Locals talk a lot about going "up river", meaning up the Macleay river from Kempsey, so we thought we'd go on an adventure.
The road starts off following the Macleay through farmland but gets narrower as it rises to the tablelands. In fact it is not recommended for caravans, so we left ours behind and just took our trusty little tent.
The road passes a couple of free campsites, the first is Blackbird Flat about an hour and a half from home.
As you see it is a big grassy area, not too busy midweek.
There's a fence around the picnic shelter to keep the neighbouring cattle out!
I'm sure there would also be a few bovine intruders at the Georges Junction campsite - it is a travelling stock reserve.
In between these two campsites is a private one - Cracknback campground which is a nice spot next to the river as well and has hot showers. Not a free place though it is probably cattle-free.
As we had plenty of time we pushed onwards and upwards to the Styx River where there is a campsite and a separate picnic spot.
We had lunch in the Wattle Flat camping spot...complete with slither-past by a brown? snake!!
Then we camped at the Wattle Flat picnic area (it didn't say "no camping")....complete with platypus.
These facilities are in a state forest and there is the hazard of logging-trucks or roads closed due to logging activity (as happened to us)
There are pit toilets at both these places and bbqs but not much else. It's BYO!
The next day's essential stop was Wollombombi gorge which have some pretty big falls.
The gorge itself is vertigo-inducing and there are a couple of decent hour-long walks as well.
The well-set-out campground would be worth a visit too....but on this occasion I'd booked an airbnb place in Armidale for a bit of comfort.
There are very many delights on the New England Tablelands - New England National Park, Cathedral Rocks National Park, and several lookouts with and without waterfalls on the Waterfall Way which joins Armidale with Coffs Harbour.
Anyway on to Armidale which is a decent sized regional city with galleries, cafes and all sorts of civilised things. It bears further investigation.
We spent one night in the delightful Two Dogs Folly studio.
A beautifully restores miner's cottage which also has an adjoining cottage.
I loved it! It was just my style and very comfortable.
Then it was homeward bound but not before checking out Long Point past historic Hillgrove.
There's a rarely-used campsite there - at least it looked rarely used. A picnic spot and a couple of walks which take you to views of the upper Macleay.
So it was a good reconnaissance trip and we'll be back for sure.
