Saturday 10th March – Tooloom Falls

Tooloom Falls

I got up at 6:15 AM, when my alarm woke me, and finished packing then woke Bronwen. We’d intended to leave at 7, but it was 7:43 by the time we set off. We drove two hours to Tooloom Falls near Urbenville in NSW. It rained on and off most of the way, and was very wet and muddy when we got there. Bronwen got a message saying to go to the trailer and big tarp, so we did that. Shortly after, another car arrived, and we wandered down to the (quite flooded) Tooloom Falls, and found the rest of the group on the other side. Despite being less than ten metres away, it wasn’t possible to cross the flooded creek (at least, not without swimming and it was very cold), and it was a half hour drive to the other side.

Bronwen, Tooloom Falls, Urbenville, NSW Bronwen, Tooloom Falls, Urbenville, NSW Bronwen, Tooloom Falls, Urbenville, NSW Bronwen, Tooloom Falls, Urbenville, NSW

Urbenville

Due to the rain everyone gave up on the idea of camping, and instead we drove into Urbenville to get lunch at the Crown Hotel. After lunch we tried visiting the town’s museum—but it was closed, so I suggested the nearby Tooloom National Park.

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Tooloom National Park

We all drove the twenty minutes or so to Tooloom National Park and went on its short rainforest (which really was wet and rainy) walk. We came across a large python which had recently eaten something quite big.

Bronwen, Tooloom National Park, NSW Bronwen, Tooloom National Park, NSW A large snake at Tooloom National Park, NSW A large snake at Tooloom National Park, NSW Bronwen, Tooloom National Park, NSW Bronwen, Tooloom National Park, NSW Bronwen, Tooloom National Park, NSW Bronwen, Tooloom National Park, NSW

Tooloom Falls Campground

After the national park we drove back to the Tooloom Falls campground again and spent the evening chatting, wandering around the falls in the rain, lighting wax and cardboard candles Eric had made, and—at least in my case—repeatedly dropping the corners of my sleeping bag in the mud because I’d not been planning to go and had been so rushed when packing that it hadn’t occurred to me that it might be a good idea to bring anything warmer than shorts and a t-shirt so wasn’t at all prepared for the cold. I did, however, have six umbrellas—which turned out to be a good idea as no one else had brought any.

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Sunday 11th March – Tooloom Falls

Toolom Falls

Bronwen and I woke up horribly early and ate some Coco Pops while everyone packed up their tents. We then all drove to Woodenbong, where they swapped the camper trailer onto my car, and I drove it to Regents Park while everyone else went off on an exciting adventure. As far as I can gather, Bronwen, and six others, drove up an eventually-impassable road and went canyoning. I’d been told that it would take around three hours—perhaps four—and that due to the rain no one was sure if it was really safe, so when Bronwen told me at 11 AM that they’d got as far as they could with the cars and were starting off, I expected them to be finished by three o’clock, so I was quite worried when I didn’t hear from Bronwen until 7:50 PM—quite a long time after it had got dark. It then took them until 10:40 PM to extricate their cars (apparently they gave up on the road and drove through a farmer’s property, even meeting the farmer who came to help them.)

Meanwhile, I unpacked the car, washed everything, and pottered around the house feeling left out.

Eric wondering if this was a very good idea — photo by Bronwen The roads were somewhat slippery — photo by Bronwen The roads were somewhat slippery — photo by Bronwen Chinese 4WD in Brisbane

Halim’s Indian Taj

I drove to Halim’s Indian Taj and had a delicious curry dinner with Maz and Tess.

1am

Bronwen got home just before 1 AM, though it was 2:25 AM by the time we went to bed.