Armidale to Bellingen via Dorrigo

We had stayed the night with a host family who live just outside Toowoomba. We had a wonderful time with them eating dinner and drinking wine. The next morning we drove to Armidale but it rained all the way. However it was fine the next morning for our drive to the coast.



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Marianne really likes to take photos of cows. Perhaps she thinks she was one in a former life.

It's a pretty drive but because of a lack of rain, the vegetation is brown.

The road is known as the Waterfall Way because of the various waterfalls near the highway. Because of the drought, the waterfalls have little water. You can see pictures of them in full flow here.

Wattle in bloom. It is Australia's national flower.

Park at Wollombi Falls.

Viewing platform.

There are two waterfalls and the water from each fall meet at this junction. It would be spectacular drought conditions have dried up everything.

Moss on a fence. 

Murals depicting the local area at the falls.

We turned off to go to Cathedral Rocks but we did not manage to find them. The scenery was good along the way however.

As we got closer to the coast, the grass became greener.

The views are spectacular in this area.

We arrived in Dorrigo which is an interesting town close to the edge of the range. It's smaller (1000 people) than Toowoomba and has a slightly higher elevation at 2400 feet so it was nice and cool. This is the local big pub.

The main streets are wide with little activity. One of those quiet sleepy country towns.

Marianne was really intrigued by this mural.

Those pumpkins looked interesting and the price was attractive, but what would be do with one?

The edge of the range looking down towards the coast in the distance.

The drive down the range is a very windy road through an extensive rain forest. Eventually we reached Bellingen where it was much hotter and quite humid. I had been to this town three years before that you can read about here.

I had been to Dorrigo several years ago and thought it looked like an attractive town. This visit reinforced my impression.