The Manning River flowed not far from the camp site. Usually it’s just a running stream, but with all the rain that’s been around it’s a swollen torrent. I wonder how the river looks in Taree, near the mouth. I wonder how it looks now, when there are dozens of rivers bursting their banks in the region.
We saw a bit of wildlife up on the Tops – a rock wallaby, colourful finches (and heard many more birds), but the only ones we managed to capture were these:
A skink basking in sunlight.
And the shell of a cicada, still lodged to the tree.
Some more pretty sub-alpine daisies – this time in a fetching shade of pink.
And an interesting monochrome moss on the gums. In fact, there were lots interesting mosses around, which I’ll post about soon.
Rough (and voluptuous) bark.
Very stringy bark on a young tree.
A beautiful, blue sky was revealed when the mist lifted. Even a simple scribble bark looked ethereal.
It was a cool but humid morning, so the air was understandably misty.
Early morning up at the Tops was even more majestic than sunset. The light seemed to illuminate the gums – the whole effect was magical.
We camped that night at Manning River camp ground, in the Barrington State Forest. The light through the sub-alpine gum trees at sunset was enchanting.
We made our way up to the Barrington Tops via a pot-holed gravel road. It was surprisingly cool up there after the humidity of the plains below, and from first glance it was obvious that we were in a sub-alpine area – not dissimilar to Thredbo. Well, we were 1,200m above sea-level.
There were little white flowers.
And the new growth on the bushes were vibrant to say the least.
And here are the fore-said Hereford cattle, lingering by the gate.
There really was some awesome sky (and country) that afternoon at Rawdon Vale.
Static and Silence 