New South Wales (Northern NSW)
Bellinger River Area
URUNGA, 20km north from Nambucca Heads, is a pleasant beachside spot where the Bellinger and Kalang rivers meet the sea. Seven kilometres further along the Pacific Highway is the turn-off to MYLESTOM, which occupies a stunningly beautiful spot on the wide Bellinger River. You can take advantage of its riverside setting at the Alma Doepel Reserve’s sheltered, sandy river beach, which has changing rooms and showers. Two minutes’ walk to the east is a gorgeous sweep of surf beach – often gloriously deserted – which is patrolled on summer weekends and school holidays. You can walk along the beach to Bundagen, an alternative, environmentally friendly community that welcomes visitors. wpeAA.jpg (45554 bytes)
A great place to stay in Mylestom is the Riverside Lodge, on River Street facing Tuckers Island. Although there’s no transport here, Bill, the friendly owner, will pick guests up from Urunga or Coffs Harbour. The lodge has the comfortable, relaxed feel of an Indonesian guesthouse; all the rooms are well furnished with desks, lamps and armchairs. You can use the lodge’s bicycles, boat and kayaks. Other facilities in Mylestom are limited: a post office with supplies and EFTPOS, a decent Chinese restaurant, and a swanky riverfront brasserie called Beaches (with a handy bottle shop).

Bellingen
Just after Urunga, the turn-off west heads through the verdant Bellinger River valley for 12km to BELLINGEN, a relaxed little town with a strong alternative bent, full of arts-and-crafts outlets and workshops, cafés and thriving small businesses. Just before town, the Old Butter Factory, a renovated dairy, holds a complex of several craft shops where you can check out the work of local artisans, plus a chilled-out café and a massage and float tank centre ($45 for a 2hr combo pamper). In town there’s a Historical Museum at Hyde Street (Tues–Sun 10am–4pm; $1) containing local memorabilia which charts the development of the district from 1860. Also on Hyde Street, The Yellow Shed is a crafts outlet worth a peek. Bellingen also has an interesting monthly market, held on the third Saturday of the month (7am–2pm) in Bellingen Park, with buskers, crafts and organic food stalls. There’s more shopping at the Hammond and Wheatley Emporium on Hyde Street, a glorious old restored department store with an Aladdin’s cave of locally-produced jewellery, artefacts and artworks. Each year Bellingen hosts a lively jazz festival (tel 02/6655 9345, fax 6655 1053; belljazz@midcoast.com.au) over the third weekend in August, followed by the newly launched three-day Global Festival of world music over the October long weekend. For a cooling break from crafts and culture, you can swim in the waterholes of the Bellinger and Never Never rivers.

The creekfront Bellingen YHA Backpackers, 2 Short St, is one of the best hostels around, a beautiful two-storey building with a huge balcony facing a rainforest island full of jacaranda trees that come alive at dusk with the stirrings of fruit bats; you can even camp out the back if you prefer. There’s a free pick-up from Urunga railway station and you can get lifts to Dorrigo for $10. They also offer canoes and bikes for rent, plus a BBQ. Otherwise, there’s the Rivendell Bed and Breakfast, centrally located at 10 Hyde St; or the more secluded and luxurious Fernridge Cottage, just over 4km out of Bellingen on the Dorrigo Road, which you have all to yourself for a minimum booking of two nights. The Bellingen Valley Motor Inn is also in a green expanse on the way to Dorrigo, but only 1km out of town, with room service, a swimming pool, spa, playground and barbecue. You can camp at the Bellingen Caravan Park on Dowle Street, North Bellingen.

The town is full of great cafés. Lodge 241, an art gallery-cum-café on Short Street serves some of the best coffee in town and interesting, wholesome lunches. The light and airy Carriageway Café, 75 Hyde St, serves simple and affordable city fare – melts, burgers, gourmet sandwiches, bagels and croissants; at the back, a polished wooden staircase heads upstairs to an art gallery. On Church Street, the spacious Cool Creek Café has a folksy ambience and an extensive veggie menu, as well as lasagne, and bacon and eggs for breakfast. Next door, The Good Food Shop is a real find for wholefood supplies; it also serves good lunches. McNally House on Hyde Street (tel 02/6655 6344; Tues–Sat eve only) is a BYO restaurant in a cute cottage, with a mixed menu run by Swiss chefs. The town has only one pub: the animated Federal Hotel, on Hyde Street, with live music (usually free) from Thursday to Sunday.

Interstate buses do not detour into Bellingen; the nearest drop-off point is Urunga or Coffs Harbour, from where Jessups Bus Service (tel 02/6653 4552) runs here on schooldays. You can also reach Bellingen on Kings Bus Service (tel 02/6562 4724), which operates three times a week between Port Macquarie and Tamworth.

Inland to Dorringo
The Dorrigo Road from Bellingen follows the beautiful Bellinger River, with bewitching green hills in the distance and fat cows grazing in lush riverside fields, passing through THORA, and its roadhouse with the pleasant River Bend Café attached. Beyond Thora, the scenic road winds ever more steeply through the Dorrigo National Park, a startlingly beautiful rainforest remnant of an area that was once similarly heavily forested; however, the lure of the valuable Australian cedar – “red gold” – left most of the plateau cleared by the 1920s.

The ultramodern National Park Visitor Centre (daily 9am–5pm; tel 02/6657 2309) has a detailed interpretive display that goes through this sorry saga, with some insights into the life of the north coast Aboriginal people, and some examples of red cedar furniture. 

The Canopy Café here, with wonderful views, serves light lunches and afternoon teas until 4pm. Starting at the visitor centre, the Skywalk is easily the most spectacular of the walks and the least strenuous, a wooden walkway stretching out high over the rainforest canopy, enabling you to look down on the forest and out over the surrounding landscape and distant hills. The walkway is open 24 hours, to allow observance of the forest’s nocturnal creatures. Other trails will take you to some of the park’s best features, including a number of beautiful waterfalls – there are comprehensive information boards at the centre, or pick up some leaflets for details.

DORRIGO itself is an old settlement on the eastern edge of the New England Plateau, a classic small country town typified by the old-fashioned air and 1950s Formica fittings of Nick’s Café on Hickory Street, which serves scones and pots of tea. There’s plenty of accommodation here: the wide-verandahed Hotel Dorrigo has basic hotel and fancier motel-style rooms, as well as dorm accommodation, while Dorrigo Mountain Resort, 1 Bellingen Rd, close to the national park, has camping and a range of cabins. There are also plenty of farmstays in the area; get full details from the tourist information service at 36 Hickory St (daily 10am–4pm; tel 02/6657 2486).

The only way to get to Dorrigo on public transport is with Kings Bus Service (tel 02/6562 4724), which runs three times a week between Port Macquarie and Tamworth; you can catch it from Bellingen. The bus follows the road west from Dorrigo cutting cross-country, past several more national parks, towards Armidale.