Just to clarify. We did not share the facilities in Grafton with greyhound races. They had been on the night before. Instead we had a quiet night with little traffic and one train in the distance. We slept through anything else that happened.

The road from Grafton to Dorrigo runs through Coutts Crossing and then follows the Nymboida River into the mountains. The Nymboida canoe centre is on this road. On this river very game (or silly) people do heroic things in canoes and kayaks in white water.

No activity there today. There is probably not enough water coming down due to dry conditions. There are extensive facilities for visitors including camping areas, cabins and caravan sites. Just past the canoe centre and on the banks of the Nymboida River stands the quite new looking Nymboida Hotel, which appears to offer all the normal facilities for travellers and those who want to linger a bit longer.

Then the climb up the mountain starts. The road is narrow and winding. It mostly runs through thick bushland with the occasional cleared rural areas. While not an ideal road to tow a caravan it is quite safe if taken slowly. This is the Armidale Road which joins the Waterfall Way about 10 km north east of Ebor. We left this road at Tyringham and took a short cut through North Dorrigo to Dorrigo itself. Again some steep climbs but by this time we were driving through cleared farming country with rolling green hills almost a far as we could see.

The National Park is the key attraction at Dorrigo but as it was lunch time when we arrived we decided to try The Canopy Cafe. An excellent meal! Ruth’s club sandwich was big enough to feed more than one club member and my chicken, mushroom and sundried tomato pasta was to die for. And the chips? Made from Dorrigo potatoes, of course.

The main attraction at Dorrigo National Park is the Sky Walk, a sort of cat walk that extends out above the rain forest on the escarpment and provides stunning views over the forest, mountain ranges and down the Ballenger River valley to the Pacific Ocean.

To give Ruth’s knee the promised workout we did an 800 meter rain forest walk with some downhill and up hull sections. The knee passed with flying colours.

This is the Waterfall Way after all, so for our first waterfall we took a short drive north of Dorrigo to Dangar Falls. We had been there before but this time there was much more water in the river so it was worth the effort.

 

Another unique feature of Dorrigo is that it is the largest railway graveyard in Australia. There are hectares of rolling stock and engines standing on the lines around the rail depot which was, in its day, was the end of the line. The track is so winding that the section to Dorrigo was recognised as the slowest section in all of NSW Rail. I think there were great plans for the collection of railway equipment but there was not much sign of action as we drove past.

 

From Dorrigo we then proceeded along the Waterfall Way to Ebor. This piece of road has no flat sections. You are either ascending or descending and the grades are quite steep. But it is only about 47 kilometres so we were soon at the Ebor free camping area. We have only two caravan neighbours but for a while we had about 450 neighbours of the four legged variety. A local farmer was moving his herd between paddocks and was temporally holding them near the gate to the free camp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Talk about noise! But he drove them via a stream for a drink and then moved them on to a paddock further away. We are fairly quick on the uptake, so two of our neighbours joined us for drink. Can’t let the cattle have all the fun!

So we three caravans have been joined by the farmer’s horse for the night, while he has driven home in his 70 series Toyota utility with his three cattle dogs on the tray. We really are in the rural scene.