The Waterfall Way
16 January 11
In all our drives up and down the east coast of Australia, we can’t believe that we’ve never taken the breathtakingly gorgeous Waterfall Way before. The route is a slow, winding road from Coffs Harbour to Armidale on the New England Tablelands.
Our previous lifestyle of rushing is probably the key reason we didn’t take this road. We wouldn’t have been able to appreciate the scenery at a previous time, either. In our previous mindset, the slow pace of the journey would have strangled us first!
The road actually directly passes several beautiful waterfalls — it’s difficult to gape at them out the window so thoughtful road-construction teams have built rest-stops where you can admire the views of water coming down the cliffs, under the road and down the hill to the valley.
Rainforest Centre
Our first destination was the Rainforest Centre at Dorrigo National Park. This newish facility features a “skywalk” that takes you out over the top of the trees, bitumen circular paths, boardwalks and spectacular rainforest flora.
The buildings featured several different art exhibitions as well as permanent displays. I was sorry that the exhibition by the Aboriginal artist Nudge Blacklock wasn’t starting until next month — Nudge picked me up while I was hitchhiking around Bellingen a couple days ago, and now that I’ve met the man, I would have liked to have seen his artwork.



They look a bit like wallabies or kangaroos, but pademelons are defined as a different class of marsupial. These fascinating creatures dwell in the thick rainforest and thump their feet to warn each other of danger.

A circuit track leading from the Rainforest Centre highlighted the best parts of the Dorrigo National Park, and we wandered leisurely down the track to see some of the attractions without actually planning on completing the whole thing.




We were lured by the prospect of two separate waterfalls, so we continued down the track.





Inspired by the Crystal Showers Falls, we continued around the circuit, passing the half-way mark and becoming committed on finishing the whole track.

It was dark when we finally arrived back at the truck. We weren’t prepared for such a long walk, and we should have taken torches to light the path in the gloom of dusk. However, I was thankful for such well-formed paths — it is impossible to get lost!
I was inspired by the view from the Skywalk and planned to get up early in the morning to watch the sun rise over the ocean. In the morning, I convinced David to get up with me, and we were rewarded with spectacular views.





Never Never Picnic Area
After a leisurely breakfast which David cooked — using all the cost-free ingredients given to us by the uni students, we drove to the Never Never Picnic Area ten kilometres away. Based on its name, this part of the Dorrigo Plateau must contain the headwaters for the Never Never Creek that we camped by and played in.
After consulting a map, we headed off down the 5.5 km Rosewood Creek circuit to see a couple more waterfalls. The girls usually take a while to get used to a long trek, but we were rewarded very early on by a distraction in the form of some local wildlife.

Everyone perked up as we continued on our track. The path was not well-formed, and we had to watch our step, but the girls found things to amuse themselves along the way.





The track took us through several layers of rainforest — each with slightly different flora. It was all gorgeous — except for the leeches. However, despite my histrionic introduction to leeches late last year, we were able to teach the girls that they’re actually harmless and can be easily scraped off or flicked away. By the end of the walk, Aisha and Brioni were competent leech-removers.






When we reached Coachwood Falls, we discovered that we were standing at the top of the cascade and couldn’t admire the view.


Further down the track, a deviation may have provided a destination from which we could properly admire the waterfall, but we decided to keep going for Red Cedar Falls, hoping that it would be impressive. It was described as the highest waterfall in the park, and we had to tackle a steep, slippery descent (grade: hard) with the girls, but we managed okay.





It was hard to relax at Red Cedar Falls. There wasn’t anywhere comfortable to sit, and the waterfall drowned out most conversation as well as coating us all with water. David managed to reach the pool at the bottom of the falls and I tried to get close for some photos, but the girls were overwhelmed by the cascade and wanted to get away pretty quickly.
On our walk back to the truck, I felt rewarded by a brief sighting of a superb lyrebird crossing the track ahead of us. This spectacularly-plumed bird is an outstanding mimic, able to copy everything from a chainsaw noise to other animal cries.
This long walk was probably about seven kilometres (with the deviation to Red Cedar Falls) and took our family seven hours. Parts of it were quite difficult, but all three older girls walked the entire way — only Delaney hitched a ride. I’m so proud of our daughters!

There was one other car in the carpark with us overnight, and in the morning a stranger walked into camp. He had spent the night camping at one of the other waterfalls on a different track to the one we took — it was his special time-out away from work and family commitments. What an inspiring way to spend a weekend!


Dangar Falls
After packing the truck, we headed for Dorrigo and the Dangar Falls on the northern side of the town. Dorrigo was originally formed as a logging town, and we saw evidence of the selective tree cutting during our walks in the national park.

With just 20.8 cubic metres of wood, someone could build their family a home. Isn’t that outstanding?
How much wood and other raw materials does it take to build a house in our society today? And how much do we really need? As I looked from the log to the truck and trailer that we’ve been comfortably living in, I think about our sprawling house back in Brisbane and wonder again why we have it.

A little path led away from the look-out and alongside the escarpment, giving us hope that we could go swimming down the bottom. We changed into swimmers and took our boogie boards for our exploratory trek.




Dangar Falls was a beautiful stop with a lovely park up at the top where we enjoyed lunch and meeting other travellers. I’m so glad we got here — these waterfalls have exceeded my expectations!
1 · jo · 20 January 2011, 09:08
Wow, wow and wow!! We MUST try and get along that road one day…
We once drove across the road to Bellingen to Coff’s, but it was dark, the Bellingen campground was flooded (probably is now, too) and i was cranky and pregnant – so we ended up in a motel in Coff’s!
Once Brett starts his research project at Adelaide, he will have study sites all over Australia (he is working on lizards – so i’ll check with him what your lizard was – he loves to argue about lizards!)…so i’m sure we can swing by that area – Kai and I plan to tag along on most of his field trips for the next four years!!!
Hope you get some useful time from being back in Brisbane for now.
Jo
2 · Paulo · 20 January 2011, 13:40
Lauren, those sky pictures are absolutely beautiful.
3 · Peta Fussell · 21 January 2011, 09:43
Fantastic post Lauren. I’ve driven the road (with my husband, on our two week honeymoon meander up and down the NSW coast) and I agree – it’s absolutely breathtaking. Thanks for sharing and an awesome record that you’ve created for your family. :-)
4 · Naomi · 30 October 2012, 13:43
Well, I’m guilty of driving past that turn-off, but the next trip south that we plan, will hopefully be able to include seeing those amazing sights… It took my breath away when I saw the photo of the Rainbow over the falls. X