New England Range Things to Do

3 more images

This is some of a series of shots I took adjacent to the New England Highway just south of Tamworth. I remember ringing my mate Col, another keen amateur photographer, and tipping him off it might be going to happen that night.
With the luck of the draw I was driving and found a lovely foreground that the whole spectacle worked around while Col, some 15 kilometres away, didn't even bother taking a picture as his viewpoint was so different and it didn't really happen where he was.
If you go to the extra pictures you will clearly see the various phases that it went through. I took about 10 to get these. Hope you enjoy.

Standing above gorges is something I find almost mesmerising. Here, almost surrounded by sheer rock faces on a blissful afternoon, your gaze transfixed on the panorama before you, the enormity of the chasm compells your senses to focus on your mortality; on your insignificance in the overall scheme of things.
The torrent's echoing roar up the canyone walls is softened by the green foliage as plants tenuously cling to their cliffside niche while the cool breeze flexes their stems and the leaves bow in homage to their demands.

Drought is a fact of life in rural Australia. Just about every year, somewhere in this wide brown land, there is a dearth of water.
This shot was actually taken at the beginning of a drought.
Three weeks before there had been a little bit of green shooting at the bottom of the grasses then the frosts came and knocked it off.
Now, the only natural colour other than fawn grasses are the introduced species of trees flaunting their autumnal colours.
This photo is of a property about 2kms south of Guyra.

Looks pretty on the side of the road. Shame it's on its way to being a noxious weed in Australia.
Those leaf tips are very pointed as well, so don't try messing with them. The Yucca plant (Yucca Gloriosa) is not for us.
This example was on the Bundarra Road between Uralla and Inverell.

The lower Apsley Falls are reached via the Owens Trail that crosses the river before the main falls and skirts the clifftops on the northern side with some lookouts at key points. This is taken from just before the bridge that crosses the river, easily fordable most times without a bridge.
It was about 2 minutes after taking this shot that I nearly stood a red-bellied black snake. Just as well he was more scared than me!

There are certain roads in Australia. They are on the east coast and they travel from the coast to the top of the Great Dividing Range. En route they pass through, in my opinion, some of the most stunningly beautiful scenery Australia has to offer.
Sadly, few international tourists gravitate onto these roads. Instead, lured by beaches they've only ever seen on brochures, they hug the coast. While I'm not knocking that activity, I am suggesting that you tarry awhile inland where you will come across scenes such as this on the Wauchope - Walcha Road. This route also passes by Tia and Apsley Falls, also included in these pages.
If this has appeal then don't miss it. There's about a dozen such roads and all of them have something to offer.

This is one of the many falls around Armidale that cascade from rolling farmland into the gorge that eventually becomes the Macleay River and the Oxley WIld Rivers National Park.
Easily accessed and with a good range of walking trails (a good place to see echidnas), you will need your own transport to get there but it's only about 20kms from the town and, if you like that sort of thing, well worth a look.
It's officially listed as a 394 foot drop.

This is on a road appropriately titled, these days, Waterfall Way. It was in a blatant attempt to promote the area and make people aware of what they were driving past, that the authorities renamed the roads.
It's worked a treat. Slowly but surely people are starting to become aware of the fabulous gorges and falls that abound in the New England area.
This is one of the better know ones, called Apsley. It's sharp drop over jagged steps into a precipitous gorge is spectacular, as is the canyon itself as it gravitates seaward.
When this shot was taken, years ago, there were no facilities. Nowadays you can camp there, buy a hot dog (what are you thinking of, obviously not your weight!) at the kiosk and dine on the park tables.
At 374 feet, it's not the longest drop but, believe me, it's still a looooong way to the bottom!
It's situated east of Walcha, heading towards Port Macquarie.