Green Cascades Caravan Park, Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia. 3005 kmÂ
Click here and here for pictures
Australian word of the day: Walking Track – Hiking Trail. As in – today Shir and Orr completed a 1km walking track using solely their feet. Hooray!
Yesterday morning we had an enjoyable drive to Brisbane, passing by Glass House Mountains, a collection of small protruding mountains named by Captain Cook 250 years ago. Arriving in Brisbane in the late morning we tried to spend time in the center, but a big city is unwelcoming to large vehicles such as our RV. Just to find a place to park near downtown took us 20 minutes and when we did, it was a spot limited to 2 hours. So we walked around for a bit and then drove across the Brisbane river to the south side where again it took us some time to find a parking spot. There was supposed to be a big swimming lagoon for kids but it was under repairs, so we found a little playground and let the kids expend their energy. We left central Brisbane in the early afternoon to a southern suburb called Rochdale where we camped for the night.
Deciding that Brisbane needs no more of our time, this morning we drove up to the mountains in the southwest, on the border of New South Wales. We climbed up to a 700m plateau and felt the colder air right away. Springbrook National park, along with several others are on the the rim of a caldera of an ancient volcano 100km to the south. The sheer cliffs make for some pretty sights and magnificent waterfalls. We took in the views at Purling Brook Falls and then drove to Best of All Lookout on the southernmost part of the park. I assume it could be a great lookout when it is less cloudy and windy. Unfortunately for us a cold rainy front was coming in and the visibility was not very good.
We continued to another section of the park called Natural Bridge, where we did a 1km loop hike, mostly down, then up stairs, to a waterfall falling through the roof of a cave. The hike itself is through a temperate rainforest with beautiful huge trees and climbing vines. The walk took us a while because we wanted Orr and Shir to complete it by themselves. Towards the end Shir complained a bit, but both girls managed the 1km very nicely. Onwards and upwards my hiking kids!
It was 4:30pm an we still didn’t know where we would spend the night. We decided against the mountains because the weather forecast called for rain and clouds for the next 36 hours. So we drove south into the caldera, known as Tweed Valley and found a basic simple and clean campground here in Murwillumbah (don’t try to pronounce it). It’s raining now.
Tomorrow we will head back to the coast to Byron Bay.
Good Night,
-Hemi
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