Relative Travel – Days 10 to 14

At breakfast, I confirmed with my niece that a left turn back at the main road, the Old Hume Highway, would take us through Camden and Picton.  I used to know that road well until it changed its character completely, when multiple suburbs were built along it and it ceased to be the Hume Highway.  But I forgot the second left turn at Narellan town centre.  We were crossing Peter Brock Drive at Oran Park before I realised my mistake.

We turned and allowed Google Maps to guide us over several country roads, including one called Sheather Lane, until we reached Camden. The Old Hume Highway then lead us over The Razorback to Picton, where we stopped for coffee. The wrong turn had cost us time, so the quickest route, out to the motorway and directly to Bowral, was needed to bring us to our destination on schedule. We didn’t want to be late for lunch.

The next call was very much of the reason for the trip. Ruth’s youngest brother lives with his wife in the beautiful eastern suburbs of Bowral, in the NSW Southern Highlands. Wallace and Virginia (Wall & Jinny) have lived in Bowral for many years. As time passed they bought the block in a then new area to the east of the town and built a nice house around which they have laid out beautiful gardens.

Our hostess with a regular visitor. Guess why it calls?

Sadly Wall is in advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease. Jinny is his devoted carer these days. We spent a night with them and left next morning. We had as pleasant a time together as circumstanced would allow.  It was pretty good.

Not only is Jinny a keen gardener but loves birds. Local birds know it as a good place for a regular feed. The current favourite is a Crimson Rosella that sits on Jinny’s thumb and eats out of the palm of her hand. Kookaburras call and laugh and other Australian native birds in the vicinity drop in.

For a couple of days we had been watching wet weather approach from the south. As we departed Bowral on that Saturday morning, it was clear that we were heading towards the front of the change. We reached Goulburn in slight drizzle. After coffee we took the Crookwell Road to the north, heading for a lunch stop at Bathurst. Beyond Crookwell the road passes through several kilometres of mountains, resulting in steep winding roads. It was on this section of road that the weather caught up with us. Heavy rain and gusty winds added to the challenge but there was not much other traffic.

Approaching Bathurst, we attempted to take a drive around the Mount Panorama circuit. It was not to be. From the foot of the serious mountains until the outskirts of Bathurst, road side signs warned of cycling activity in the area. We discovered that the centre for this Lycra clad event was the straight and buildings of the Mount Panorama racing circuit. Spectators were driving into parking areas and barriers protracted the track.

From Bathurst we drove through intermittent rain to Orange, Wellington and finally Dubbo, where we spent the night. The next day we followed the Newell Highway to Coonabarabran where we turned for Gunnedah.  We enjoyed views of lush green Western Plains, so different to the drought conditions of recent trips.   The grasshopper plague, part of which spread itself over the front of the car, was less welcome.  We progressed under sunny skies having temporarily left the rain behind. It really was a pleasant drive.   Morning coffee was taken at Coonabarabran and lunch at Gunnedah.

The lookout on Moonbi Hill

We joined the New England Highway at Moonbi after skirting to the north of Tamworth. This is quite a good alternative if you want to avoid Tamworth and interesting scenery, as the road runs through the collection of huge boulders known as the Moonbi Gap.  A short side trip took us to the summit of Moonbi Hill.  From there we drove to Armidale for the night.

The view Tamworth from Moonbi Lookout

Sunday 14th April dawned in Armidale with blue skies overhead but heavy cloud to the south west. We could have kept to the New England Highway by continuing north, but we figured that we could make it along the Waterfall Way and check out the area after recent rain, before more rain fell. So off we went.

Bakers Creek Falls are a series of smaller falls

There is a lot to see along this road but we stuck to waterfalls. The first call was at falls that we had not previously visited.  About 20 km east of Armidale you turn to the right into Old Hillgrove Road, which starts as a narrow sealed road but quickly changes to corrugated gravel.  The road leads down a hill, over an old wooden bridge over Bakers Creek and up the other side to a small car park hidden behind trees. A rough bush path leads to a surprisingly elaborate timber viewing platform that provides good views of the falls. It is a good spot and worth the roughish road.

Bakers Creek flows down this gorge from the falls.

From Bakers Creek Fall you can continue on Old Hillgrove Road to the historic mining town of Hillgrove, returning to the Waterfall Way via Stockton Road, that is now the main access to Hillgrove. We retraced our steps to Waterfall Way, having visited Hillgrove on a previous journey.

Wollomombi Falls viewing deck

Next up was the Wollomombi Falls. Just a few kilometres along the Waterfall Way the turn again is to the right. A sealed road leads for about a kilometre, through a farm, into the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park.  It is then only a few hundred metres to the day visitors’ area located on the edge of the gorge. The falls can be viewed through the trees at the edge of the picnic area, but a better view is had by taking a short walk to a commodious viewing platform.

Wollomombi Falls

The falls, which are on the Wollomombi River, are a spectacular 150 to 230 metre drop into Wollomombi Gorge.  The elevation of the top of the falls above sea level is 907 meters.

At our last visit there was no water at all so it was great to see the falls flowing. Just downstream of the falls the Wollomombi River joins the Chandler River which empty into other rivers until the water reaches the Macleay River which flows through Kempsey and enters the Pacific Ocean at South West Rocks.

Not far along the highway, a turn to the left leads over a rise to the village of Wollomombi, where the general store provided acceptable coffee and with morning nibbles or lunch. It was too early for lunch so we nibbled with our coffee.

The top fall at Ebor Falls

Ebor is the next waterfall stop along the road but to get there you pass the turn on the right that leads to the magnificent views of Point Lookout and a trout hatchery that offers smoked trout. Today the views would probably be of clouds and fog. On the left you pass the Cathedral Rock National park and the road to Guyra.  Ebor falls are to the left before you reach the town. Views of the cascades in this impressive river are unfortunately marred by wire mesh barricades. As is so often the case, NSW authorities find it easier to erect a fence instead of maintaining tourist facilities. This is a very odd approach at a time when they are spending big on advertising programs to entice tourists to holiday in their own state. But we don’t do public tourist facility maintenance very well anywhere in Australia.

Barricades preventing access to the viewing platform
An example of deterioration
Both of the cascades of Ebor Falls

From Ebor we drove the undulating plateaux to Dorrigo where we headed to the Canopy Café at the Dorrigo National Park, for lunch. We took the mandatory walk along the Skywalk Lookout before returning to the car. As we returned to the highway the first sprinkles hit the windscreen but the deluge waited until we had descended the mountain to Urunga before it started. By the time we reached Coffs Harbour almost all of the deceased grasshoppers that had spread themselves over the front of the car were washed away.

A waterfall beside the road between Dorigo and Urunga

We stayed two nights at Coffs, in a small apartment a little to the north of the main area, with glimpses of the ocean. The heavy rain experienced over night withdrew sufficiently for us to visit the lookout on the mountain behind Coffs Harbour and to drive to Sawtell where we had lunch in a pleasant cafe in the main street. We checked out the observation points in the area before returning north along the road nearest the coast. Just a quick look in at the harbour area and back to the unit as the rain became serious again.

Observation deck at the lookout on the hill behind Coffs Harbour
A view from the deck over Coffs Harbour and the harbour
Boambee Beach near Coffs Harbour airport
Sawtell Beach and Bonville Head

The trip ended with the drive home from Coffs Harbour the next day. We had been away for exactly two weeks.

Sydney 2014 – Day 3 – 19th January – Ebor to Armidale

We awoke to the distant lowing of cattle, as yesterdays heard returned via the water supply to resume grazing on the road side, as they had been the previous day. It had been a doona night with the temperature down to 11C. The sun rose into an almost clear sky with the promise of warmth.

Upper Falls at Ebor Falls. Still some water in the Guy Fawkes River

Upper Falls at Ebor Falls. Still some water in the Guy Fawkes River

Immediately after breakfast we unhitched the car and drove across the road to the day area at Ebor Falls. We have been here a couple of times before but a waterfall is always worth looking at. Rainfall through the area has been low by normal standards but there was a fair flow of water tumbling over the upper and lower falls on the Guy Fawkes River, just as it flows into the Gay Fawkes National Park within walking distance from the small town of Ebor.

Lower falls at Ebor. Please excuse the reflection.

Lower falls at Ebor. Please excuse the reflection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ruth standing by the trig point at the summit

Ruth standing by the trig point at the summit

 

 

 

 

 

 

The view from the first observation point just below the summit

The view from the first observation point just below the summit

Point Lookout, a mountain peak of over 1,500 meters, is about 25 kilometres by road from Ebor. Previously, when we went there, we encountered a pea soup fog about 300 meters from the top and could see nothing. This is a common state of affairs as the lichen covered trees, scrubs and rocks attest. But today was different. We had struck a clear day. A short walk from the car park to a lookout was certainly worth the effort.

The view from the second observation point overlooking an adjoining valley

The view from the second observation point overlooking an adjoining valley

Spread before us was the most magnificent panorama of mountain scenery that we have seen in a long while. Range after range, divided by deep valleys and gorges, reached away to the distant Pacific which we could not quite see because of distant haze. Those northern NSW ranges are sure rugged!

 

 

Breeding ponds at trout hatchery

Breeding ponds at trout hatchery

We had passed a trout hatchery on the way to the mountain peak and stopped in to have a look. We took the self guided tour, which started with an explanatory video and finished with a self conducted walk which included feeding the trout from a small bag of fish feed with which had been supplied.

I would love to catch one this size!

I would love to catch one this size!

When I go fishing the activity can reasonably be described as feeding the fish but then I feed them without seeing them. Although warm weather makes trout a bit sluggish there was enough interest to disturb the surface as large fish lunged at the pellets. Summer is a bit off season so there was not a lot going on but we left with an understanding of the process that provides the fingerlings that are used to populate the lakes and streams for the sport of trout anglers.

Processing centre for breeding eggs but not operating at this time of the year.

Processing centre for breeding eggs but not operating at this time of the year.

While there we bought some smoked and sliced trout. Does anyone have a loaf of very fresh bread handy?

Back at the van we had lunch, hooked up and headed for Armidale. We made two short detours.

 

Very dry Wollomombi Falls in the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park

Very dry Wollomombi Falls in the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park

First a turn to the right to check out the tiny town of Wollomombi and a few kilometres later a turn to the left into the northern most part of the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park to check the Wollomombi Gorge. We would also have checked the Wollomombi Falls but lack of rain has left them without even a trickle. But the gorge is spectacular even without water.

The day turned out quite hot. Armidale recorded a top of 34C and it felt it. But just as we finished setting up for the night thunder sounded, to be followed by wind and rain. Storms have continued since then with another one passing as dusk settles. The overnight minimum is forecast to be 11C. Another doona night!