Walks, Waterfalls & Gorges - Northern Tablelands, NSW

This trip took us up to the Northern Tablelands in North Eastern NSW. We left home and headed north up the Pacific Highway to Wauchope for a couple of nights before heading across the mountains using the Oxley Highway, to stop at Apsley Falls Campsite 20 kilometres east of Walcha.

From there we headed north west to join the New England Highway to Armidale for what ended up being nearly a week because of bad weather. Next we headed east along Waterfall Way to Wollomombi campground for a few days before continuing to Ebor and camping in the Native Dog Creek Campground.

Then it was on to Guyra and north along the New England Highway to Tenterfield through the rain. Here we did some bush walks and then because of the weather we headed back over the mountains to Casino using the Bruxner highway. Here we did trips to Kyogle and Lismore, while waiting for the flooding at Grafton to drop, so we could continue down to Coffs Harbour and then home.

Along the way we did quite a few walks and saw many wonderful waterfalls and gorges. Photographs cannot do justice to them.

Maps thanks to Google Maps and Openstreetmap.org

Wednesday 3 March 2021

We left home around 1.15pm and headed up the Pacific Hwy towards Wauchope. At the Lake Cathie turnoff, on the other side of the road, the traffic was at a stand still due to an accident. This turned out to be a fatal motorcycle versus car. Looks like the car was turning across the road and didn't see the motorcycle coming. We got in to the Wauchope Showgounds and set up just before some rain started. The caretaker arrived later and we had a long chat to both him and his wife/partner. Got quite cool in the evening.

Wauchope - Camping at the Shpwgrounds

Thursday 4 March 2021

Had a lazy start to the morning, finally walking into town to look around and then has coffee at a nice cafe in the park. The town was quite busy, although a few shops were vacant. We walked back and enjoyed sitting for a while, but the elastic in my chair broke and had to be re-tied until we can get more elastic.

After lunch and a rest we drove down to Rocky Point and then out to the Bottle Butt tree. It's a big tree. Google maps tried to take us down a track that didn't exist! On the way back we got stuck in roadworks for a quarter of an hour. Filled up with diesel.

Wauchope - Nice cafe in the park

Wauchope - Walking in Burrawan State Forest

Wauchope - Old Bottle Butt

Friday 5 March 2021

The sun was shining as we started to pack up and leave Wauchope on our way west along the Oxley Highway to Apsley Falls campsite in the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. This highway will take us over the dividing range and on to the plains on the other side. There are over 400 bends on this section, many of which can only be taken at 35kph. It meant that the 140 kilometre drive would take over two and a quarter hours and really hard work towing the caravan.

It was with great relief that we arrived there around lunchtime and set up camp. This is true free camping - no electricity, no water, no phone, no internet, no radio, no TV, so I organised the solar panel to keep the battery charged.

Apsley Falls - one of our favorite campgrounds

We had a bit of a rest and took a walk around to the falls lookout. Unfortunately the stairs to the lower lookout was closed so we will take a walk on Sunday around to the other side to get the best view.

In the evening it cooled down to the extent that I had to put longs on, and with the forecast of a low of 10c the thicker douna may well come out.

Apsley Falls - the falls

Apsley Falls - Mother Magpie shows the kids how to break into a food bag (Hint: don't leave food outside)

Apsley Falls - landslip in the beautiful gorge

Saturday 6 March 2021

It was a rather cloudy start to the day and I was a bit concerned for the solar charging of the battery, but we drove into Walcha basically to get a coffee and fill up with diesel and then we drove out to Tia Falls to do the walk. By this time the sun had come out, although there was some cloud.

The Tiara walk takes you from one side of the gorge to the other and is about 5.5km, with an additional 1 km from the car park to the start of the walk. There are great views of the waterfall from both sides and it is easy to lose you sense of scale looking down into the gorge as it's around 500-600ft deep.

We arrived back at the campground well after 3pm for a late lunch (toasted ham, cheese and tomato sandwich, that went down really well) and a snooze, after which it was time for a shower and dinner. Ate inside tonight as the wind was rather cold.

Tia Falls - part of the falls from the main lookout

Tia Falls - from Tiara lookout

Tia Gorge - small falls

Sunday 7 March 2021

Another cloudy morning with some mist, but beacon and egg for breakfast got us moving. I took a short walk in order to find some mobile (cell) service and eventually got enough (only just) to download the latest weather, and express facebook notifications. The weather forecast hasn't really changed, with rain expected for most of the week. Thankfully we had planned to spend this coming week in Armidale. We had been trying to contact the Armidale Showground caretaker to get accomodation there, but with their show being on this weekend, I think they would be very busy.

After morning tea we walked over the suspension bridge at the Apsley Falls car park and around to the Oxley lookout on the other side of the gorge. Being a Sunday there were several people doing the walk.

I think this lookout still gives the best view of the falls.

Apsley Falls - suspension bridge

Apsley Falls - from the Oxley Lookout

We had a relaxing afternoon and the I started a fire for a bbq in the evening and we set out around the fire into the evening.

We have had two cloudy days and I'm starting to get a bit worried about the house battery as it is having to power the camping freezer without the solar panel giving it full power. Hopefully the battery will be ok until the morrow.

Monday 8 March 2021

The sun rose without clouds this morning, but the lack of sun over the last few days meant that the caravan battery, that was running the Wacho freezer, was very low, but thankfully we were leaving for Armidale, so kept the freezer going in the car. Packing up was leisurely and we left right on 10am.

We drove into Walcha and parked around the back in our usual spot and walked to a cafe that had been too busy for us to use on Saturday. Had to have a passionfruit slice with my coffee! We also called the caretaker at the Armidale Showgrounds to check that we could stay there (The show had been on over the weekend.)

Back on the road we drove to Uralla via Thunderbolts Way, which didn't appear to have been resurfaced since his times! We had planned to walk around the town, but it was raining and we couldn't find a spot to park, so we continued up the New England highway to Armidale. We pulled into the showgrounds just as some of the carnival trucks were leaving. These guys really have this bump-out down to a fine art.

There were other vans there, several of which were fifth-wheelers (often too large for caravan parks). Just as we got set-up a big thunderstorm came through. It was a quiet evening with another storm front coming through very late.

Armidale - showgrounds campsite (the caravan next to us turned out to be a neighbour of ours from 20 years ago.)

Tuesday 9 March 2021

Nice sunny morning, so we drove into town to find the visitor centre and then walked around the shopping centre as Di needed a strap for her camera and some hay-fever tablets. We then walked along some of the streets, eventually getting back to the visitor centre.

We had a quiet afternoon, where I meandered around the showgrounds taking some video and then a visit to the supermarket.

As has been the habit recently we had some rain in the evening.

Wednesday 10 March 2021

After a casual start to the day we drove around the heritage trail looking at houses going back to the 1880s, as well as the railway station and original general store. We certainly got to know our way around the city.

A trip to Bunnings (hardware store) was required - not that that was a hardship! The bungee elastic in our chairs was reaching the end of its life, so we bought enough to redo the two chairs.

The thunderstorms seem to work their way around us this evening, with only some light drizzle.

Armidale - the old St. Patrick's Orphanage (now a private house)

Armidale - the original general store

Armidale - railway station

Thursday 11 March 2021

The morning was dull and overcast, with a few spits of rain, but we decided to drive to Dangars Gorge and waterfall, about 25km away. This is a beautiful area that I had not heard of - before talking to the showground's caretaker. We walked around the various lookouts and then decided to walk to McDirty's Lookout, a 6km round walk. It was absolutely beautiful.

On the way back Di wanted KFC for lunch, but when we got there it was closed for renovation. Probably for the best! We arrived back at the caravan just as the rain started.

Armidale - Dangars Falls

Armidale - Dangars Falls, the creek at the top of the falls

Armidale - Dangars Falls from the other side of the gorge

Armidale - Dangars Falls, the track to McDirtys Lookout

Armidale - Dangars Falls, the view from McDirtys Lookout

Friday 12 March 2021

Today had to be a shopping day as my favorite trousers had started to rip (Di wouldn't want to be seen walking down the street with me in them) and I managed to get some cheese oil from a wrap also on a shirt. But firstly we headed back to Bunnings to change some shock cord to a different size. (This was for our camping chairs as after 10 years the UV had got to the cord, but the chairs are too comfortable to replace.) The local Target store was closing and I ended up getting two pair of trousers there and then into Kmart to get another wind cheater as the weather on this whole trip was cooler than expected. (Our trip in the Riverina at this time five years ago found us looking for places to swim as everyday was close to 40c!)

After lunch we did food shopping at Aldi and Coles as we will be off grid for the next week.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing in the sun.

Saturday 13 March 2021

I decided that I should have a uke for the caravan (I don't like carrying my expensive guitar), so we drove into Armidale to the music shop called the Black Dot. The guy there was really nice and I came out with a cheap one and a spare set of strings.

After lunch we drove to Dumaresq dam, thinking about a paddle in the kayaks, but it was a bit small, but we did the circuit walk around it - about 2.5 km, but because they were working on the dam wall we had to return, so it ended up about a 4km walk. Just to spice things up we disturbed a 5ft black snake as we crossed one of the creeks. It wasn't keen to be photographed and quickly disappeared into the thick grass.

It was a beautiful evening.

Armidale - Dumaresq Dam

Sunday 14 March 2021

Pack up morning, but we were in no hurry to leave as it was only a half hour drive to our next stop at Wollomombi Falls. I was about to empty the toilet and said good morning to the guy next to us who was also packing up. He looked at me and asked if we had lived in Narara. They turned out to be Craig and Debbie, previous neighbours of ours, living two houses up! We ended up having a long chat about things and we finally left just before 11am.

We arrived early at the campground and there were only two caravans left and they were packing up to go. We picked a nice site and settled in.

We took a walk across to Edgar's Lookout and then down to the main car park. Quite a few people there - as you would expect for a Sunday morning. We walked down to the main lookout. Another gorge and waterfall to marvel at. Beautiful.

We arrived back at the van just as the rain started. The rain continued for many hours and through the night. It totalled around two inches.

Wollomombi National Park - our campsite

Wollomombi National Park - walk to Edgars and Main Lookout

Wollomombi National Park - view from Edgars Lookout

Wollomombi National Park - Wollomombi & Chandler Falls

Monday 15 March 2021

Without any sun the solar panel was not doing anything, so once the only other person at the site left early I got out the generator and charged the battery. I am not a great fan of generators, or perhaps more accurately, I'm not a fan of people who use them when other people are close by, normally without consideration for those people. Thankfully my generator was reasonably quite, but I walked around the campsite and could hear it in most places.

By 11am the battery was charged enough and I put everything away and we went for a walk back the same way as we did the previous day, mainly because we wanted to look at the falls and the much greater amount of water going over them. We were not disappointed. We also walked to a couple of the other lookouts and then back to the caravan for lunch. We stopped to speak to our only neighbour, a Canadian lady from Brisbane who was having a couple of weeks away in a motorhome.

Wollomombi National Park - Wollomombi Falls after 50mm of rain

Wollomombi National Park - Wollomombi Falls smokin'

Wollomombi National Park - joining of the torrents

Wollomombi National Park - this waterfall was not there yesterday

Later in the afternoon I started the repair of the kitchen mushroom vent. This keeps the rain out of the kitchen exhaust. Yesterday as I was checking everything before leaving, I noticed that it was loose and likely to disappear on the journey. (We had lost the previous one and I had modified a generic one to fit, so I have no one to blame but myself.)

As the afternoon wore on it got rather cold and we started a fire. The smell of a campfire brings back so many memories.

Tuesday 16 March 2021

Another packing up morning and everything was still wet from the rain. First step was to finish off the repair on the mushroom vent. It looks good but only time will tell. We seem to be able to time things well these days and we pulled out just as 10am clicked over.

We drove over to the main car park to start the walk out to Chandlers Falls lookout. This is only a two kilometre walk each way, but it has a few big ups and downs, the main one being where it crosses the creek and there are sets of steps and stairs on both sides of the bridge. After all the rain there was a lot of water going down. The views from all of the lookouts on this track are simply superb.

Wollomombi National Park - Chandlers Falls Walk map

Wollomombi National Park - gorge view from the first lookout on the Chandlers Falls Walk

Wollomombi National Park - crossing the creek on Chandlers Falls Walk

Wollomombi National Park - Chandlers Falls from the lookout on Chandlers Falls Walk

Once we returned, we drove to Ebor to look at the rest area as an overnight stop, but it was very wet underfoot. We decided to book into the Native Dog Campground about 10 km away on the Gryra Road. Booking proved to be a bit of a problem because even at the village of Ebor there was little mobile coverage. Luckily Di managed to get a connection and we were able to complete the booking before the signal disappeared.

Shortly afterwards we arrived at the campground and no one else was there, so we had our pick of sites. It was a very cool afternoon so we started a fire and later we had a bbq. Going to be a cold night me thinks.

Unfortunately all the bush walks from here are still closed since the fires. A good reason to return!

Wollomombi NP to Cathedral Rock NP (Native Dog Creek campground)

Cathedral Rock NP - no one at the Native Dog Creek campground

Cathedral Rock NP - Native Dog campground - pick our site

Cathedral Rock NP - walks still closed since the fire

Cathedral Rock NP - looking forward to returning and doing these walks - once they are opened

Wednesday 17 March 2021

The weather was, to say the least, very average. It was raining, so we decided to take drive to see the waterfalls at Ebor and then went on to recce the loop walk in Cathedral Pock National Park at the Barokee Campground. The falls at Ebor were working well and even though it was raining, many people (the falls are just off the Waterfall Way) were braving the elements. Unfortunately the viewing areas were fencing off because of needed repairs. This made taking video difficult.

Native Dog Creek to Ebor Falls

Ebor Falls - the upper falls

Ebor Falls - the lower falls (the viewing area was closed for repairs)

We then drove back along the Waterfall Way for a few kilometres before turning off and driving on very wet and muddy gravel roads for several kilometres to reach Barokee Campground. Some brave souls were camping. This national park, like most in northern NSW are still recovering from the bush fires of eighteen months ago.

We returned to our camp for lunch and as the weather was not improving we called it a rest day and started a nice camp fire. We also had company in the campground as a motorhome had pulled in.

It was a freezing cold evening and night, but we were fine. Although the lack of sun over the last week meant that our battery was getting low, the Waeco fridge was near empty, we could turn it off and put everything in the main fridge in the caravan.

Thursday 18 March 2021

It wasn't raining when we started packing up, although the forecast wasn't great, with more rain and showers expected. We decided to take the packing up leisurely as we had only planned a sixty kilometre drive to Guyra, and as if by magic, we left exactly at 10am.

The road to Guyra was rather rough and we could only do around 70 kph. Added to that was that the rain had set in by the time we got there. We were far too early to the able to book in to the caravan park and after trying to find somewhere to park we decide to head on to Glen Innes for lunch and then to Tenterfield for a night or two. Strangely enough, shortly after we left the weather started to improve. We arrived in Glen Innes and found a park on the highway opposite the showgrounds where we have overnighted a couple of times.

We brought some pies and cakes from our favourite bakery in town and decided to drive out of town to the first rest stop to eat them. The first rest stop was Beardy Waters Heritage Rest Area. It would be good for an overnighter and a few caravans were there. While we were there we called the Tenterfield Showgrounds to see if we could get a spot there for the next few nights and even though I got a request to leave name and number, they got back to me a few minutes later and the arrangements were competed. By not stopping at Guyra we were now one day ahead of our planned schedule, but given the weather forecast for the area, I think we made the right decision.

The drive was good until we came to the descent from the mountains and there was a new bridge construction taking place, causing a 10 minute delay. The good thing as that the queue was mainly caravans, campers and motorhomes, so we all held station for the last 20 kilometres into Tenterfield.

We got settled into our spot in the showgrounds and then we went to the supermarket to stock up again before having a quiet evening.

Friday 19 March 2021

It was a pleasant morning, so we decided to take a walk around the town and then returned to the van for our morning coffee. (Yes, we do carry a coffee machine in the caravan!)

Then we prepared for a walk to the top of Bald Rock by making lunch and drinks to take with us. We had a 30 kilometre drive up to the picnic and camping ground and much if this drive was through forest that had been burnt in the bush fires of 18 months ago. The same fires that burnt out the Cathedral Rock NP - 200 kilometres away.

Tenterfield - nice architecture

Tenterfield - impressive Post office

Tenterfield - saddlery made famous by Peter Allen

Tenterfield - George Woolnough, the "Tenterfield Saddler"

The Bald Rock walk can be either as a loop (returning by the very much shorter, but very much steeper Grade 5 descent) or as a return walk using the much longer, but easier descent. We decided to walk up the longer track (Bungoona Walk), and this was a really pleasant walk through the forest and then as we got higher around and under large rocks until we came out on to the bare rock area. There were some white marker to guide walkers along this section. We eventually arrived at the junction with the steep descent track and then we started the summit track. This was great fun as the track wound its way around the big rocks and then we arrived where there was only bare rocks and a 500 foot drop off the edge. We decided to stop for lunch here. I accidently left my Osmo camera running and when we came to continue I discovered that I had no space left, so had to change to my Canon. We left our packs here and followed the white markers to the summit. The view from here was 360 degrees and probably close to 100 kilometres. Spectacular!

We returned to where we had left our packs and we decided to continue the loop. The "walk" down was very very steep, basically straight down the rock, but the grip on the rock was good, so it was OK, but quite tiring. At the bottom of the descent we met a couple who are neighbours of ours - it's a small world.

Bald Rock NP - walking Bungoona Walk up

Bald Rock NP - Bungoona Walk

Bald Rock NP - start of the Summit Walk

Bald Rock NP - balancing boulders

Bald Rock NP - the short way down is rather steep!

Back at the showgrounds the caretaker came round and asked us all to please hitch up our caravans as there was a warning for severe storms and flash flooding and the creek just behind us can flood in quickly. We packed everything up and then hitched up, ready to move to higher ground if necessary, but thankfully this was not needed.

Saturday 20 March 2021

As fellow travellers departed the showgrounds we decided (as did our next door neighbour), to move to the higher section of the campground. The only site we could find was too far from the water tap, so before we moved I filled up our tanks. I also had to join two power cables together to get to the power pole, but I have a "waterproof" housing for the join so used that and then I covered it up with waterproof tape.

Tenterfield - moved up to higher ground to avoid flooding

Once we had all our setup completed we took a drive to Boonoo Boonoo falls. On the way we stopped off at Thunderbolt's Hideout - a nice collection of rocks that created sheltered caves.

Tenterfield - we came around a corner to this sign

Tenterfield - Thunderbolt Hideout. At least it was dry!

Tenterfield - Boonoo Boonoo Falls

The falls, while not as spectacular as some of the others we had seen, was still pretty good.

Back at the caravan we walked into town to get some stuff from the cheap shop, and to do some laundry.

Sunday 21 March 2021

We decided we needed a rest day, so we just took a stroll around the showgrounds and then to the neighbouring park.

Tenterfield - Jubliee Park

Tenterfield - Turtle in Jubliee Park

Tenterfield - just outside the showgrounds was this memorial to the first Campdrafting competition in Australia held here

Tenterfield - the words on the Campdrafting memorial

Monday 22 March 2021

Leisurely packup this morning in a gentle drizzle. We were leaving because of the weather forecast. Today was forecast to have 10-25mm of rain and tomorrow 60-90mm. We wanted to get closer to the coast, but not too close, as the whole of the east coast of NSW was being flooded by heavy rain. Our planned stop was Casino, only 130km away, but about a two and a quarter hour drive over the Dividing Range along the Bruxner Highway. The forecast for Casino tomorrow was only 40-60mm, and we felt that this was a good place to await better weather and to be able to get home before Easter. Also, most of the other roads crossing the Dividing Range were having problems with flooding and landslips. Our road home was closed in several places because of the floods, so we would have to wait in Casino for the rain to stop, the floods to drop and the roads to be re-opened.

The drive itself was alright dispite the rain, hills and bends. Probably one of the easier routes across the mountains. We booked into the park for the week and setup in heavy rain. During a break in the rain we walked around the park and on to the old runway. Just got back to the caravan before the rain started again.

Tuesday 23 March 2021

The weather was living up to the forecast, with heavy rain going on all day. Water was running under our groundsheet and the whole area was saturated. We needed some food, so we drove down to Aldi and ended up doing a major shop - in case our supermarket at home had not been re-stocked. The rest of the day we sat in the caravan and listened to the rain. (We had made a decision to move here on Monday as the rain was reasonably light and the Tuesday forecast at Tenterfield was for up to 90mm, while Casino was for 45mm.) This didn't make it any less tedious.

Casino - everything was saturated

Casino - the river was several metres above normal

Casino - people playing on the flooding road

Wednesday 24 March 2021

The sun was out this morning, so we took a walk around the retail area of Casino and then drove the 30km north to Kyogle for morning coffee and then a walk around the town looking at the art-deco buildings.

We had a quiet afternoon sitting in the sun!

Kyogle - art deco buildings remain

Kyogle - art deco building

Thursday 25 March 2021

Another nice morning, so after morning coffee we drove to Lismore. This is quite a large town/city and very busy. We had problems finding a parking spot close to the city centre. When driving back Dr. Google took us via the scenic route, including a closed road.

Friday 26 March 2021

Having checked that there was a road open to get us down to Sawtell, we packed up and headed south along the Summerland Way towards Grafton. It was here that some roads were closed until yesterday because of flooding. We had to take the old bridge at Grafton, but the only problem with that, is that it has two bends, both quite tight when you are towing a caravan, especially with large trucks coming the other way! A few kilometres on and we joined the Pacific Highway. Sawtell is a few kilometres south of Coffs Harbour and Coffs is the one bottle neck. I was going to continue along the Pacific Highway and then turn off but Googlemaps wanted me to go through the town. Because of all the flooding around I decided to follow him/her/it and had fun through the narrow streets and tight turns.

We soon arrived at the park, setup and had a quiet afternoon.

Grafton - crossing on the old bridge

Sawtell - nice site (but lots of people)

Saturday 27 March 2021

We walked into Sawtell to get breakfast at one of the cafes there. "Big breakfast" was big! Neither of us were feeling well this morning as we had picked up some bug, so we sat around until after lunch and then took a drive to Coffs Jetty and got some ice cream. Later I walked to the boat ramp to check it out as a launch point for the kayak.

A quiet evening was had.

Sunday 28 March 2021

A very pleasant morning, so after morning tea we drove round to the boat ramp and I setup my kayak. Di still wasn't feeling great so sat in a chair and read while I had 3.5km paddle.

In the afternoon I filled up with diesel. Looks like the price is increasing for Easter.

Sawtell - kayaking

Monday 29 March 2021

Our final pack up for this trip. We decided to take it easy but still managed to depart well before 10am. It was only a few kilometres to the Pacific Highway and then it was straight forward for the next two and a half hours. We passed some areas where there had been flooding but thankfully most of it had receded, leaving only a major cleanup.

This had been an interesting trip because of the widespread rain, but we managed to miss most of it while still doing most of the activities we had planned.

Sawtell

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