waterfall way waterfalls & rainforests of dorrigo, new england, guy fawkes & more
Guided group tour
7 day itinerary
highlights
Sky Walk in the Dorrigo National Park - get a birdseye view of the rainforest
See Wollomombi Falls, the second highest waterfall in Australia
Hike amongst World Heritage Area rivers, waterfalls and escarpments
Stay at historic Nymboida Coaching Station Inn
Visit Russell Crowe's "Museum of Everything"
Waterfall Way! Wonderfully wild wilderness walking with a wealth of waterfalls, watercourses that wend through woodlands and world heritage wonders to whet your wanderlust. Wow, what a winner!
Expect wild escarpment country, huge rivers that pour into the sea plus an incredible variety of terrain and vegetation types. As a bonus, several of the national parks you’ll walk in are declared World Heritage Areas. At Dorrigo, venture onto Skywalk for a birds eye view of the rainforest forest canopy. You can see over the remote Bellinger Valley and all the way to the ocean.
The hiking here takes you through rainforest with massive buttressed trees, strangler figs, hanging vines and huge red cedar trees that reach for the sky. Waterfalls on the Guy Fawkes River plunge over steep basalt ledges into a vast secluded wilderness area. Marvel at Wollomombi Falls, the highest waterfall in NSW and the second highest in all of Australia.
At Cathedral Rock you’ll find snowgums and huge granite boulders that agile walkers can climb to the top of. The highest point in the New England National Park is 1564 metres above sea level and there’s nothing to interrupt the view. At Point Lookout you’ll walk through scenery that could be right out of the Lord of the Rings, with ancient antarctic beech trees draped in mosses and lichen. Challenge yourself on a long gorge hike at Dangars Falls. Lookouts along the route offer stunning views over exciting wild gorge country. There is just so much variety on offer in this new trip.
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bright idea You can join this trip with the Gold Coast Hinterland Walk. If you wish, you can travel with the guides from Coffs Harbour at the end of this trip through to the Gold Coast where the next trip starts.
location
This trip starts at Coffs Harbour on the northern NSW coast. It is accessible by plane from major cities.
grading
Overall, this trip offers a range of walking from quite easy to quite challenging. With two guides it is easy for you to choose between easier and harder walking options each day. At Dorrigo the walking is on well formed and well graded tracks. At Cathedral Rocks there are a couple of optional challenging rock scrambles onto large boulders for great views. The New England National Park offers very challenging sections as well as moderate grades. The rest of the walking would rate in the moderate category with distances on the harder options averaging 15-20km per day.
accommodation Accommodation on this holiday includes comfortable motels in Dorrigo, Armidale and Glen Innes. You're in for a special treat at a unique place called the Nymboida Coaching Station. Right on the waterfront, this property has hotel style rooms.
typical weather in this area See the Bureau of Meteorology’s information about average temperatures and rainfall at different times of the year.
food & wine highlights The high tablelands produce a range of excellent crops as well as fine wines.
what's included
Guiding, all transport starting at Coffs Harbour, 6 nights accommodation, 6 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 5 dinners, entry to museum, National Park fees, insulated lunch bag, maps, map case & a pack of information about the area.
not included Alcohol, additional meals.
departure dates
Please see our Departure Dates section of the website
prices
Please see our Prices section of the website
Sky Walk at Dorrigo
itinerary guide - 7 days (includes 6 nights accommodation)
Day 1: This holiday commences in Coffs Harbour at 9.00am. Our first walk is the Wonga Walk at Dorrigo National Park where you'll receive an excellent introduction to the unique rainforest plants. After lunch in the cafe we'll enjoy Sky Walk - a raise platform that takes you right out over the tree tops for a birdseye view of the forest. The afternoon hike is in the Never Never section of Dorrigo National Park and includes waterfalls, rivers and more rainforest. Accommodation: Dorrigo
Day 2: Today begins with a short walk to visit stunning Ebor Falls. The main walk is to Cathedral Rocks where agile walkers will have the opportunity to climb to the top of the summit boulders and enjoy the view. Further along the hike are Woolpack Rocks, with a much easier ascent that most people should enjoy. Accommodation: Dorrigo
Day 3: A full day hike in the New England National Park. Highlights include hobbit-like forests at Point Lookout and magnificent Wrights Lookout overlooking vast tracts of World Heritage wilderness. Travel to Armidale, a large country town well known for it's magnificent displays of autumn leaves. Accommodation: Armidale
Day 4: Wollomombi Falls, the second highest waterfall in Australia, is on today's agenda. The walking here will have those camera shutters working overtime! And at Gara Gorge you'll learn about the marvellous engineering feat back in the gold rush days when they piped water via wooden flumes to generate electricity. Accommodation: Armidale
Day 5: A full day hike at Dangar's Gorge today. This wilderness walking at its best and those seeking a challenge will not be disappointed. There are expansive gorge views, plummeting waterfalls and remote countryside on this hike. Then it's on to Glen Innes, the home of the Celtic Standing Stones. Accommodation: Glen Innes
Day 6: The final day's walking is in the Gibraltar Range National Park. There are tree fern gullies, patches of rainforest, fabulous birdlife and of course more waterfalls. We'll do two walks here and enjoy a BBQ for lunch. Then it's down towards the coast via Grafton to Nymboida. Accommodation: Nymboida
Day 7: A real treat this morning as we tour Russell Crowe's "Museum of Everything", including a lot of memorabilia from his films. Then it's on the road for Coffs Harbour with an expected arrival time of around 11.30am.
fact sheet Would you like more detailed information about this trip?
Download our Waterfall Way Group Guided Walking Holiday Fact Sheet. It contains a detailed itinerary with walking times and distances and more information on accommodations including photos of places you will stay at.
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