Saturday January 16th
After a night of wind and torrential rain we were lucky enough to pack up our camp before the next shower. Our first stop was the fantastic Dip café where we had a celebratory last day breakfast then headed back on the road to Red Rock. It is a small village set between the sea and a river inlet and gets its name (Blood Rock to the local Gumbainggir people) from the slaughter of an Aboriginal camp in the 1880s. We hoped to go to the Yarrawarra Aboriginal Centre nearby and to the bush tucker café but found them closed for upgrading.
From here we went to Bellingen, the setting for Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda. This lovely old town has many old buildings, evocative of its more prosperous past. River craft reached here until the 1940s when dredging was discontinued, and it was the most important town in the area until tourism boomed at Coff's Harbour in the 1960s.
The guide book calls it "hippie without the dippy"
From Bellingen we followed the Waterfall Way, with some spectacular scenery on the way.
We called at Ebor Falls in the Guy Fawkes River National Park, the New England National Park and finally the Wollomombi Falls. By this time we had climbed to quite a height and our last campsite was at Arnidale which claims to be the highest city in Australia .A n interesting place and one we wished we had time to explore but it was very cold! Charles cooked the last barbecue of the trip, another great meal.
After a night of wind and torrential rain we were lucky enough to pack up our camp before the next shower. Our first stop was the fantastic Dip café where we had a celebratory last day breakfast then headed back on the road to Red Rock. It is a small village set between the sea and a river inlet and gets its name (Blood Rock to the local Gumbainggir people) from the slaughter of an Aboriginal camp in the 1880s. We hoped to go to the Yarrawarra Aboriginal Centre nearby and to the bush tucker café but found them closed for upgrading.
From here we went to Bellingen, the setting for Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda. This lovely old town has many old buildings, evocative of its more prosperous past. River craft reached here until the 1940s when dredging was discontinued, and it was the most important town in the area until tourism boomed at Coff's Harbour in the 1960s.
The guide book calls it "hippie without the dippy"
From Bellingen we followed the Waterfall Way, with some spectacular scenery on the way.
We called at Ebor Falls in the Guy Fawkes River National Park, the New England National Park and finally the Wollomombi Falls. By this time we had climbed to quite a height and our last campsite was at Arnidale which claims to be the highest city in Australia .A n interesting place and one we wished we had time to explore but it was very cold! Charles cooked the last barbecue of the trip, another great meal.
Sunday January17th
We left early in the morning with the goal of reaching Sydney by 4 o'clock and we managed to do just that!. Our stops along the way were very brief and the weather at times not good, but our way was through the mountains and national parks so very picturesque. As we came down onto the plains there were signs of much drier and warmer temperatures. It was definitely horse country, passing several studs and ranches and some beautiful looking horses. Eventually we arrived at the Hunter Valley which is the oldest wine region in Australia, famous for Semillon and shiraz. To be visited later...
Arriving in Sydney I could not believe my luck! My Airbnb is situated directly opposite the Opera House and I was just in time to see a departing liner turn round not 50 yards away!
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