22/2/18 To the Top

 Barrington Tops is somewhere we’ve wanted to go to for some time - the opportunity has arrived today . 

 Lunch sorted , ute packed with jumpers & jackets , we hit the road - out to Barrington & across the single lane bridge , then turn off the road up to Walcha toward Copeland Tops .

 Our drive was through rolling hills , grazing & dairy country before getting steep and covered in forest , then back down the other side to more grazing country beside the Barrington River again . This is the river as it makes it’s way out of the mountains through sheoak lined banks and round river rocks , water is very clear . 

 A flowering plant - probably a weed caught my eye .

 After crossing the river a few times we arrived at the base of the mountain and started to climb rapidly - eventually getting us up to 1500m asl - it snows up here and weather can change rapidly . It was 24 degrees when we left and was 14 degrees up on top - something we aren’t quite used to any more !! The drive up was beautiful , through gum trees , vines , grass trees and lots of tree ferns .

 Stopping at Honeysuckle , we went for a walk through the Antarctic Beech Forest . Beside the road were everlasting daisies flowering .

 The walk takes you through the gum tree forest and onto the southern side of the mountain into a world of green - moss covers nearly everything here , doesn’t matter if it’s standing or lying on the ground , old trees lay decaying in the moss & leaf litter - I’ll let the photo’s do the talking .

 We came across a Lyrebird scratching around in the leaf litter .

The beech trees are amazing shapes and sizes - we saw one like a gridiron goal post , branches are draped in ferns that live on air - it’s a magical place to visit .

 Back in the ute and further up the road was Thunderbolt’s Lookout with views over the forested hills & valleys to the south & east .

 Even the rocks seem to be growing moss & lichens like they are turbo charged .

From here we continued to Devils Hole Lookout , which is very similar to Thunderbolt’s looking over the same areas , so we headed off to Poleblue swamp for some lunch .

Down the road some more and there’s a plantation of Douglas Fir trees that were planted in the 1950’s - quite a sight , it’s only about 200m wide but it’s difficult to see the outer edge untill you are about 20m from it . Douglas Fir trees are used as Oregon timber .

 On the western side of the Barrington Tops National Park is Dingo Gate , and another view to the west & southwest , and Snowgums are the dominant trees .

 Next destination was Poleblue Falls , on Poleblue Creek - we were prepared for there to be not too much water flowing , as the surrounding areas have been extremely dry with very little rain falling . We were surprised when we saw the falls .

 On the map we had , there was a loop road that would bring us back around to Honeysuckle walk , so we headed down the track . It was a little narrow and a bit rougher , but it was also taking us to another waterfall - Gummi Falls , it’s also a camping area for tents and maybe campertrailers - no vans here !! Turning off the track to go to Gummi Falls , the track is rougher and narrow and is a slow trip in . The other interesting fact for us was that this is the Manning River - very near it’s source !! Anyway , here’s the falls , some white everlasting daisies and shots of the river .

 The track continued on and met the main rd - Scone Rd , so we headed off up the track - Lyn was driving - and the track started to head uphill after a couple of creek crossings - 4WD was engaged , the track was rutted , uphill , some boggy sections and loose rocks - low range was selected and we crept up & over the hill , rocks & ruts . This was the start of the climb and one of the rutted sections , I didn’t take photo’s because I was out directing Lyn !!

 4WD all finished , one relieved driver , and we were back on the road heading down the mountain back to town - what a good day !!! 

Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1raQucq7zsX8Qp5ShXwCv0yH6J4iQXJu1&usp=sharing