In 2007 we were in the depths of the Tasmanian wilderness walking the South Coast Track, but Christmas 2008 saw us driving a long way north to the World Heritage rain forest National Parks of northern New South Wales.
Getting there took two days of solid driving, camping along the way.
We spent a few days just the two of us in New England National Park. This park is partly situated at about 1500m above sea level on the Tablelands and straddles an impressive escarpment. This means it was fairly cool and often damp or completely immersed in clouds. We didn't think there was much in the way of walking here, but by adding several small walks together we were able to really enjoy it. the views off the escarpment out across the forests were excellent and there were beautiful cascades amongst the rainforest... and even a big black snake!
On Christmas Day we did a nice walk down into Wollomombi Gorge - which was truly spectacular.
There are some impressive waterfalls along the escarpment, as you can see.
On Boxing Day we moved on to the Gibraltar Range National Park to meet up with Helen and Jacques, stopping in Grafton for supplies. There were more campers at this spot, but it wasn't quite overcrowded. Our plan was to walk the World Heritage Trail, a circuit walk that runs through Gibraltar Range and Washpool National Parks. Unfortunately the late afternoon storms typical of these sub-tropical regions made things a bit tricky and after discovering Lake Salewa in the bottom of our tent we changed plans and arranged to do various daywalks either directly from our campsite or driving short distances.
The flora of the area includes Christmas Bells.
We also saw a fair amount of the granite geological formations that make the landscape of the area so rugged.
The geology made for some great swimming and more wonderful waterfalls, too.
And when we weren't busy walking, oohing and aahing at the landscape flora and fauna we were taking photos or laughing deliriously at pretty much anything (including our outfits!)
A nice shot of mother and daughter disappearing into the murky rainforest.
Base Camp:
Evidence of all our hard work:
There was so much to see that the walking was quite relaxed ... there were lots of photos to be taken, like this huge grass tree (the one on the right).
The view from the Needles lookout:
We were having so much fun I forgot to shave:
Several days in we did a walk in Washpool NP that really made the World Heritage status of the area apparent. Absolutely astonishing and abundant plant life in every direction... but not very easy do justice with a camera unfortunately.
To finish the trip we headed to another National Park that didn't have a great deal of walking written up. We camped at Platypus Flats in the depths of Nymboi-Binderay National Park in order to join a whitewater rafting trip down the Nymboida River (a very nice Christmas present from Helen and Jacques - thanks guys!)
It was a beautiful spot by the river and very relaxing and we spent a couple of days there swimming and heading off to another park for a walk (with another brilliant waterfall) before the rafting.
The rafting was immensely good fun, the river wasn't terribly fast-flowing but the rocks made the navigation fun and the secluded rainforest location awesome. We should be getting some photos through from the firm that organised it, so I'll post some up then.
Even though we drove 3,800km and walked over 100km we finished the trip thoroughly relaxed, it felt like much longer than two weeks. Plans are afoot for the next trip ... and it may be an altogether more exotic one.
Lots more photos available
HERE (if you can bear them)
And this map
should show the area that we were in:
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