9 July 2012 - Taree Showgrounds, Taree, Manning Valley, NSW

What a joy to find yet another perfect day on rising! We were soon packed up and driving south west along Bucketts Way through Tinonee and Burrell Creek. The sealed road was as appalling as any we have experienced; the seal broken into saucer size cobblestones and the sides often soft. Signs indicated that the route was to be upgraded at a grand cost of so many million dollars however we flitted by so fast I was unable to make out the completion date. Perhaps it will be done by the time our grandchildren undertake a carbon copy of our Great Australian Adventure. Despite this, we found the countryside we passed through just lovely and were even more impressed as we neared Gloucester. The farmland in the Shire of Gloucester is very attractive and was very reminiscent of that in the King Country of New Zealand.

After seventy kilometres, we pulled into the small town of Gloucester, quite impressive given its small population of just 2,500 and popped into the Information Centre to check that the planned route was open. The volunteer there was just so helpful, handing out brochures on the walks in the Barrington Tops, the Gloucester Tops and the Copeland Tops just in case we decided to not travel so far. He advised that although there was no snow about, the temperatures would be many degrees colder than here in Gloucester. (We had already found Gloucester to be quite a lot colder than Taree even though we had come over and down to an altitude of only 100 metres ASL) He warned us to take warm clothing, food and drink and to make sure the fuel tanks were full. We assured him that we were well prepared and set off for Barrington Tops which had always been our goal.

It is a further seventy kilometres to that part of the National Park we were headed and it was already half ten. The road more or less heads west and passes through the tiny hamlets of Barrington and Copeland, the latter once a bustling town of 1,100 people after gold was discovered there in 1876. Once upon a time there were fifty one mines in the district which together produced eleven tons of gold.

Rather than enter the Copeland Tops State Conservation Area, we continued on westwards climbing steeply up and over the afforested Tops which reach 800 metres ASL at its highest point. The surface of the road is quite good but winds this way and that, and I was feeling quite ill by the time we descended down into the beautiful valley west of the Tops. We stopped for a while and I paced about sucking in the very fresh country air and nagged Chris about driving too fast on such roads. Truth be known, he had probably not gone over forty kph at any time!

The road soon turned to gravel, wide and very rough; we dodged great protruding rocks and a multitude of potholes. There was little traffic and visibility was very good so our slalom progress was quite safe. We passed through the Barrington State Forest where milling was apparently going on, however we saw no such action.

We skirted along the northern edge of the National Park along the edge of high escarpment, staying on the road that continues through to Scone, situated on the New England Highway, a town we had passed through last year. Given the state of the road, it was quite astounding to think about this fact; that it was the most direct link between Gloucester and the east coast from Scone!

There are several excellent picnic areas along this northern section of the park and some excellent lookout points, where one can stand on a platform and look directly down many hundreds of metres to the forest below. We spotted honey eaters and a mass of coloured parrots; blue and red, red, blue and green and again heard the noisy Eastern Whipbirds. We also spotted three wild brumbies on the road side but the marsupials remained unseen.

Our Polblue Picnic Spot

When we stopped at the Polblue Picnic Spot to have lunch and then walk around the Swamp, we saw evidence of wombats, but they themselves remained hidden in the undergrowth. Scotch or English Broom is a problem up on the plateau at 1450 metres ASL, surprising given I have seen none elsewhere. It serves as an excellent hiding place for the unwanted wild pigs and foxes and is the bane of the park rangers’ lives. I was surprised to learn that the seeds can remain viable for thirty years!

Here and up behind Wingham, we also saw a lot of the invasive woolly nightshade known here in Australia as “Wild tobacco”. It is a small shrub or tree native to South America and grows like wildfire particularly in the northern parts of New Zealand’s North Island. The plant has a life of up to thirty years and can grow up to ten metres tall. Its large oval leaves are grey-green in colour and are covered with felt-like hairs. All parts of the plant are poisonous and even handling it can cause nausea and irritation. Because of its ability to affect human health and because of its aggressive and fast growing character it is illegal in some areas of New Zealand to sell, propagate or distribute any part of the plant. Perhaps it is here too?

The two kilometre walk around the swamp was lovely, the colours of the plants wonderful. Spagnum moss, quite different from that I am familiar with in New Zealand, covers much of the area. The walk passes through snow gums and other eucalypts, across icy cold channels of water filled with vivid green water weeds;the sub-alpine swamp covers 370 hectares.

Cattle through lovely Rawdon Vale

We could have driven on to the edge of the park toward Scone, a further nine kilometres however we saw no point so headed back toward Gloucester, then turned off the Forest Road before reaching the Copeland Tops and headed south down through lovely Rawdon Vale and across the middle of farmland, passing through paddocks full of Angus and Hereford cattle, some of whom had to move off the track to let us pass. Finally we reached the road heading west into the Gloucester Tops National Park, which the chap in the Information Centre had encouraged us to visit. Alas we only had the one day and so turned eastwards and back to the main road running from Gloucester to Stroud, the southern section of Bucketts Way. We returned to Gloucester and stopped just north at the Mograni lookout, from where we did at last have a clear view back over Gloucester. This morning when we had pulled in the lower part of the valley had been obscured by fog.

Chris had spent much of last night watching the Wimbleton men’s tennis final and part of the Tour de France; I took pity on him and took over the driving from this point and drove back, turning south east at Krumbach, on through Nabiac on the Pacific Highway and then northwards to Taree. Quite a day! And what a wonderful one.