Washpool Gibraltar NP to Mann River NSW

It was hard to leave the lovely camp at Winegrove, but it was time to move on to explore a bit more of the area. We took the gravel road to Jackadgery through some gorgeous farm land and forests. 

We stopped at the bridge for breakfast. 

Then continued west along the Gwydir Highway towards Glen Innes, which was just as lovely.

We turned off at  Cangai and had a look at the camping area next to the Mann River. It was pretty but not as good a campsite as Winegrove. 

Back on the highway we drove into the Gibraltar Ranges. We admired the views of the Clarence Valley below us from Heffron's Lookout. Then turned off a little bit further on into Washpool National Park. We went for a short walk out to Granite Rocks lookout.

A few days ago we bought a NSW annual pass ($35 country NSW) so we only needed to pay for a campsite for the night at Bellbird camp ($12.30). We chose site 3 and settled in. Soon after a young Spanish couple came to ask for help as they had just got a hole in their fuel tank, loosing all their fuel and couldn’t drive out. So Mark took one of them up to the lookout where there was some reception to organise a tow truck etc. 

Later we had a 3km stroll along the Coombadjha Nature walk from the campsite through beautiful rainforest and along a crystal clear creek. 

We then stayed warm by the fire.

The next morning we drove a further 16km to Mulligans Campground and parked up on site #5. After some breakfast we set off on a 6km return walk to The Needles. We started at Mulligans Hut. 
We then crossed Little Dandahra creek where William Mulligan built one of the weirs in the 1920’s.

The next part of the walk took us through a dry forest which then changed to a lovely rainforest steadily rising up to a lookout with views of 80m tall granite columns perched on the edge of a steep sided valley. 

Below we could see a waterfall.

We returned to camp and enjoyed a peaceful afternoon with the birds tittering around us.

After a chilly night we drove out to the turn off at Dandahra Picnic area and had breakfast before exploring along the creek with its grass trees and interesting rock formations.

We then drove to Raspberry Lookout and admired the views. 

Further along the highway we again turned off to Boundary Falls area where we did a short walk to Lyrebird Falls lookout. 

Our favourite spot though was at the bottom of Dandahra Falls. A mystical oasis. 

Again we continued along the highway and turned off to Mann River Camp. 

We managed to get reception just beforehand and booked a spot $6 (site 6). This open campsite offered us a view of the Mann river as it cascades over large granite boulders and views over the surrounding hills. We can’t complain…

Our camping neighbour kindly offered to guide us with our first flight of our DJI Mini 3 Pro drone this morning which was wonderful as we had been a bit apprehensive.