Back to touring , we headed out on a loop from Grafton following the Mann & Clarence Rivers . Following the Gwydir Hwy toward Glen Innes , we arrived at Jackadgery - just a locality , but has a spectacular view over the Mann River - the bridge is nearly 350m long and is well above the river - views are spectacular .
The road follows the river for about 10klms before leaving to climb upwards toward Glen Innes , we left it at the turn off to Calgai - a cattle station/locality .
As it was Australia Day weekend , we expected it to be a bit busy , but were blown away by all the people camping by the river at Calgai Bridge - I managed to get some photo's with minimal people . It's also part of the Mann River , and there's plenty of water flowing down .
The countryside is really lush and green at the moment - something that is surprising given the time of year and all the heat ! The road wound around the hills beside the river - a very pleasant drive !!
Further down we came to Broadwater Bridge reserve - another free camp filled with more people & vans & camper trailers . It's a very pretty stretch of river .
It was about 11am and 30 degrees , there were groups of people just sitting in the river just chilling out .
The road left the river for a while , winding it's way through the rolling foothills - beautiful !!
Further down the road we crossed the Clarence River , but weren't impressed with it there - very rocky & weedy and also a bit dirty . We continued on to Newbolds Lookout for lunch - it's perched up above the river and gave great views between the trees .
Taking the turn to Lilydale , we found the crossing over the Clarence and also another free camp with another dozen vans etc .
There was a road going to Clarence Gorge , now we'd heard / read about the gorge years ago and it was on our to do list , but it was getting later in the day , but we headed off anyway . Here's another view of the river .
We stopped to give way to a man on a horse near a bridge and ended up chatting to the 74 year old property owner for about 10 mins before continuing on .
A dusty gravelly road greeted us and the last 15 klms took us 40 mins . When we got to the gate , we could see caravans , camper trailers & tents all along the river bank as far as we could see , it reminded me of Wombeyan Caves Rd down to Wollondilly River , but not quite as winding , just rough .
Arriving at the entrance we found a sign - call the owner on Ch1 UHF before proceeding , which we did - he said to see them at the homestead , so we continued on . Around every corner the bends in the river revealed more capers & tents till we got to the homestead and introduced ourselves . They let us go down to the river for a swim , we tossed up about putting the kayak in , but time was against us , so a swim would suffice today . The gorge section isn't far up the river from here , so that will be another day , the weather was starting to look stormy , so after the swim we headed off again . This was our swimming spot , freshwater turtles were swimming around and poking their noses out of the water 3m from us !! There were lots of tiny fish as well - you can fish here , but it is catch and release only !!
Many people had kayaks, canoes & tinnies , I'm not sure how many people have wrecked their vans going here or back home from here , but I'm thinking there's a few !!!
We got back to Grafton just as the storm was about to hit , we managed to get a swim in as well . All in all , it was a great day !!
That's it for today , here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1O7da0OWRlKVgd9v5s4ORkX1A9GrDbuAp&usp=sharing
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