Hello again! We have been hiding in the hills away from the school holiday crowds. No phone or internet, no power or water to the van, surrounded by bush, the loudest sounds were the birds. It was wonderful.
We stayed at Gambells Rest in Morton National Park. With only 10 camp sites each separated by trees and shrubs, it is very private. There is a generous sized camp kitchen with free gas BBQs and wash up facilities, which we didn’t need to use, but we were the only caravan, all the others were tents and made good use of it. The toilets are flush and the shower has instant hot water, basic, but clean.
Morton Nationa Park is great if you like bike riding and bush walking. There are bike racks and car parks at the start of each walking track. Fairy Bower Falls was our favourite, not a long walk, but steep, a real challenge especially in the heat, and amazingly beautiful, well worth the effort, and you can cool off under the waterfall at the end.
Echo Point Look out and Mt Carnarvon.
The nearest town is Bundanoon, a lovely little town famous for holding Australias largest Scottish Festival each year. It’s main attraction for us being coffee shops with free wifi and phone signal. The one we frequented also hired bikes which was popular. It is only 1.5k from Gambells Rest, but about 1k of that is one mighty…. steep…… hill, Constitution Hill, even walking our bikes up that hill was hard work, but coming home again was terrifyingly exciting. I had my brakes on all the way and was still going at least 100k/ph, or at least thats what it felt like. By the time I got to the bottom of the hill my knees were shaking so much I could hardly keep my feet on the peddles.
Other places we visited during our stay.
Fitzroy Falls are amazing. From the information centre and cafe a path follows the river for about 150mtrs, then the earth just finishes….. and the river pours over the edge, its so amazing, and so unexpected. From the main lookout over the falls you can walk around the Western Rim and the Eastern Rim, each about 8k return. There are a variety of look outs, other smaller waterfalls and information about the local fauna and flora posted along the way.
Fitzroy Falls and Western Rim Walk (the day was wet and cloudy)
Fitzroy Falls and Eastern Rim Walk (a much sunnier day)
Fitzroy Falls drop toilets. I wonder how many children have fallen in?
Minnamurra Rainforest, Budderoo National Park. A truely beautiful place.
Illawarra Fly Tree Top Walk. It took six people six months to constuct.
Leaving Gambells Rest we headed for Highway One through Robertson for one of their world famous pies, then down Macquarie Pass. Narrow roads and hair pin turns are one thing, but towing a van in the rain and passing semi trailers added a degree of discomfort that left my nerves raw.
Having visited Sydney last year we decided to head further north for our nest stop. However, wanting to travel as much of Highway One as possible, we crossed Sydney Harbour Bridge …. at midday … in the pouring rain.
Arrived at Toowoon Bay in the rain, but the smell of the sea and the sound of the waves is magical.