearby Sawtell Headland after which peter had another swim in the river estuary, safe from sharks, crocs, rip tides and jellyfish. From the headland, you look along another beautiful sandy pristine beach. Sad, they have such great beaches but can’t use them much because of all the nasties lurking in the water. We had heard on the radio that they use shark nets in some areas but they wouldn’t instil much confidence in me as they don’t extend the full width of an area and neither do they go all the way to the bottom.
We had decided to follow the scenic 200km Waterfall Way, running from Coff’s harbour inland to Armidale. It weaves gracefully up 1200kms into the New England High Country, through deep green pine and tall white barked eucalyptus tree forests and cattle covered grassland. The High Country boasts many National Parks and State Forests which send you buzzing with the variety of landscapes from colourful heathland, rainforest, deep gorges, escarpments, rocky outcrops, basalt cliffs, gurgling rivers and of course as the name suggests many waterfalls.
The first night we camped at the small town of Belligen and liked it so much we stopped for a second night. At last we thought, we have found a town with character and some life. It even had some pubs and a microbrewery. At one rather nice establishment they were having a quiz night (Peter impressed me by managing to answer several Australian based questions) and next door a jazz band was playing. Most noticeably there were actually people milling around after 8.00.
The town is known for its rather large, (8,000 it said in the guide book) Grey Headed flying fox population. We walked to the area where they hang all day. You smell them before you see them! We watched them fanning themselves to keep cool and chatting away, a noise between a cluck and a chortle. We avoided standing directly under them for obvious reasons. Peter did brave a quick walk amongst them for the sake of a photo, a true explorer!
Later, from the bridge over the river, we stood and watched them head out for a night’s foraging at feeding grounds up to 30 km away, where they feed on fruit and blossom which provides the, so called, rocket fuel necessary for their long-range flight. They are a bit bigger than our crows when they fly so it’s quite a sight-seeing 8,000 of them leaving the roost. They
are not popular with everyone as they devour fruit, any fruit they find including fruit farms and pooh a lot, but I think they are great. They have such cute little fox like faces and stare at you with big brown eyes (they have very good eyesight). Some had babies clinging to them.
We said goodbye to Bellingen and headed to the nearby Rainforest Centre where you can stroll out on a walkway high over the top of the rainforest. It is a surviving pocket of the pre-historic Gondwana forests, that covered the earth millions of years ago. No sign of a dinosaur!
The third night we camped wild in Cathedral Rock National Park. We had come up about 1200 metres and the weather was overcast and much cooler. It rained that night, so we shut ourselves in Syd and wrapped ourselves in our duvets. The next morning, we walked to the cathedral rock, a large granite tor and climbed up. Yes, climbed up. 500 metres of rock. The last 15 metres was only possible by pulling yourself up with the help of a large chain the park had considerately provided for brave climbers. Not me, I gave that bit a miss. At the bottom, we had met a very chatty 80-year-old thinking about climbing. We set of before him but he quickly caught us up (not a great moral booster for me). My legs and bottom ached for a day and more.
After this we drove on to Armidale but it was packed because of a music festival and dog show so no room in the campsite. We pushed onto Uralla which also had a festival but we did get into a campervan park. Rather healthy looking black chickens were wandering around the site and later the lady from the office came over with some eggs the hens had just laid. The finale of the Ullala festival included a firework display so after dinner we drove into town. It was a short but sparklingly colourful and loud display, sadly only attended by 100 or so people.
From Uralla we drove across a vast flat area of the High Country to Walcha before we turned to drive back down the coast on the Oxley Highway. At Walcha we had coffee in a rather sweet if out of place steampunk café where the owner made some marvellously inventive pieces from, how can I say this politely, junk metal.
Now this plateau area of the New England High Country was well named as the rolling hills and lush green fields reminded me of home. They were so perfect looking that one would be forgiven for wondering if Capability Brown had ever popped over to Australia.
A little way down we stopped at some falls for a quick 2.8km walk around a very deep and steep sided granite and slate gorge. Further on we camped for the night at another gorge, not so steep sided so covered in pine trees. We walked another 3.7 km around the gorge. We were the only people walking and saw quite a few kangaroos and then I squealed as there by the side of the path was a large black quill covered lump trundling along. It was an Echidna, the second of the two weird Australian creatures I had on my list of must see. Considering they are semi nocturnal We were very lucky and I was in heaven as we watched him for a good 15minutes until the mosquitoes biting our ankles forced us to move on. Further on we saw another. That night it poured and next morning the falls were raging into the gorge.
The Oxley Highway down to Port Macquarie was very wiggly and long, but the scenery was impressive when the Capability Brown style parkland gave way to forests of tall, very tall, straight white barked eucalyptus trees with large prehistoric looking tree ferns and pine trees bathed in a variety of climbing plants.
Port Macquarie was a typical seaside town but we did stop for the night and go to the cinema. Next day we were driving a fair way down to Richmond just outside Sydney.