Heavenly hinterland

Trip Start Jun 26, 2008

103

Trip End Jun 2009

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Where I stayed

Gracemere Grange

Flag of Australia Dorrigo, New South Wales, Australia
Wednesday, February 25, 2009

On the road south we arrived at Coff's harbor where we were hoping to find lodging, we looked around and both agreed we should press on upwards and inland. We underestimated how far and the winding nature of the roads to get to the next town. Twighlight was fast approaching and we were driving up what seemed a very unused road with no mobile reception! We looked up a few places recommended in the guidebook and finally had enough signal to make a couple of calls. We managed to get a booking, took some directions and after a few wrong turns arrived an hour later. The place is a small homestead on the outskirts of town. The lady who owns the B&B is nuttier than packet of peanuts (We do seem to find them!) although she was an interesting and charismatic person who has done a fair bit of travelling the world. She did also have some very strong views on euthanasia - Each to their own!

Our room was in the back behind her kitchen and had no windows. It felt like we were staying in a converted pantry. After some small talk, we dumped our bags and were introduced to a couple of ladies who booked in on a business trip (They worked for the national parks which had a branch office 2km from her B&B). Ems and I made a pact to head out and get some dinner in town whilst at the same time getting away from our B&B as it had been a long day and my limited social skills very exhausted! Turns out the other two women had the same idea however they were stuck there as they had no transport so we offered them a lift and set out for an evening out at the local hotel / bar/ only thing to do in town. So an interesting evening. It should be noted at this point that Ems has made friends with the local blood sucking community....
During dinner she let out a small yelp having discovered a squishy lump between her toes. Turns out that she had "picked up" a lonely but hungry little leech which was also half way through its dinner when it was discovered. After some work with the end of a knife I managed to pry the "bloody" little fellow off and put it outside.

Next day we headed off early to go to the park and catch an early spotting of some Pademelons (small things resembling baby Kangaroos) and the amazing birdlife as well as take a good trek through the forest. We had been advised to watch out for leeches and set off wearing hiking trousers and shoes having learnt our lesson in flip-flops the day before. The 7km trek through the scenic park and the park was very good as we got to see many birds and different types of tree and jungle.

Dorrigo during the day Dorrigo was more happening and a good quaint place to poke around. We had lunch at a lovely caf�-cum-gift shop called Ruby's.

One would have thought that yesterday's traumatic experience would have taught a valuable lesson but clearly this was not the case as a few hours later there was blood curdling scream from the passenger seat and I almost veered across 3 lanes of highway in our midget Hyundai Getz. Ems was hysterical and was almost standing on her seat. I pulled over at the nearest petrol station to investigate the source of fear and found the fattest leech ever.... Turns out that these things will suck until they are full and then fall off. We both started re-checking ourselves to see where it had come from and if there were anymore. Ems sock was soaked through with blood. This one had had its full on Ems's ankle and then dropped off and climbed up the seat. See the pics - it was as big as my thumb.... And could stretch itself to about 30cm......!!

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