Rainforest Cascades

At the town of Urunga, between Coffs Harbour and Nambucca Heads, there is a fine boardwalk that traverses a lagoon and mangrove forests, arriving at the beach.  It's a pleasant morning stroll.

In Dorrigo National Park, there are two boardwalks that go through the rainforest canopy.  Here's the forest from above...

And from within.  An empire of green, bursting with life, especially birdsong.

Another pic of the rainforest from above.

With the copious rainfall so far this year, waterfalls in NSW are blasting.  Here's Crystal Shower Falls, on the Wonga Walk in Dorrigo NP.  You can walk behind the cascade, which is always cool and refreshing.  This waterfall is about 100 metres high.

Farther along the walk is Trestania Falls.

Here's a goanna, a metre and a half long counting the tail.  Isn't he a beauty!  This goanna is in the rainforest, but not in an isolated spot...he's right in front of my bungalow at the caravan park in Nambucca Heads.  Once I was staying at another caravan park a little north of here, eating chicken, and a goanna came up on my deck and started bludging.  Turned out he was a chicken skin conoisseur.

A family of Eastern Gray Kangaroos at the Little Bay picnic area, near Smoky Cape.  Overall, roos are common in Oz, but they're selective about where they hang out.  This spot is a favorite of Skippy and his mates...I can always find roos here.  But you can travel for many days and not see one if you don't happen to pass through one of their haunts.

Upper Ebor Falls, between Armidale and Urunga, 1300 metres above sea level.  I last passed through here in 2002, and the falls were running but fitful.  Not now!  They're roaring over a cliff of columnar basalt, laid down by volcanic eruptions 19 million years ago.

Lower Ebor Falls in the foreground with upper Ebor above.  Lower Ebor is 63 metres high, upper Ebor 27.  Both roaring today.

I hiked about 6 kilometres through the rainforest at Dorrigo NP today.  Midway through, it began...raining!  The moisture put a shine on the giant leaves.