New England National Park

We left Byron on the 6th and made our way down to New England National Park - not because we'd heard good things but because the camping was cheap and it was halfway to the Hunter Valley.

What a great fluke decision.

We had a great drive down with heaps of windy roads and beautiful scenery including great stops

Ebor Falls - Top Falls

Lawrie and the Falls

Lawrie's arty shot - beautiful flowers and beautiful view

Lookout down the valley from the Ebor Falls

Ebor Falls - Top and Bottom

We set up camp for the night and watched the temperature fall - it was freezing and Lawrie's bed was wet from all the rain in Byron. We got out the butane cooker and dried the sheet and warmed ourselves around the tiny burner which was surprisingly efficient.

Campsite on night 2 when we'd managed to light a fire

River next to the camp site

Another shot of the river next to the camp site

The next day we went hiking through the national park. We didn't see another person all day - it was great. We walked up to Point Lookout which was meant to have great views but because it's so high, we were walking in clouds.

What we were meant to see

What we did see

We got lucky though and the cloud did clear and this is what we saw a little later on in the day

View from Eagles Nest Lookout

The walk was rated as medium - potentially  correct in dry times. It took us 1hr 15min to go around 1km - the ground was very wet and slippery. Kitty had on mesh shoes which quickly filled up with water. But this walk was worth it - the forest here was definitely different from what we are used to - very alpine.

Lawrie goes all Matrix across a stream

Moss and different fungi everywhere.

A view over a gap in the morning.

Kitty on an easy part of the trail

Looking up the scarp - we descended from the top of this right down to the bottom.

Looking out from the walking trail.

Stairs may look handy - but they were slippery and wet - like the mud below

Part of the scrambling section - no real path

DIY couple shot

The rain set in again down the bottom of the scarp.

A waterfalls you walked behind on the trail

Lawrie in a fern gully

Part of the trail - even Kitty had to duck

Clear small waterfall.

View of the Scarp in the mist.

We made it back to camp after about 14km, wet, cold and tired. Due to the rain it took ages to get a fire going - a whole packet of firelighters. We dried our shoes, ate dinner then headed off to bed.

Drying shoes off in front of the fire.

Lawrie woke up first the next morning and had to go help jump start a fellow campers Subie - neither of us had jumper leads so we had to drive to the local trout hatchery to borrow a set. It was still raining so we decided to head down the coast.

New England National Park was well worth the cold and wet!