DAY 287 - 30/11/2010 - Coffs Harbour, NSW

Its our last day in NSW and we spend it driving along Waterfall Way into the beautiful town of Dorrigo. As we are driving along the winding road we came across Newell Falls and Sherrard Falls. These two falls are right next to the roadway and are flowing down the mountain side.

We arrive in Dorrigo and follow the signs to Danger Falls. We get here but unfortunately it has started to rain. Its only light rain so we park the car and get out and view the falls from the viewing platform a short distance away from the carpark. I manage to take some photos but then the rain really starts to come down on us.

We all quickly jump back in the car and continue driving around.

Just outside of Danger Falls is the Water Treatment Plant and they have a sculpture of dunnies at the driveway entrance.

They call it the "Lavatree". Very clever...

We visit the Dorrigo Rainforest Centre and do the treetop walk. Its a short stroll along a timber deck and ends at a viewing platform overlooking the National Park. The clouds are fairly low and its hard to get a great photo but we get the jist of it.

I love this photo of Lilly.

After our visit at the rainforest centre we decided to drive around a little more along the tourist route thru the many surrounding National Parks. Its one big loop that takes us right back into Dorrigo.

Tall trees

Crossing the Nymboida River

We take some random offroad tracks

Having a snooze. Life's tough

This part of the world is very beautiful. They must get a lot of rain here because the vegetation is so vibrant, lush and green and the waterfalls are spectacular.

We drove thru a few little towns around here and Bellingen in particular was my favourite. Its rich in architectural heritage and the main street is lined with restored colonial buildings. It actually feels like your walking through a movie set. The Belinger River runs through the town and we were planning on letting the kids have a swim here but it got too cold to swim and the on and off rain hindered any outdoor activities. All in all the day was fantastic. The Coffs coast hinterland is quite spectacular and scenic. I am glad we came here.

Quick and easy Pizza Hut for dinner tonight, followed by drinks and cards. Tonight we are celebrating our last night together with our Carni friends, Chris and Rod. Our girls get settled in for a movie night with Josh and Caleb in their van while us adults hang out at our pad. We've had quite a few last night drinks with this family and I am pretty positive we will be seeing them again real soon and I am sure we will have another last night meal and drinks with them at another beauiful location.

Late night and gone to bed feeling a little intoxicated tonight. Cannot see us getting up too early as Waz wanted. Sorry babe xxxx.

DAY 286 - 29/11/2010 - Coffs Harbour, NSW

Everyone is up quite early this morning. Lilly convinces Alicia to read her a couple of books after breakfast.

The day is stunning and everyone is eager to go out and look around. Waz and Rod pop over to the Jeep dealership to get some information on 4wd tracks in and around Coffs. They come back with lots of information and directions.

Off we go in search for these scenic lookouts and 4wd tracks in the hinterland.

The views from the Sealy lookout were beautiful.

High up in the hills overlooking rolling hills choc full of banana plantations, tropical plants and dotted with gorgeous houses all unique in design and the sparkling blue ocean in the distance. The plantation all around us is lush, green and overgrowing. We've always had a soft spot for Coffs. Its very beautiful here.

After driving around for a bit we came across the Pilbura trail which we decided to follow. We had no maps, it didn't appear on the GPS and who knows where it would take us but we had sentimental attachment to the name and we were travelling in pairs.

It looks like its been used a fair bit but as we got deeper into it the track got very dense.

On many occasions Waz had to stop and clear some vegetation that was blocking our path.

At times it also got very steep and narrow.

You can't tell in the photo but its quite steep at this point.

Well there was no turning back even if we wanted to as there was no room for a u turn. The girls had fun but they were annoyed at stopping so many times. We managed to get thru it all with only a few minor scratches. Nothing that a good buff and polish won't get out.

We stopped off at Emerald Beach for lunch. This is the same spot we stopped for lunch at the beginning of our adventure. Day 2 to be more precise. Our friends hadn't been here before and we'd given this place such a big rap that we thought we would share it with them this time round. Its a shame the kids didn't have their togs with them because they could've gone for a swim after lunch.

After lunch we drove back into the hinterland to do more explorations but unfortunately the girls and I fell asleep in the car and missed out on this part of the journey.

We go back to the van park and Waz and Rod tinker with the vans, the kids ride around on their rip stiks and scooters and Chris and I walk into town to look around at the shops.

We found a couple of balinese shops and spend most of our time in these two stores. I make a couple of purchases here then head over to Woolys to get some things for dinner tonight. We have to get one of the boys to come pick us up because we manage to fill a trolley up.

Back home for dinner and an early night.