Boulders and Winter Chill - Part Two

 Boonoo Boonoo National Park- Boonoo Boonoo River walk, 14 km in total.

Wow, yesterday finished on a high with its magnificent sunset. Would today be as special?

The answer was yes, starting with sunrise. Not a colourful one, but a frosty, foggy morning, with stark leafless trees.

Checking on the day at 6.45 am, I immediately knew that breakfast was going to be delayed.

The fog and stark trees beckoned me along this road. I was euphoric.

The sunshine beckoned us to eat breakfast outside. We wrapped up well for the 7C temperature.

Boonoo Boonoo pronounced Bunna-bunoo, means "poor country with no animals to provide food" in the Jukambal language. We saw no wildlife and heard few birds. It was just a 40-minute drive to the start of this trail. The air was still nippy, so we set off quite rugged up. Once into our stride, the layers came off.

It was just a short distance from the Cypress Pine Camping ground to the stunning Platypus Hole in the river. No platypus spotted, but the reflections were amazing.

We had to tear ourselves away. For the next couple of k's, we were never far from the river and were amazed by the width of its rocky course. It would be sensational to see in full spate, but on this day, it was just a small stream tumbling regularly over small granite waterfalls.

For the majority of the trail, we would occasionally hear the sound of the stream. We were walking through dry eucalypt forest, she-oak canopies, and enjoying the flowering banksias. There was the hope we would see a Glossy Black-cockatoo or a Rock Wallaby sunning itself. No such luck.

The unusual orange, black-flecked Banksia.

Back to sighting the river.

Nothing in the notes on this trail had mentioned the spectacle that was to greet us around this bend.

The Boonoo Boonoo River dropped dramatically [210 metres] into a vast, forested, deep gorge, to keep tumbling its way to the mighty Clarence River and the Pacific Ocean.

Banjo Patterson [1864 - 1941] was a famous Australian bush poet, journalist and author, widely considered one of the greatest writers of Australia's colonial period. He wrote "Man from Snowy River" and Waltzing Matilda. I think you may have heard of the latter. In 1903, he met Alice Walker, the daughter of a local Tenterfield grazier. This is where he proposed to her. We assume that they must have ridden here on horseback. It was only opened as a park in 1982.

On our return, we collected the makings of a cuppa from the car and returned to Platypus Pond to hopefully spot one. Success from a distance, but very exciting to spy.

A very muted but lovely sunset completed another exceptional day.

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