Chapter 4 - Waterfall Way to the Gold Coast

Day 10 - Friday 29th June - Waterfall Way

Today Shirley and I drove around 260 km through the most beautiful country that you could imagine.  It was "hard" driving as there were many twists and turns and even more ups and downs.

We had one stretch of road that was so upwardly steep and long that the "oil temp" light appeared on the dashboard. We had to come out of that slippery place and took it very slowly going down.

We had another stretch of road (east of Dorrigo) that was so long and sloping downwards that I stopped mid stretch to let the car and caravan brakes cool down.

Even those things considered the drive was magnificent.  We saw many waterfalls - as befitting the name of the road - Waterfall Way.

Our first "iconic" photo was a site tagged as "from a bygone era".



From a bygone era

Our first waterfall was Wollomonbi Falls.  Although it had no water the views were magnificent. However the sun was too low for good photos.



Wollomonbi Falls



Wollomonbi Falls (left side of photo)

Adjacent to Wollomonbi Falls

We moved on to Point Lookout with the feature being views, rather than water - and it was very impressive.

 

Point Lookout (3 photos)

I was also impressed with a pre-loved "out-house" with character, that had been a victim of progress.

Pre-loved "out-house" with character

The undergrowth was thick and moist as well.

We had coffee to give the car time for a good rest before we started back down the long and narrow and slippery road.  It was not a good place to tow a caravan - contrary to advice that we had been given in Armidale.

Next step was the twin Ebor Falls and a great place for a one km stroll between the two falls.

Upper Ebor Falls

Lower Ebor Falls

Impressive Rock Formation

I was then fascinated by the little fella who was diving out of trees into scrub, presumably looking for lunch.

Butcher Bird

We stopped for lunch at a very small town (Ebor) and enjoyed the wonderful fare at the FussPots café.  The soup, steak sandwich and coffee were great.

FussPots Café

The Dorrigo Rainforest Centre was our next stop where we were impressed by the magnificent mosaic and the very impressive view from the rainforest walk.

Very long impressive mosaic



90 degree Panorama from the Rainforest Platform

The long drive down the 15-20 km scenic road provided some great views - not all of them able to be captured on camera.

We ended the day at a place called Sawtell - just south of Coffs Harbour.  We established camp and went for a walk to the beach and took the following photo.

A Coastal View at Sawtell, with the sun behind us

Under advice we wandered in to town (300 metres) and were amazed at the variety of food options for dinner.  We settled for Chinese at the bowls club and were very happy with the result.  We bought the obligatory raffle tickets, for meat trays, and the club was happy with our "donation".


Day 11 - Saturday 30th June

I headed down to the beach around 7am and scored the following photo - my first sunrise photo for the trip.

Sunrise at Sawtell

We left the caravan park at 9:55 am - probably the latest that we have ever left a caravan park.  We called in to Grafton for morning coffee, then pressed on to the Gold Coast to stay with my sister, Lynn.

We were amazed at the amount of traffic on the road north, particularly in comparison with the quiet roads in the Outback just a few days ago.

We arrived just after 4 pm to the lovely bouquet of a slow-cooked lamb roast.  It was magnificent.


Day 12 - Sunday 1st July

The day started to the sound of some shouting and the patter of many running feet.  The Gold Coast marathon was currently in action, passing the front of Lynn's unit.  The marathon had 6700 runners.

Runners in the Gold Coast marathon

So far we have travelled 2746 km.  The most direct route would have been 1710 km.  However we have seen a lot of things that have not previously had the chance to grace a Kelly blog. 

 

Our Route to Date

We had a very relaxing day just pottering about, occasionally admiring the view. 

View from Lynn's Balcony

This posting is complete.

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This post was last updated around 9 am on Sunday 1st July.