Mount Warning

Thursday
Apart from a drive into Murwillumbah to visit the bakery, we spent the day at the caravan park.  There are many walks and outing in the area, but there is also plenty to do just here!  There are little "exploring tracks" in the surrounding forest, vines to swing on, trees to climb, a cubby house, a tree swing that makes you feel as though you're flying, a swimming pool, birds to observe and feed, a creek where you can sometimes see platypus...

We have several kookaburras who visit us during the day hoping for food, but one of them takes food from our hands. Whe the children weren't nearby, he even came and sat on my knee... and then on my shoulder!

 

Our scraps and crumbs also attract the bush turkeys.  This one came and collapsed on the grass just in front of the caravan for a sunbake!  She also amuses us by wallowing in the ashes of the firepit- maybe she thinks she is a phoenix!

After dinner (tacos!) we sat around the campfire singing songs, reading a story by torchlight and toasting marshmallows.  By bedtime the children were grubby to say the least but while I helped Arthur adjust the water temperature for his shower, Esther fell asleep on the seat in the dinette!  She didn't even stir when I washed her feet- usually a ticklish business!

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Friday
For the children it was a long day.  A playmate of theirs had moved from Melbourned to Tweed Heads almost a year ago, and we had arranged to visit her family on the way past.  Instead of meeting at their house in town, they had decided to join us and come camping for the weekend... and today was the day Michaela was coming!  When they had come and asked me for the umpteenth time when she would be here, I asked them why on earth they weren't in the creek making a dam and getting wet as normal children would be, given the opportunity! 
As they ran off enthusiastically I called out that I didn't mind them getting their shorts wet as they played, but to try and keep their shirts dry!  One way of making sure they followed my instruction was to take off their shirts altogether, as I found when I went to check on them a little later!

Finally Michaela and her Mum did arrive.  Unfortunately her Dad had come down with pneumonia and the doctor had forbidden him to come too. 

Marsmallows over the campfire- always a lovely finish to a day's campimg.

 

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Saturday
It had rained heavily during the night, but by the time we awoke the clouds were clearing and the sun was touching the mountaintops around us.  Mount Warning, being almost at the easternmost point of the continent, is the first place in Australia to catch the sun's rays each morning.  We are not quite at the summit, but we can see it form the park. 

Over breakfast we discussed the day's plans. The campsite manager had recommended a walk to the Protester Falls in nearby Nightcap National Park, so we decided to take a look.  "Nearby" as the crow flies turned out to be at least an hour's drive via a very winding route around mountain ranges and through amazingly beautiful countryside.  Around almost every bend there were cries of  "look at that view!"

Eventually we arrived at the Terania picnic ground, where an information board explained the name "Protester Falls".  It dates from the 1970s when locals protested against the logging of old growth rainforest cedar, resulting in the New South Wales government declaring the area- and several other forests- as National Parks.  It's funny to think how disparaging many were of the "tree-hugging greenies" only a few decades ago, when "being green" is now such an accepted part of our thinking and even conservatives are conservationists.  Of course, "greenies" in the 70s embraced not only trees but an alternative lifestyle which is still in evidence in townships around the area, Nimbin in particular. 

The walk to the falls was beautiful.  Sometimes these excursions have become educational field trips, but today the children were simply delighted by the beauty and mystery of the forest.  They ran along the damp, leafy path, stopping to exclaim when they found a fairy garden among the ferns, calling excitedly when they looked up and saw a particularly tall tree or a home for pixies among its roots.
When we arrived at the falls, they stopped in their tracks and fell silent, looking up at the stream of water plunging over the cliff high above them.  The tall palm trees growing on a ledge were dwarfed by the wall of rock behind them. 

"Look how these roots grow, Mum! Now THAT's Tic Tac interesting!"

On the drive home we heard an unpleasant sound from under the hood of the car, and we fear the transmission is seriously unwell!  We pulled so that Philip could have a look, but there wasn't much he could do.  We'll have to take a trip into Tweed Heads on Monday for a professional diagnosis, but we're braced for another expensive repair!  Meanwhile, we took the opportunity to have a cup of coffee at the Sphynx Rock cafe and ejoy the view of what we assume was Sphynx Rock.

We finished the day with another campfire, kindled with pine cones we'd collected on the way.  After the children had gone to bed, a small creature came out of the forest to snuffle around cautiously.  It was difficult to see it clearly by firelight, but we think it may have been a potoroo.