Day 35 Goondiwindi to Promised Land (Bellingen) 465 km
Woke to another day of glorious sunshine (is this sounding repetitive??). As we had a reasonably long day today we were up and on the road by 8:15. First stop was for fuel so we did not leave Goondiwindi until 8:30.
The first thing after leaving Goondiwindi was to cross back into New South Wales. A sure sign that the holiday is coming to a close. But before that we have more to “show and tell”.
Passing through some very nice countryside and the country is looking nice and green. Stopped in Warialda to buy a paper and get bread rolls but the bakery is closed on Sundays so only got the paper. We headed out of town and stopped at Cranky Rock Nature Reserve. There is a walk to a viewing platform and also down to the creek – so we did both. Not sure how far in distance but took about ½ hour.
There are also emus in the reserve as they get fed there. They like to follow people they think will feed them.
After morning tea we headed to Inverell and looked for a bakery but went to Woolworths for bread rolls and then when driving out of town saw Brumby’s!! Had lunch on a creek in Tingha – love fresh bread rolls. Drove on to Ebor Falls
for afternoon tea and then through to Bellingen for grocery shopping. The country is certainly different to what we have had over the last few weeks as we are now on twisty winding roads compared to straight flat roads and the country is very green with the dams full.
Driving into the villas we got caught behind a historic Army Truck. On the flats it was not so bad but up hills we could get out and walk faster. We had to follow it as there is nowhere to overtake as the road is twisty. It went up past our villas and a fellow in a paddock waved to it, so it is obviously a local, maybe George Negus as he lives up here. Arrived at our villa but due to an oversight the villa was not ready as they weren’t expecting us (had not written us up in the book). We moved in and then they had to come and finish getting everything ready so we sat on the deck and sorted out the photos and wrote the blog. For the oversight they gave us a bottle of Moet so Joy is happy.
Tea of rissoles and salad – rissoles cooked on the BBQ, by Les, as Joy, being female, is genetically incapable of using a BBQ. But then someone has to do the salad.
Day 36 Dorrigo 101 km
When we woke up this morning it was cloudy (well away in the distance there was a cloud on the horizon but where we were it was clear and sunny).
We had a hot breakfast for a change as Les made Scrambled Eggs from the home laid eggs supplied. Yummy! Joy had a coffee with breakfast as we are off for a walking day and she would not get a coffee this morning.
Left the cottage at 9:40 and went to pay the balance due as we did not pay when we arrived yesterday. Got away from the office at 10:00 (had a bit of a chat with the owner of the cottages), and after having to wait for a calf to have its morning tea
we arrived at Dorrigo National Park “Never Never Picnic Area” at 11:10 and started the Rosewood Creek Track at 11:15. This is a narrow track and is not used a great deal (the walks at the visitors centre are sealed with asphalt, this one was covered in leaves, and Joy was constantly being hit in the face with spiderwebs as she was forging the trail and Les was following behind, like a good husband does!). Walking along this track you can hear waterfalls and you get closer and then veer away, and then another and another and so on, but never actually getting close enough to see or photograph. Eventually Les found a small waterfall to take some photos of.
Not long after that we met another couple on the track (from the only other car in the car park). A few minutes later we reached Coachwood Falls but you can only access the top of the falls without bush bashing and serious rock hopping, so the top was it.
We then decided to use the link track to Casuarina Falls walk. The last 1 km to these falls was downhill and quite narrow with some big drops off the side, however if you slipped you would get caught by the trees, eventually! We arrived at the falls and had lunch and then Les took some more photos. Casuarina Falls has two sections, the nice water cascading down 10 metres or so and then the big drop down probably 100 metres or more.
Followed the Casuarina Falls track back which meant back up the 1 km or so and then about 1.4 km of relatively flat track. Made it back to the car at 2:50 and headed back to the information centre and the café where we had afternoon tea (Joy – Coffee & Milk Choc Chip Cookie, Les - Milkshake and Muesli Cookie). Joy went for a walk to the end of ‘Skywalk’ but Les gave it a miss (too high for him)
Then went on the Satinbird Stroll & Walk with the Birds which is an elevated platform. Saw some LBBs (Little Brown Birds). Finished this 800 metre walk at 4:20 and headed back to the cottage where we arrived at 5:10.
Day 37 Promised Land 0 km
When we woke this morning there were no clouds, not even in the distance so it looks like it is going to be another great day. As today is basically a rest day we did not get out of bed until after 8:00 and then had breakfast on the deck trying to find any clouds but no luck.
After breakfast we just pottered around and then at about 10:30 we started to get ready for a picnic morning tea down by the creek. We took the picnic set, thermos, camera, picnic rug and cushions and the Kids and set off on the 5 minute walk. When we got there another person was there giving their dog a swim so we went a bit further down the creek and waited for them to leave. We then moved back to the best spot and set up the picnic rug on a big rock and settled down for a rest after the tiring walk(!!!).
As we started making morning tea a couple of cars turned up and some blokes came down to see how cold the water was as they were going to have a swim. They decided it was alright but would see if there was more water in the swimming hole a few kilometres up the road. At 12:00 we headed back to the cottage and had hamburgers cooked on the BBQ, sitting on the deck. Joy has been taking some more flower shots as there are quite a few flowers in the gardens around the cottages.
Spent the afternoon reading, and writing the blog/diary, and then between 3:00 & 5:00 we each had a 1 hour massage. This was followed by a soak in the spa after we evicted the local green frog
then cheese and biscuits while listening to music by candlelight. This is the sort of thing we could very easily get used to!!!
Day 38 Urunga 65 km
Another day dawned bright and sunny – when it does eventually change, we won’t know what has happened!
Today is another rest day before the final drive back home tomorrow. So again, we slept in, before having breakfast on the deck. We look a bit odd in our bathrobes and hats, but there’s too much sunshine and glare to go without the hat. After that, we couldn’t avoid it any longer, and had to start packing, so we can get away reasonably early tomorrow morning.
With the packing over, it was time for another spa – again, with hats on to protect from the sun and glare. This time we didn’t have to evict the frog in order to use the spa, but when we’d finished, we found him sitting on the spa cover, such that when Les closed the cover, the frog was in the sun. We didn’t do anything about it, figuring he would soon hop into the cool of the shade, but 10 minutes later, he was still in the sun, so Les had to go and give him a friendly shove to get him to move (Joy wasn’t going anywhere near touching him).
By this time, it was almost time to head off to Urunga for our End-Of-Holiday lunch. We went to a restaurant that is on the river there, nestled in between the road bridge and the railway bridge.
In spite of that, it is a really nice restaurant, and has a nice outlook across the river. You can also see the fish in the river (some quite big), the pelicans floating on the river,
And the sea eagles (or ospreys, or whatever they are) that have nested on the railway bridge.
We’ve been to this restaurant before (2 years ago when we were last up this way), but had forgotten how big the meals are. Since it was our last meal out for the holiday – kind of a last hurrah – we thought we might go all out and have main and dessert even though it was just lunch. But after having garlic bread and main (Les had Seafood Basket, which contained battered fish, battered prawns, crumbed scallops, salt and pepper calamari, BBQ octopus, king prawns in shell, small bugs, oysters, and chips and salad. Joy had battered fish and prawns, with avocado, macadamia, sundried tomato and rocket salad.), neither of us could fit in dessert. Joy managed to squeeze in a coffee, but even that was a challenge.
Finally it was time to go back to Bellingen. Instead of driving straight back to our cottage, we did the Promised Land Loop. There are quite a lot of houses up around there – more than we expected. We were specifically looking for the army truck that we followed into the Loop Road when we first arrived, and, of course, George Negus (yes, he lives around here, which is why he never does Fridays on his 6:30pm show on Channel 10). But no luck with either. George probably doesn’t need to put his name on his letterbox.
During lunch, we noticed that the sky was becoming a different colour to what we are used to. Yes, it was starting to cloud over! So far, no rain has eventuated (for us, at least), but it gives us a different view from the deck.
Spent the afternoon reading (Joy has finished her book – only one book read in the whole 39 days, which is pretty slow going for her), and updating the diary. Tea will be something simple (French toast, or omelette, or scrambled eggs, so we can use the lovely fresh eggs delivered to us by the people who own our cottage).
Day 39 Promised Land (Bellingen) to Enfield 537 km
We could tell our holiday was almost over, because when we woke this morning the clouds were obscuring the sun. It didn’t last all that long, though, so we still had to have our hats on while we had breakfast on the deck.
The car was packed
And we were on our way before 8:30am. It was sad to leave – we do enjoy our stay at the villa in Promised Land (we have been there before – 2 years ago). We could be tempted to go back there soon.
On the drive south, we noticed many of the trees are in bloom – wattles and eucalypts. When we stopped at Kundabung for morning tea (at 10:25am), Les was good enough to take photos of some of the flowers for Joy.
Our aim was to make it to Karuah in time for lunch. As we were getting closer, we started to worry because we couldn’t remember if the park by the river there had covered seats – yes, the weather was looking threatening. We arrived in Karuah just after 12:30pm, and even though it was not raining at the time, we found a table that was under cover – just in case. And a good thing it was too, as it actually rained! It only lasted about 2 minutes, but it was worth noting, after the weather we have had on our holiday. We have been so lucky.
Then it was on the road again, for the absolute last part of our holiday – down Highway 1, which becomes the F3, which becomes the Pacific Highway in Sydney.
Does anyone remember the photos of Highway 1 from Far North Queensland? Just a bit of a difference in terms of condition of the road and number of vehicles on the road, don’t you think?
Arrived home at Enfield just after 4pm. Maggie was a bit unsure of us to start with, and gave us a good sniff just to check we were OK. But before long, she was back to normal – sitting on our laps when we least wanted her to.
The house was in better condition when we got home than when we left – our house-and-cat-sitter does a wonderful job. It took us about an hour to unpack everything and make it look like the mess it usually is when we are living here. Sorting through the real mail and junk mail (yes, our house-sitter keeps all that as well) took a little more time, but that was done whilst sipping on a restorative cuppa.
Tonight, tea will be something simple because basically there isn’t much food in the house – we will have to do some shopping tomorrow.
So, the holiday is over. We have enjoyed it immensely. We are already thinking about what we will do and where we will go for our next holiday.
It’s been great fun.
