Dorrigo National Park: Green Wonderland

Second goal achieved: Dorrigo National Park

We drove through the small town of Bellingen, on the winding Waterfall Way, to the small town of Dorrigo, located about 800m above sea level.

We rented a great little apartment at the Lookout Mountain Retreat for two nights: modern chalet-style rooms equipped with high-quality natural materials, in subtle colors, in complete tranquility and seclusion, with a terrace and a magnificent mountain panorama. Everything was very clean, and the hosts were friendly!

This morning, we set off for the Rainforest Centre at Dorrigo National Park at around 9:00 am. The national park is part of the Gondwana Rainforests, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Here you can find the rarely occurring warm-temperate rainforest, which is great for hiking on accessible tracks.

The story told by the friendly Aboriginal ranger about the origin of the platypus was also fascinating. According to legend, it is a child born from the love affair between a duck and a water rat! :-))

The huge rainforest trees with their curiously winding aerial roots are particularly impressive, as are the giant fig trees with their buttress roots. Surrounded by green leaf canopies, everything in the forest seems to reach for the light, accompanied by the chirping of cicadas and the many different birds of the rainforest, not to mention the joyful laughter of the kookaburra. If you pay attention, you can spot large black lizards sunning themselves or colorful species of parrots.

The approximately 7 km Wonga Walk leads uphill and downhill, past tree slopes several meters deep, on wooden tracks and suspension bridges. At times, you'll feel like Indiana Jones or in Jurassic Park.

You will be rewarded with magnificent lookouts of densely forested mountain panoramas and crystal-clear waterfalls flowing and rushing through rocky walls in the middle of the rainforest. The lush green of the rainforest is wonderfully soothing for the eyes and soul!

Today, we combined all the signposted walks into our hike and arrived back at the Rainforest Centre after about 3 hours. Here, we enjoyed our packed sandwiches. And to top it off, we walked on the 70m Skywalk, which offers a magnificent panoramic view of the high plateau!

In the afternoon, we drove to the impressive Dangar Falls, which can be viewed from a lookout just 1 km from Dorrigo!

Truly a great experience for all four of us, and in the evening, we were tired, hungry, but in a really good mood!!!

Tomorrow, we will continue along Waterfall Way until Armidale - we are excited!

And then it's back to the coast to visit koalas at the hospital!