A day that didn’t involve lock-up, uni, RFS, RAAF or any other commitment – holy snapping duckshit!!! So we ran away lol
Again we were lucky to have friends Aidan & Brit join us for the run although I’m thinking they were enjoying the chance to get away for a while too. Anywhere on the east coast was nuts – people were absolutely everywhere. So we went west.
To the north-west of Wauchope you will find a heap of places to explore like Willi Willi National Park, Werrikimbe National Park, Mount Boss State Forest, Mount Seaview Nature Reserve, Kumbatine National Park, Wilson River Nature Reserve, Cobrabald etc. Basically there is days of exploring through there and you can mix and match different routes – you can even drive over the range and come out on the Kempsey-Armidale Road.
Unfortunately a combination of the fires and floods has results in some substantial damage in many of these areas. A lot of areas are still blocked off and closed, but slowly it is opening bit by bit.
Anyway we grabbed some food from Lake Innes before heading out through Wauchope and Beechwood towards Bellangry. A quick unplanned stop gave the kids a few smiles
Ellie still enjoys sitting up a tad higher in the Jackaroo being able to see everything. Not sure I’m quite as convinced as she can now kick me!!!
We continued on to Five Ways where we found that Cobrabald Rd was still closed. Probably should have checked the website before we left, but it’s funny how complacent you become when doing local trips. Either way we headed up the hill to the lookout for everyone to stretch their legs
Heading back west we contemplated heading south though Pappinbarra but decided not to this trip. There is evidence of quite a few landslides through this section – they must have done a serious amount of work to tidy this up. The fire has also resulted in it being very open – I didn’t even know half these views were available.
We headed down to Wilson River for a look-see and to have some lunch. In the past I have done a loop through here back to Rollands Plains, but as the photos show the bridge was damaged during the floods. There is also a couple of small walks here for those inclined to do so.
After a feed we headed back to Hastings Forest Way and continued west. We stuck our head down into Banda and found it quite overgrown.
We turned south down Cockerawimbeeba Trail (say that drunk!) and then back west onto North Plateau Road. If you were to head down this road in the wet it would be quite slippery, but more importantly you would damage the road surface.
At the end of it is the Plateau Beech Campground – a bloody nice open area with a pretty good hut. You could throw the swags down in there quite easily and enjoy a nice fire. The walking track isn’t too bad either, although it sucks having to walk back up the hill 🙂
It was starting to get late by this time, so it was a quick stop at the pub for the kids to have a play and to wet the tonsils. If I remember right the laziness even continued to getting a cooked chook for dinner 🙂
Overall another enjoyable day in an amazing part of our country. I am constantly amazed at what a difference an hours travel can make to the terrain. I should know better with what I do for work, but getting out there really hammers it home.
Cheers