Continuing the exploration of the tablelands, we turned left off the Pacific Highway towards Armidale.
We tried to stop for morning tea in Bellingen to see what Ross and Maree find so attractive about the place, but it is definitely not a Winnebago friendly town so we had to move on again.
We reached Dorrigo and visited the Dangar Falls before going to the Dorrigo National Park.
Serendipity continues to rule. I misread the signpost and we headed off the Never Never Picnic Ground instead of the Glade Picnic Ground. The latter is a little way up the sealed road from the Park Headquarters and the former is, as we found out, down 10 km (6 miles) of wet gravel road through the most gorgeous closed-canopy temperate rainforest. The drive was exciting but the scenery was superb.
We returned to the rainforest Centre at the park headquarters where there is a skywalk which juts out horizontally from the ridge above the rainforest canopy. While the view is tremendous, one gets only a limited insight into the canopy because it is almost impenetrable.
The walk down onto the floor of the rainforest is much more instructive, especially as there are birds in profusion for anyone with the patience to wait quietly for a few minutes. Whipbirds are said to be very shy and hard to observe but I was able to watch one feeding for several minutes only two or three metres (eight or ten feet) away.