Mt Yulladunida - Mount Kaputar National Park

Mt Ningadhun sunrise

the mood

Waking in the dark, disorientated after a deep, exhausted sleep of wild dreams, it seems crazy but it's time to get up. Caz unzips the tent fly to reveal a starlit sky, a thin sliver of moon hangs precariously in the west. I fumble for my head torch then reluctantly shimmy out of the warm sleeping bag and drag on extra layers of clothing. There is no frost on the ground but a southerly breeze feels like ice and before long my fingers are aching with cold as I prepare tea and coffee.

Mirrong Falls - Bindarri National Park

On both sides of the old logging trail, callicomas form a shaded tunnel through the surrounding rainforest. Walking silently, daydreaming about the journey ahead, I suddenly pop out of darkness into a patch of open sunlight. Straight blackbutts emerge from the forest and stand guard over stark white paper daisies growing on the track. Leaf litter crunches underfoot. The bush here looks slightly stressed and dry as the hot spring weather continues and smoke haze hangs in the air.

We are high in the hills of Bindarri National Park, just west of Coffs Harbour, near the headwaters of some amazing creek systems. Here, contour lines gather closely together on the topographical map forming a deep blur of gullies and creeks and spurs: enough to feed the wild imagination and daydreams of any walker.

Fireflies - Washpool National Park

Sometimes it is not an adventure you come home from, but a miracle of timing. 

We were sitting in Bellbird Campground in Washpool National Park surrounded by thick, dark rainforest. Small tent clearings had been carved out between the callicoma and coachwood trees. It was getting dark and we sat at the picnic table reading and relaxing after a long, off-track day walk to the headwaters of Washpool Creek. 

Coombadjha Creek - Washpool National Park

What made us look up? The dimming light perhaps. Something out of the corner of the eye. 

On dusk, the forest filled with fireflies: flitting through the trees, drifting  past us, falling amongst the leaf litter. I could catch them in my hand. As it got darker there were more and more. Behind our campsite, where a footpath cut through the dense rainforest, the fireflies were easy to observe. The majority hovered about 1m above the ground and the effect of so many blinking, moving, playful lights was breathtaking. 

After 20 minutes, they were nearly all gone. Within half an hour - the forest was dark again. 

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. 

Warabah National Park - by the light of a supermoon

It is mid-winter, but hot; sun blasting down and very little shade beneath the sparse cypress pines. Last time here, a year ago, winter was a rude -5 degrees celsius with frost patches lingering until lunchtime. This trip is positively balmy, until we take our shoes off and step into the Namoi River. The water is breathtakingly, painfully cold and knee deep at our crossing point. This is certainly a landscape of extremes.

Taking Lucifer by the thumb - Guy Fawkes River National Park

As we weave our way through tall open forest the Guy Fawkes River valley is visible to our right; its huge, yawning expanse contains thin pockets of morning mist but what I'm looking for down there are the wide riverside flats. They have me dreaming of a lazy afternoon sitting on a clear grassy bank, sipping a warm cup of tea, soaking up sunshine. But, we have only just left the car park and the river is a long way away. As usual, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Seeking The Inaccessible Gulf - Oxley Wild Rivers National Park

The river is a water green snake sliding across grey rock and it lies far down in the bottom of a steep sided gorge: scree slopes and bare cliffs tower either side. The landscape dwarfs us as we pick our way along the crumbling gorge rim. Down there amongst the boulders, around the next corner, through the deep pools, lies The Inaccessible Gulf. 

And, with a name like that, who wouldn't want to try to get in for a closer look.