The Waterfall Way, Australia

January 14th - January 15th 2012

We got up and drove just a few minutes to the Rainforest Centre. We walked out on to the Skywalk which is a pier that overlooks the rainforest. There were absolutely fabulous views over the trees and as we'd got there early we were left to enjoy the quiet and serene atmosphere in peace. After taking some photos of the views and of us enjoying the views we walked back along the pier and down some steps in to the rainforest where we did a circular walk which included a special walk with the birds. The views were so beautiful that I immediately envisaged making paintings of misty blue haze when at home.

Rainforest View

Blue Haze

After our walk we looked around the visitor centre which had art work inspired by the rainforest and environmental issues and we watched a documentary on the wildlife of the rainforest which was fascinating. After the Rainforest Centre we drove down through Dorrigo's wide streets to Dangar Falls. We parked up and walked down the narrow sloping path to the falls where we took some photos and watched as a very brave Asian family took a dip in the freezing cold waters. We walked back to the camper and made lunch before driving back into town where we went for a walk along the main strip and popped into the quaint little sweet shop where I couldn't resist buying Australian red licorice and traditional English pear drops.

Dangar Falls

We continued on the tourist drive and stopped at each point of interest, waterfalls and viewpoints. The rain started to close in on us so we stopped for a cuppa to warm ourselves up. Australia isn't all hot beaches, dusty deserts and crowded cities, in these types of landscapes the weather can turn and become quite chilly if you're not prepared for it. I think it's one side to Australia that people often don't hear about as many foreign visitors skip this type of excursion. We visited the second tallest waterfall in Australia and walked along the track to Checks Lookout where we could see the thin but tall waterfall and the massive gorge that it falls in to. We enjoyed the awe inspiring views before moving on to another fantastic lookout over the gorge where we also saw a bird that looked exactly like the rare lyrebird that we had learnt about in the documentary earlier that day, we couldn't be certain that it was the lyrebird but it had the same distinctive tail feathers.



Ebor Falls



Gorge

We drove in to Armidale as by this time it was getting late and we needed a proper site to power up the van or else our fridge would give up like it did in Cairns. We found a lovely Top Tourist park which was cheap but even cheaper with our Travellers Autobarn 10% discount, happy days! The girl behind the counter was really lovely and we pitched up for the night before the rain started.

The following day we left the campsite and drove into Armidale centre. After refuelling we parked up at the visitor centre where we got talking to a lovely lady who gave us lots of information on interesting walks to do. We picked up a leaflet on an architecture and history walking tour and set off around the town. We found some really beautiful buildings including a wonderful church and park. We walked back to the camper through a little farmers market and we picked up some lemon cake at the local shop. We started the drive back down to the coast and came across a lot of rain which made the scenery very misty and atmospheric. The Waterfall Way was definately worth the detour as we came across a variety of landscapes and escaped the extreme heat of the coast for a couple of days too.



Views on the drive