dangar falls- a kilometre out of dorrigo.....it is no co-incidence that the road that leads to dorrigo from the pacific highway is called the waterfall way. the steep winding road from the village of Bellingen up to Dorrigo must have at least 15-20 waterfalls. just the drive itself is well worth it...
the view from dorrigo national park rainforest centre....on a clear day like this one, u can see Bellingen halfway down the valley (above) and the pacific ocean 40 km away (below)
one of the ancient rainforest giants- an ecosystem in itself, sustaining all sorts of vines, mosses, insects and birds, not to mention possums, bats etc
the simple beauty of a perfect spider web wet with perfect round drops of dew
the cool, moist environment of the rainforest is perfect for these colourful mushrooms
i found it fascinating how these small plants take seed and grow half way up a large tree
one of the rare breaks in the thick rainforest canopy allow some sunlight in...
these tasty looking fruits were very tempting, but despite the fact that i had two more senior doctors with me, i decided against taking a bite
with a sheet of tarpaulin, this tree would make a brilliant campsite
the thick fog descends to the rainforest floor
on a clear day, u can see the pacific ocean....on a cloudy day, u r confronted by a wall of fog
compare this to the earlier photos where u can the bellinger valley...
the pathway down into the rainforest
that wall of clouds again
as u would've figured by now, i really loved dorrigo. its a sleepy little town nestled in the mountains (well hills really, but we'll call them mountains anyway). the surrounding area is largely national park (dorrigo, bellinger river and new england national parks) and contains world heritage-listed rainforests. the east coast of australia used to be one long uninterrupted stretch of rainforest millions of years ago- now, only small patches of this ancient ecosystem remain. as the australian continent dries out and gets warmer, even these pockets of rainforest are drying out. hence the importance of creating national parks and nature reserves to protect and raise awareness about australia's dwindling rainforests...walking thru rainforests is a surreal experience, especially when its an overcast day and there is some fog about....no matter what the outside temperature is, there is usually an undercurrent
several degrees lower that keeps the rainforest floor cool...the dense canopy keeps out direct sunlight- the light that does filter thru feels like it has a soft green flourescent tinge to it....the undergrowth is thick and luscious with a huge variety of small plants, flowering bushes, vines, ferns, mosses, mushrooms etc.....the feast provided by these plants attracts a variety of wildlife, particularly birds. i dont know much about birds, but the dorrigo national park is full of all sorts of birds, and the rainforest echoes with birdsong...
so if ur ever in the area, go to dorrigo...heading north, the waterfall way is a left turn off the pacific highway about 25 km before coffs harbour, just after the little village of urunga. dorrigo is the town u come upon after u pass about 20 waterfalls...
2 comments:
nice post...i didn't realise that rainforest stretched down the NSW coast - it looks quite tropical, not like the temperate ones of Tassie. one thing i love about them is the smell - damp leaf litter, like a just-rain washed scent. australia really does have it all.
there's pockets of rainforest all along the east coast. obviously daintree and other such places on the queensland coast r well known because qld. tourism promotes them vigorously... nsw unfortunately is not quite so good at raising awareness about these things. just a 120km from sydney there's a beautiful patch of rainforest in the minnamurra area, but no-one knows about it..
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