Day 4 - Driving North

The plan was now to continue north to Tenterfield (Ryan's old stomping ground) and Bald Rock National Park. We were following a map from the NPWS website, which was somewhat lacking in detail. It appeared to be a relatively short drive north out of the national park, linking to the Old Grafton Road which would take us out to Glen Innes. In reality, it turned out to be 50km of fairly rough forestry road which took us up to Dalmorton. Here were the remains of what was once quite a large gold-mining town. Exploration was somewhat limited by Ryan's fear of free-ranging cows (I love you honey), but we did take the opportunity to have some morning tea while we read the signs in a fenced off section of the town.



We both assumed that the Old Grafton Road would be big and tarred. Wrong again. It was in fact much better - a narrow, winding 110km of dirt that followed the river along the valley floor. Part-way along there was even an old tunnel to drive through. If anything beats riding on ferries, it would have to be driving through tunnels :-) 

We stopped briefly in Glen Innes for lunch, then continued onwards to Bald Rock National Park to set up camp again.



As night fell, a cat-like shadow flitted across our site and we were surprised to see a quoll - an endangered species and an unusual sight. Pleasant surprise quickly turned to dismay, though, as this particular quoll turned out to be a seasoned campaigner in the campground. He would run right up to our picnic table and jump on the struts underneath, with only the most persistent shouting/clapping/stomping scaring him off temporarily until he would line up for another attack. We did manage to get through dinner without sacrificing any of our food, but it wasn't a particularly relaxing meal...

 

Day 3 - Guy Fawkes River National Park

Our original plan had been to continue up the coast until we reached Bogangar, then return inland, but with the less-than-ideal weather (and with more predicted on the way), we decided to chase the sun instead. Some route planning based mostly on the BOM radar image and partly on the NPWS website, led us to Guy Fawkes River National Park.

We took a detour to a small dot on the map labelled Ebor Falls, and discovered this:



The lower falls were obscured by a curtain of misty cloud billowing around the lookout. The mist eventually thinned enough to allow a limited view down the valley.

We were both surprised by the scale of the falls, given that they would be easily overlooked on the map.

 

 We continued on into Guy Fawkes River National Park via a long, rough forestry road. We chose at random to stay at Chaelundi Campground, which we had completely to ourselves. The weather was somewhat better, with light rain one minute, clearing to blue skies and sun the next, then reverting to rain again (and again and again, continuing all afternoon and through the night, but never enough to get us seriously wet).



We walked out to Lucifer's Thumb -  a point on the bluff which overlooked the Guy Fawkes River snaking along the base of the valley.

 

Happily, there was ample firewood provided at the campground. Unfortunately it was all soaked. And it was COLD. We somehow managed to coax some flames from a combination of semi-dry twigs and leftover wood from Crowdy Bay, and soon had a roaring fire. Warming ourselves by the flames with the dark pressing around, the stars above (intermittently) and no-one else for dozens of kilometres - this has to be one of the best parts of camping :-)

Day 2 - Lots of rain

We woke to brooding, grey skies and spitting rain - but with more exploring to be done, we kitted up in our wet weather gear and headed back out onto the headland along a walk which would eventually lead to the Diamond Head campground on the other side. I love the ocean on stormy days - the colours are all subtle and muted and it seems more moody somehow. Ryan just shakes his head at me and keeps walking as I stop to take ANOTHER photo...

 

The track snaked through the heathland, sometimes passing above the cliffs, othertimes diving into stunted forest. At one point we passed a couple of wallabies sitting right next to the path. They were completely unconcerned as I stopped to take their picture.

We branched out onto another track after reaching Diamond Head, giving views out over the coast to the north, and the mountains inland capped with clouds.

 

The rain cleared as we returned to camp, so we decided to take the chance to pack up the tent and move on. It didn't stay dry for long, and as we drove north through Port Macquarie, the morning showers evolved into a downpour lasting several hours. The streets were running with water and the gutters overflowing, and the BT's windows steamed up immediately as we huddled inside and warmed up with fish and chips for lunch.

We thought we might camp that night at Point Plomer in Limeburner's Creek Nature Reserve. Rather than continue up the highway, we decided to follow the coastal route suggested by the GPS (mostly because it involved a ferry ride)(who can ever resist the opportunity for a ferry ride???). Maybe we should have paid more attention to the signs at the beginning of the road warning that it received no maintenance and that if you died driving on it it would be no-one's fault but yours...

The road was narrow, rough and undulating. With all the rain, every depression was brimming with water, creating a series of mini-lakes one after the other. These were often 5 or 6 metres in diameter, and several of  the deepest washed over the bonnet of the BT as it ploughed through. I thought it was great fun (then again, I wasn't driving...).

Unfortunately the rain continued, and upon reaching Point Plomer we decided to cut our losses and retreat to civilization for the night. So we headed out again (this time via the much more well-driven route to the highway) and found ourselves a cabin for the night in South Kempsey.

 

Day 1 - Crowdy Bay

Two weeks off work, one ute loaded with camping gear, a national parks pass and a loose plan to head north - the perfect holiday (Ryan and Kristenne style).

Our first destination was Crowdy Bay National Park - chosen for being on the coast, within a day's drive north of Sydney and having plenty of good camping options. We stopped first at the lighthouse on Crowdy Head via Harrington, and were rewarded with panoramic views up and down the coast (note the blue skies). Driving back down, we also pulled over to watch a pod of dolphins playing in the waves of the bay ("Ryan STOP, look - DOLPHINS!!!). I'll admit to being just a LITTLE bit excited...

 

We continued our drive into the National Park itself, scoping out camping grounds along the way. The main campground was Diamond Head - located close to the beach and boasting flushing toilets, hot showers and dozens of wallabies but also plenty of other campers. We opted instead to camp at Indian Head, located just a bit further south around the headland and lacking fancy amenities, but being pretty much empty. This trip was going to be the first real test for our TurboTent - named because it can be set up in approximately 2 minutes (unfold it, peg out the corners, step inside and pop up the frame). As Ryan did the honours, he came back out from the tent and turned around to receive a standing ovation from the other campers up the hill. Test number one (ease of set-up) - check!



We went for a bit of a wander up onto the headland, and were again rewarded with a fantastic view of Crowdy Bay to the south with Crowdy Head visible in the distance. The beach itself looked to be a pretty popular fishing spot, with fourbies lined up in the sand (and a few more parked up at our campground). 

 

 

We also went for a short walk inland to see Kylie's Hut - built for local author Kylie Tennant in the 1960's as a writer's retreat by a local grazier, and restored by the NPWS.

 

 Our dinner that night was accompanied by rapidly-approaching clouds and rolling thunder. We managed to cook, eat and clean-up before retreating into the tent as the rain started. Test number two (weather-proofing) - check! We drifted off to sleep accompanied by the sound of rain on the fly, and the mass exodus of fishermen from the beach :-)

The hole

Kristenne thinks she is digging for treasure...

5 down, and counting...

So I decided to do a complete fishtank makeover. The "easy fishkeeping" DVD that came with the tank suggested all I needed to do was lay some gravel, plant some plants, fill it up with water, bung in some fish and voila! - fishtank done. I've since done a little more reading (interpret that as many hours scouring the internet for advice) and have adjusted my technique slightly...

Unfortunately the fish I chose aren't exactly known for their ability to survive in the fluctuating conditions of a brand new tank, so I'm afraid that I've had a 50% mortality rate :(

At least I seem to be able to grow plants.

There are fish in the tank - they are just hiding. Please no jokes about fearing for their lives...

Craig and Sharelle came up last week for a visit, along with the intention to do some work in our backyard, which was awesome. They cleared a heap of leaves/weeds/trees and we are discovering that there might actually be some useful ground under all that rubbish. Now we're envisioning terraces, drainage systems, grass, plants, maybe a goat.

All these garden beds are emerging from under a decade's worth of leaf litter...

Now we have one GIANT pile of rubbish (not that you can really tell from the photo). You might get a better idea of how much is there by the fact that we took a couple of loads away to the tip today, which totaled half a ton. And that was slightly less than half the pile. Sigh.

At least now we have put a significant dent into the cleanup effort (well - Craig and Sharelle have put a significant dent into the cleanup effort)(enourmous thankyou). Now it's a race to see if we can get the rest done before it all accumulates again. I still think the goat is not that bad an idea :)

Another random update

Although it feels like not much has been happening lately, now that I trawl through our photos, I realize that we actually have been out and about quite a bit...

Ryan has had a bit of a cold (or the horrendously debilitating man-flu if you ask him...) but we were feeling the itch for another adventure (of the not too strenuous kind), so yesterday we picked a random trip out of one of our 4WD books - "Trek 13: Watagan Wanderings". The Watagans are a National Park inland of Lake Macquarie, and just over an hour's drive away. Although our book suggested that this was an easy trip, suitable for cars and AWDs, we reckon it might be a bit our of date, 'cos there were a few spots that required low-range 4WD, and one very steep, slippery ascent out of a creek that actually beat us (and claimed a mudflap). Admittedly, these were on an "alternative route" option, but who could resist taking the "more demanding" route???

Anyway, we also drove out to a couple of pretty spectacular lookouts, one of which overlooked a big swathe of coast.

We spent Christmas weekend with Ryan's parents up at Bogangar. This was my first Clement Christmas and it was nice to catch up with everyone at home. The best thing about Christmas at Bogangar (according to Ryan) is, of course, the beach. It wasn't exactly the nicest beach weather, though, and I'm convinced the ocean is trying to kill me on the best of days, so there was no way I was braving the churning white water. Even Craig and Ryan only managed to tolerate about 10min of it on the first day, before being blinded by the glare on the white water. See - if it's not out to drown you, it's trying to send you blind. I knew the ocean was evil...

I did, however, go snorkeling in Cudgen creek and had an awesome time looking at all the fish :)

Christmas also brought a few new toys. I am a big step closer in my quest to attain those ever-elusive 34 tetras (just need to actually get some fish)(and a background and probably some more plants, but you get the idea):

Ryan scored a shiny new BBQ care of his parents. We tried it out on Phil and Shannon who dropped by for dinner on New Year's Eve. As far as we know, everyone survived :)

A few weeks ago we also finally got our much-awaited new lounge. Twice. After waiting a very long 10 weeks for it to come, it was delivered at last. Ryan took the day off to be at home when it came. The delivery guys brought up one half and set it down in the loungeroom. Unfortunately it was the part with the chaise and they set it down where the other piece was meant to go which was enough to make them all very confused. Despite the three of them (Ryan + delivery guys) poring over the diagram on the order form, they decided it was wrong and sent it back to the warehouse. Turns out all they had to do was rotate the thing 90 degrees and it would have been fine. I thought it was way too amusing to be angry, even though I had to wait another 10 days before they could deliver it again...

You might notice as well that in the above photo, you can just make out one of Ryan's surround-sound speakers, which for the first time in their seven-year history, have finally been set up properly (as of today).

In other random news, I finally figured out a route to ride to work which should minimize my chances of being collected by a car. And even better, actually rode it. All I can say is that there is a reason that this is called the Hills District and that I am definitely not as fit as I used to be...

And that's about it for now. Hope you all (all three of you who actually bother reading this) have a Happy New Year :)