Coonarma Peak - Gibraltar Range National Park, NSW

Many of our destinations are points on a map with no access track. Walks with no right or wrong way, in or out. This is one of those – to a peak perched on the edge of wilderness, a day's walk there and another back again, a weekend spent in conversation with the topography of the Gibraltar Range. 

Coonarma Peak is located in Gibraltar Range National Park in northern New South Wales. The national park is located 69km east of Glen Innes or 92km west of Grafton and within it, Coonarma Peak is an obscure outcropping of granite that juts out of the highland swamps and breaks open the ridges of dry stringybark forest. It is topped by an old trig marker and the sugary blossoms of grass tree spears in flower.

What lies below - Dandahra Falls, Gibraltar Range National Park

By the time we reach camp I am barely capable of simile, let alone anything as profound as metaphor. Some adventures seem to exhaust my vocabulary. Diary notes are sparse. The concentration required throughout the day, and the physical nature of the route we have just taken, has exhausted not just my body but my mind. It is enough now to lay in camp and just observe – not to describe or compare or analyse. I lie back and just be: disappearing into the spectacular world that lies below Dandahra Falls. 

Reaching the base of Dandahra Falls, in Gibraltar Range National Park in northern NSW, has been on our adventure hit list for years. The fact we have also been unable to find any photos online showing what lies below this grand waterfall, inspires us further. An earlier attempt to reach the base of the falls has given us a good understanding of what is needed:  rope, harnesses and prussiks. It is a matter of satisfying our curiosity for wild perspectives. 

Boundary crossing - Washpool & Gibraltar Range National Parks

Low scrub scrapes against my shins and a branch catches at the arm of my shirt. My hands are smudged with charcoal from the trunks of old, burnt stringy barks. I've had to grab them for support as we duck and weave, push and shove our way through the bush towards a distant bunch of rocks that have disappeared behind the dense canopy.

Granite Tigers and River Dogs - Gibraltar Range & Nymboida NP

Seeking to escape the madness of Christmas one year, preferring instead to immerse ourselves in a deep wilderness, Caz and I set out on a five-day off-track adventure that involved walking across the top of the Gibraltar Range National Park, out past the granite tors of Anvil Rock and Old Man’s Hat, and down a long curving ridge to the Mann River into the remote neighbouring Nymboida National Park. At the river we planned to pull out small inflatable boats, stowed in the bottom of our packs, and paddle 15 kilometres through the rugged Mann River wilderness to its junction with the Nymboida River before continuing another 10 kilometres, around Bridal Veil and New Zealand Falls, eventually drifting through farmland back to our starting point at Jackadgery.

The story of this fantastic adventure appeared in Australia's outdoor adventure magazine, Wild. While the story cannot be viewed online, you can order back issues of Wild magazine by contacting them through their website. The story appeared in issue 128.

In hindsight, this adventure is one of the toughest I have ever done. After the challenging 17-kilometre walking leg we reached the Mann River and I collapsed in an exhausted heap. Caz still managed to find the energy each day to take some spectacular photos so here are a few extra images that did not appear in the magazine at publication. I've also included a few tantalising snippets of the adventure. Hopefully they will inspire you to track down the full story and plan your own adventure in this beautiful and wild part of our landscape. 

Haystack Mountain - Gibraltar Range National Park

Walk north. Leave Boundary Falls by the Gibraltar-Washpool World Heritage Walk. Enjoy the track while it lasts. On the way, detour to Duffer Falls and fill up with sweet granite-stripped water.  Continue on but walk silently. Watch for flame robins. Keep an eye out for a subtle footpad, right on track, at the top of a rise, on a bend.  Disappear into the scrub through hard bending banksia and heath. Head up. Weave footprints and foxtail rush. Create a path between granite boulders. Get scratched. Beware of eyepokers. Emerge from behind New England mallee and find the open space. You are now the needle on Haystack Mountain.

Dandahra Gorge - Gibraltar Range National Park

The full moon threw a sheet of silver light along the steep sided valley, illuminating the smooth bark of brush box trees lining the boulder strewn creek. We lay on a huge flat rock: no tent, water flowed around us, small bats flitted across the moonlit sky. This fantastic bivvy site was smack bang in the middle of the creek, about 3 metres above the water, with enough room to sleep four or five people. A neatly jammed piece of driftwood provided the only way up or down off the rock. It was a miracle of sorts, being the largest clear, flat area we could find at the end of a long, tricky day of walking. Then the full moon added its magic touch, lighting up the shimmering treetops and creeping its way along the creek bed towards us.

2012 Campsites: the best of the best

The tent and the campsite is a home away from home, even if just for one night. It’s nice when a campsite comes up with the goods – million dollar views or beautiful forest, soft ground, water, the right feng shui. That’s not always possible. Sometimes we are left searching out a patch of clear ground between too many trees or pitching on a tiny edge of river bed too close for comfort to the rising water.

However, more often than not, nature comes up with the goods and we have had some truly stunning campsites. So, with a new year now in swing and new adventures ahead of us we thought we’d quickly share some of our best campsites of 2012.