Choose bilbies not bunnies this Easter.
Tag: travel
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Of gigs and glamping
Retreat to the Legendary Pacific Coast On the surface, Gloucester is a fairly typical NSW country town. But scratch that surface and you will find people who want to live here, cafes that serve killer coffee, parks that honour the indigenous history and farmers’ markets that celebrate produce plucked straight from the Earth.
To get a feel for the town, we start by popping into the tourist information office to pick up a map of its many mosaics, which tell a story about the coterie of creative folk who call the area home. By following the trail, visitors can learn about the first settlers, the iconic butter factory, the steam trains, gold mining and timber industries and about the bushranger, Thunderbolt, who rode tall in the saddle through the countryside in the early days.
The Gloucester Boomerang Discovery Walk starts in the town’s main drag, which has been taken over by 30 artists live-painting for Art in the Street. From here, the sign-posted trail veers toward the direction of the liquidambar trees in Centenarians’ Row before arcing around the Bunyah Bunyah Pines and rambling down to the river. Spend some time reading the sign in Minimbah Gardens, which acknowledges the Worimi people, the traditional custodians of the land.
After a restorative cup of coffee at Roadie’s Café, we check out of our comfortable homestead, at 37 Queen, and head for Tourist Drive 2, a.k.a The Bucketts Way. Keep your eyes peeled for roadside stalls selling eggs, nuts, fruit or vegetables and for the boutique vineyards that come highly recommended by locals, some of whom help hand-pick the grapes that produce their small vintages. Smackbang between Gloucester and Taree is the leafy village of Krambach, where, about 1km out of town, we climb into the hillside toward King Creek Retreat
We all stop talking when we arrive at the retreat, struck by the fabulous spectacle of tall towering tipis, the jangling of wind chimes and creak of forest birds. We are soon greeted by Frodo the dog and owner Carla Hickman, who is passionate about Native American Indian culture.
The retreat offers a group glamping experience aimed at really immersing guests in the bush experience. Carla breeds horses and also has a resident pony, Hopey, which she uses, with great effect, to put children and parents at ease. Despite being reluctant, at first, to even get close to the pony, my two city boys are soon feeling soothed by its liquid brown eyes and gentle manner, and take to patting the sweet-natured pony, putting their hands, gently on its neck and, at Carla’s urging, even painting the pony in neon-bright colours. The paint-the-horse tradition is one used by Native American Indians when they went to war, says Carla. Thankfully, the only conflict we are set to experience this afternoon and evening is the Battle of the Bands that is the annual Akoostik Festival, in nearby Wingham.
After a fantastic and filling lunch – chicken burgers, Greek salad with grilled lamb and haloumi and chicken on spinach wraps – at Bent on Food, we arrive at Akoostik just in time to see legendary ‘90s rocker Floyd Vincent, the dirty slide blues of the Swamp Stompers and Harry Hookey’s gravelly alt folk vibe.
There’s also live music back at Bent on Food, where we return for top-notch nosh while tapping our feet to Up in Annie’s Room, one of the headline acts at the three-day music festival. When night falls, we return for a wifi-free wigwam around a pit fire. It’s here, under a sky that has become a pin cushion, spiked with stars, that we contemplate the many wonderful reasons to return to the Manning Valley, on The Legendary Pacific Coast.
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Bank on the river
Barrington Tops presents the Aussie bush at its best.
Gloucester is akin to base camp for the World Heritage-listed Barrington Tops. It’s also our first stop on the Legendary Pacific Drive through the Gloucester Shire, where the country meets the coast.
Gloucester is home to the World Heritage listed Barrington Tops. Just three hours’ drive north of Sydney, we arrive at the Barrington Outdoor Adventure Centre where we meet manager Tristan Lever, who will be our guide for the day. Lever, who has tumbled down rivers everywhere from Africa to Scandinavia, is an expert guide. After wriggling into our wetsuits and being fitted with lifesaving vests, we watch a safety DVD, before heading to the crook of the river known as Rocky Crossing.
Tumbling down the bubbling river in the Barrington Tops. The backdrop to the river is stunning: with the big bony ridge of the monolithic hills known as The Bucketts – the Aboriginal name is Buchan Buchan – looming in the distance, like a slumbering giant.
If we weren’t bound for the Barrington River, there are countless hidden treasure trails, which trace the area’s history as a gold mining centre, wend their way to waterfalls and pass by panoramic scenery, painted green-to-grey.
Barrington Outdoor Adventure Centre manager Tristan Lever. Today, we are geared up for a Grade One series of rapids for our guided family tour. After a quick safety talk, in situ, while sitting in our canoes in a calm pool in the river, we start heading downstream.
Lever has become an ornithologist and flora expert by default. He urges us to listen for the rainbow bee-eater’s sweet song, and to try and spot the ugly-as-sin Friar bird which he says “has a face only a mother could love” and sulphur-crested cockatoos, which swoop in and out of the window of blue sky. There are also echidnas, red-neck wallabies, platypus and bandicoots that call the river and forest home.
Lever, who grew up on a dairy farm near Murwillimbah, on another stretch of the Legendary Pacific Coast, is very zen. He calmly talks us through the procedures we watched in the video before nudging us down the river, where the water is moving deceptively fast behind bending reeds.
A bevy of rainbow bee eaters. For starters, it’s a breeze, with the occasional cormorant shattering the glass of the river, and bursting out of the reflection into a cloudless sky. With the sun shining, bright and furious above, we pass through smooth sections of the clear-as-crystal river before braving rapids that are not as scary as their names suggest. We survive Graveyards, known for its cemetery of fallen casuarina trees, curl pass the Rootball Rapid, scene of many a capsizing caper, and tumble through The Shute before arriving at Bradford’s Hole.
As well as the gentle ride we have experienced today, which shows off pockets of pasture, steep-sided valleys and rare dry rainforest, there are many more options on offer for those who want a wilder ride.
Navigating our way down the Barrington River. “Grade one is for families, the rest of it is mostly grade two but there are grade three rafting options available when the river is up. After grade two you need to know what you are doing in a kayak or canoe, otherwise, if you are in a raft, you can relax and rely on the guide to get you through,” says Lever.
Lever lives at the Steps of Girrba campground, located at the most picturesque section of the river. What he loves about living in the region, he says, is the fact “there is no busy bustle … it’s stress-free and peaceful”.
Despite being just one section of the 930km Pacific Coast corridor, the Bucketts Way is reason enough to veer off the highway.
Paddle power on the Barrington River. After enjoying coffee and a cake, we return to Gloucester and check in at 37 Queen Street, a heritage homestead in the centre of the historic village before joining half the town at Bistro 19, Gloucester Country Club. Tomorrow: onward and upward to Krambach and the Kings Creek Retreat in The Manning Valley.
Carla Grossetti was invited to the Barrington Tops and Manning Valley as a guest of the Legendary Pacific Coast.
