Mt Warning, Northern NSW - 17-19 January 2014

We hadn't been to Mt Warning for quite a few years so were looking forward to this weekend very much. It is an easy drive from home too. There was rain forecast but as it turned out we didn't get a drop. It was pretty warm and humid though which is to be expected at this time of year.

The Mt Warning Rainforest Park is the closest caravan park to Mt Warning and is quite a large park. There are 3 areas to the park. The first one is an animal friendly part and mainly for permanents. The next area has powered sites for vans and also a few for camper trailers, as well as a few tent sites. The last area is unpowered and is mainly for tents, although there was a camper trailer there on the weekend. Separating each area is an amenities block. There was also a camp kitchen between the van area and the tent area. I don't think I would like to be there over a long weekend as there were only 2 toilets and showers in the block near us. The shower had a timing switch but I had time to have a lovely shower and wash my hair. We paid $30 a night but if we had booked online, it would have cost us $35.

We were set up by lunchtime and spent the rest of the day reading, sewing and dozing (me) and reading and sudokus (Bruce). Bruce has had a busy couple of months at work so it was good to be able to just vege out. Just as we pulled up, another van pulled up beside us. They had 2 young children with them. Bruce spoke to the guy when he washed the dishes at the camp kitchen on Friday night. They had spent 2 weeks at Yamba and had paid $1,300 for the stay. We're glad we don't need to go away at Christmas.

It is only a few kms to Mr Warning from the caravan park, so we headed up to do the walk up the mountain on Saturday morning. It is a 5km round trip. When we got to the car park at the beginning of the walk, however, it was overflowing with cars. We managed to get a space where someone had pulled out but we decided not to do the walk. There would be too many people on the track. We will come back later in the year when we can come during the week, and it will be a little quieter. There is a little 20 minute walk (10 minutes would be more like it) called The Lyrebird Track. We did this without spotting any lyrebirds but it was a nice little walk.

Instead of doing the walk, we headed to Tyalgum, which was about 20-30 minutes drive away. We had been told that there was a nice café there so instead of losing some weight on a walk, we decided to put it on with a morning tea!

Flutterbies is the name of the café but it comprises shops as well as the café in its little setting. There was a gift shop, a Christmas shop and down the back of the complex was a wellness centre. As well as the café, there was also a specialised coffee bar where you could order different sorts of coffees. There was plenty of seating and they had plenty of customers.

We had a wander through town and also drove around to have a look at the free camping spot, but it didn't look very appealing.

After lunch back at the van, we repeated our activities of Friday afternoon before walking down the road to The Rainforest Café. It had tables and chairs set up in the garden under the trees and looked very nice. A place to try another time. We then walked back to the park and wandered up to the end of the tent area to have a look. We did see a great tent.

The park had filled up quite a bit today but there were still about 10 van sites available. The tent area looked full though.

We packed up Sunday morning and headed home via Tumbulgum where we found another lovely café. I forgot to look at the name of it but it is just up from the pub. We had a table outside and it overlooked the river. It is very popular judging by the number of people there.

We had had a lovely, relaxing weekend away. Our next trip away is in a month. We are heading away with the Caravan Club and heading to Maleny. Should be a good weekend if our last trip with them is anything to go by.