Down, down, down ........ up, up up!!

 It's Monday 14th and we have left our comfy camp area for a camp site on the Nymboida River.

It's way off the beaten track and proves to be a very long steep drive - fantastic!  We arrive to find no one else - AGAIN.  We just love these camp sites.  It's another great spot, where the Nymboida and the Little Nymboida meet called The Junction.  We are feeling very smug until FIVE 4WD trucks arrive and our hearts sink.  There isn't enough room to swing a cat and here we are with FIVE more trucks - some with trailers.  Thankfully they are just on a flying visit and leave us in total peace again.  We see our first Monitor Lizard and he's a beauty.

Tuesday saw us head off to a place called Chaelundi Mountain.  We are happy to spend the day there with only 1 other vehicle and they were out of sight.  There were some fantastic views on our walk and we just loved it there - but for the mozzies!  They proved to be too much for me and so we moved on again.

       

    

This time back to an old favourite - Dalmorton on the Old G/GI road.  Another Monitor Lizard came strolling by - this one a lovely yellow/black one.  I'm assuming they are Monitor Lizards but please put me right if they are not.  We found a different place to camp up and had the best time just lazing in the warm water and soaking up the Sun - until the storm came through.  We were lucky not to have put the tent up so we just waited until it had passed over and then set up for the night.  We had a lazy Wednesday morning before we started looking for our next place not far away.

It was an adventurous drive through woodlands and grasslands.  We were so excited to suddenly hear our mobiles sing out.  The outside World!!

After catching up with emails and text messages we cut ourselves off from everyone once again.   This place was a long way up and then a long way down and guess what - no one else around.   Unfortunately we had storms again, this time quite loud with heavy rain.   Thankfully Steve has set us up with really good cover so we were able to just sit back and chill and play Crib till it passed over.  At about 8.30 pm we saw lights and yes a truck arrived in the dark to disturb our peace.  They headed straight for us though and to our surprise got out and introduced themselves.  They were there to do a bit of fishing but also to let off some rather large fireworks.  Did we mind!!   Steve immediately offered to photograph them so we headed down to the river bank - bear in mind this place is miles away from anywhere - and set up.  We had a great time.  The fireworks were amazing and as you can see Steve did a fantastic job of capturing them in all their glory.

       

But by now we were a bit tired of the rain and decided we just needed to get dry and head for home.   Which is why we arrived back yesterday - Friday 18th.

THE END - till next time........

Glen Innes to Grafton - the back road!!

Moved on and had a fantastic drive down the G/GI Road.   It reminded us so much of our drive down the Gibb River Road – not so 4WD but still dirt track and fabulous scenery.  

Mann River Nature Reserve

Whilst enjoying our drive we suddenly saw a snake slithering across the road.  Steve stopped so as not to run over him and when we drove off he was no where to be seen so we thought he had gone into the undergrowth.  As we were driving away we heard a clunk clunk sound - Steve jumped out of the truck and backwards which I thought was a bit odd, but he realised that the snake was caught in the wheel.  

Sure enough the poor thing had climbed into the wheel whilst we were stopped.  Sad.....

Outback War Memorial

We found the old Gold Rush Town of Dalmorton with old buildings and a map of what it was like years gone by.  The camp site was good and we had a couple of nights there.  We had two lovely walks and a swim in the river.

Long Deserted

The Old Grafton to Glen Innes Road - a good stretch!

Morning Tea by the river

Convict Tunnel Nr Dalmorton

Osprey

Using the long drop dunnies is a challenge.  You have to lift the lid and let all those mossies and flies escape before placing ones rear end over the hole and then quickly removing oneself before being bitten by the remaining mossies you just know are hovering beneath you!!!

Easter Water Dragon that
kept us company

Dragonflies - egg laying

Dragonflies mating in flight

Nymboida River

Nymboida River

Found our way back into Grafton on Sunday and did a bit of shopping with the obligatory cup of coffee – ah civilisation!!

We spent the night at a ‘proper’ camp site with ‘proper’ toilets and showers and a much needed washing machine.  Now heading off back to the G/GI road and Nymboida for another great experience I hope.

Continuing inland

Our apologies for the false link, we left the ‘l’ off html.

Monday morning (7^th).  A wet night again but we are still smiling.  We are heading off to Wave Hill near Clarence Gorge.  This was one of our main reasons for doing this little trip and guess what, it is too wet to get up their!!   We will have to come back though as it looks like it will be pretty spectacular.  Steve and Sue – the owners of Wave Hill, have recommended another campsite, Coombadjha down by the Clarence River so we headed off like happy campers.  On our drive there we spotted two Wedgetail Eagles.  I was ecstatic of course and although they were a long way off managed to get a reasonable shot. After setting up camp we decided to go for a walk up the road when we were stopped by a family in their truck who said ‘are you Steve and Sue’.   We just looked at them stunned.   Here we are in the back of beyond, in the boonies, and someone knows who we are!!   Guess how.

Yes, it rained again and the bedding got wet so we spent time drying everything off again.  A priority on our return is to sort out some mods for the tent.  It isn’t all dome and gloom.  It is quite lovely out here.  So many dirt roads and quiet places it is just what we were hoping for.

We stopped again Tuesday night at a place on the Mann River, Cangia Bridge – another top spot.  Yes it rained but not too much. 

So, at the moment, we are camped on the Boyd River on the Old Grafton/Glen Innes Road.  It is so nice here we are staying a second night.  We rock hopped and swam in the river today and whilst I am typing this the Wallabies are about 20 metres away.  How fantastic.  Oh and we have the place to ourselves!