Leaving Coonabrabran we headed for home – the Yass Valley.
After three months travelling this awesome country and seeing many of her marvels it was good to be home but we could easily go again – so many places yet to see and many places we would visit again – all we need now is the time and a landcruiser (maybe a caravan/camper trailer?).
Our start this morning was a bit slow – we were hampered by a lack of hot water due to an electrical problem at the motel. C’est la vie.
From Armidale we headed to Tamworth which has become quite a large and unfriendly town, not a place we felt we would bother returning to.
As we headed into Gunnedah the town looked prosperous enough from the mining boom in the area that has seen the town become one of the most expensive places to rent in the country.
On the main street is the shiny new Shenhua office all ready for the recently approved open cut coal mine in some of the best agricultural land in the country.
In the late afternoon we arrived in Coonabrabran and having visited the tourist information centre we headed out of town to the Warrumbungles.
We stayed a couple of nights in a cabin near the entrance of the national park, exploring the amazing landscape of the Warrumbungles which is recovering from a terrible bush fire which burnt out 80% of the park in 2013, and a drive up to the Siding Springs Observatory (which fortunately was saved from the fire).
After a heavenly nights sleep we woke to a glorious morning with a light mist rising up the hills.
After a quick wiz around the Main Street of Bellingen we headed up the Waterfall Way to Dorrigo. The scenery was spectacular and the road a little exciting with the steep climb and hairpin turns. At Dorrigo we stopped for a look at the Danger Waterfall and then travelled on to Ebor and had a look at the waterfall there.
As we climbed up into the tablelands we were quite tired – our long trip was catching up with us so we decided to stop the night in Armidale. Finding a nice motel, we had a late lunch and put our feet up for a nap.
On our third morning at Byron it was time to leave so it was of course nice and sunny!
We headed south along the coast passed the “big prawn” at Ballina (now incorporated into the entrance to a Bunning’s car park) and then on towards Coffs Harbour and the “big banana”.
We stopped at Sawtell to look out over the beach (another location with childhood memories). Even Sawtell is no longer a quiet sleepy little place by the sea.
Now the main street is infested with hip cafes and hoards of people. A little further south we turned inland from the coast towards Bellingen.
Bellingen Is a lovely old town surrounded by green hills and valleys. Our destination was in the next valley over where we were staying in the most stunning location looking out over green fields to towering hills and staying in the most perfect guest house where every little touch had been thought of.
We soaked up the afternoon light surrounded by complete peace and tranquility amazed at the contrast between the green fields in front of us and the flat dry plains we were travelling through only a few days earlier.
As we had been to the western most town in Australia when we visited Denman so many weeks ago we decided we should take a bit of a detour down to the coast to the eastern most point – Cape Byron.
We also thought a few days at the beach might be a welcome change from the dry and dusty outback. Our accommodation was very nice – a beach themed house at Suffolk Bay not far from the beach and thankfully away from the nightmare of Byron Bay which is over crowded, over rated and has too many backpackers and ageing hippies.
We went up to the light house to have a look around and maybe see a whale or two. The weather had other ideas – the wind was howling and just as we went to have a look around the rain came in – horizontally!
We sheltered for a time in the lighthouse keepers cottage before wrapping our cameras in our raincoats and making a dash back to the car. After drying out a bit we went for a drive inland to nearby Bangalow where the rain had cleared for a very pleasant lunch and a wander around the shops.
On the Saturday we went off to the Beachside Markets where true to form for our visit to the seaside it rained. We plodded along past all the tents as market stall holders tried to keep their wares dry till we had had enough of being wet.
Underwhelmed by our time in Brissy and our hotel we made a speedy exit in the morning and headed out through the suburbs towards Cunningham’s Gap for the spectacular and windy trip backup onto the tablelands. Along the way to our destination for the day we crossed the border back into our home state, New South Wales.
Arriving in Tenterfield we drove around the streets on the north side of town looking at what had been a property owned by one of our grandparents. Reminiscing about days riding around the paddocks as a kid, we discovered that the old house was still in good condition but all the land around had been subdivided and paddocks from childhood were now full of new homes.
As the threatening rain drew closer we went down to the old Commercial Hotel in town. What had been the hotel for all the travelling Sales reps from the 1930’s onwards has recently been renovated into a comfy boutique hotel. With the cold and rain there seemed nothing better to do for he remainder of the afternoon but to settle by the open fire with a drink and cheese platter.
Our visit to Brisbane covered many miles up and down the suburbs to the northern and to the southern suburbs but we experienced little of Brisbane’s cultural or historical delights.
Visiting Brisbane was not on our original itinerary however with the many miles driven since Perth we needed to get the car serviced and with its hybrid system we had a limited choice of service centres so a trip to the big smoke was required.
Our day consisted of getting the car serviced, from which we were notified we needed new tyres. After four new tyres, we then went to get the chip in the windscreen fixed but were informed that we need the windscreen replaced but they couldn’t do it that late in the day. The advice was to wait till we finished the trip so we headed back to our hotel in search of a refreshing beverage after experiencing the many machinations of Brisbane’s road network.
At the hotel we found the ground floor small bar closed and were informed they had a “pop up” bar on the roof level. This was a hipster delight of bean bags and moulded plastic chairs so we gave this a miss and simply went and had a drink in the restaurant and kept telling the eager staff we weren’t ready to order dinner.
Before departing Roma this morning we popped into town for a few things and to visit the barber. Two and a half months on the road mean the whiskers are in desperate need of a trim so where better than the Outback Barber in Roma!
From Roma we set of across the Warrego highway towards Miles and Chinchilla. There were quite a few clouds overhead as we bounced our way across the plains flanked by large crops and cattle grazing and the odd whiff of a cattle truck.
The A2 from Roma sure needs some work.
After a little break and shopping at Dalby we headed off across the Darling Downs where the road was even bouncier and lunch considered coming back once or twice.
The traffic was building up now with lots of trucks. One of which kindly through a stone up to chip our windscreen – hoping we can get it patched in Brissy tomorrow.
Hoping the rain last night would not hinder our access out of the gorge we set off with several others leaving the area down the gravel road which was at least no longer dusty.
As we travelled out of the gorge the cliff edges were masked by low clouds. Although there were a few muddy patches on the road the few creek crossings were easily passable with little water over them.
Coming out of the gorge area we turned south and headed for Injune for fuel before continuing towards Roma with numerous cattle trucks (and the now familiar smell of the cattle trucks!)
Arriving on a Sunday afternoon the main street of Roma was fairly quiet but we were able to find an open Repco for some bits to replace some bolts that had shaken loose on the trailer and grab a late lunch at the bakery.
After checking in at the motel we reorganized the trailer and car packing to make it easier in Brisbane to unpack and send he car for a service.
Our glamping turned more like camping this morning when we were unable to shower due to a lack of hot water. We had to wait till 9 am for reception to open to report the problem before we headed of to do a couple of the easier walks.
Most of the walks start at the visitors centre and go up the gorge for anything up to 10kms one way. We had decided to leave theses walks to the more serious trekkers and first took the Rock Pool path which leads you down to the Carnarvon Creek which is gently flowing through the Gorge.
At this spot the creek winds around a big bend creating a large pool of water under a large rock. This morning we were the only ones on this walk and we were able to listen to the peaceful bush noises of the wind in the trees and and the birds but were a bit late in the day to catch any wildlife.
Our second walk was down across Mickey’s Creek (dry) up to the Balloon Cave were there is a small amount of Aboriginal Rock Art to be seen. The walk takes you down over the creek under the canopy of towering palm trees and cycads.
The rock art here is very different from the northern and central Australian art we have seen. The work at Carnarvon is stencil art where watered down pigments are blown over an object (hand, axe, boomerang) leaving the shape stenciled on the rock wall. Further up the gorge at the end of the walking trail there are examples of full body stencils. While other places have examples of stencil art these full body figures are unique in the world.
After our walks we return to our “tent” with hot water repaired and put our feet up reading just listening to the sounds of the birds. As the afternoon drew to an end many of the Kangaroos and wallabies that frequent this area were out grazing on the grass all around the huts and happy to come close for a photo!
As we retired to bed that evening after a lovely dinner at the lodge, there was a ping ping noise on the tin roof covering the canvas tent – it was raining! Our first rain since mid way up the WA coast. The rain continued on for a good couple of hours.
oakfields 