Friday 5th February 2021
Today we woke at 630. Madeline spent the night in our bed after screaming in pain because of a tummy ache. She managed to settle after going to the loo.
It was another sunny morning at South West Rocks, but alas it was time to move on.
We travelled Northwest to Bellingen and drove to our camp spot around 15km from town.
Roses Camp Spot
This is a small rest area of Waterfall Way that is for free camping with only toilet facilities. It’s shaded and has some lovely picnic spots.
Bellingen
Bellingen was established in 1870 following Fernmount, the first business centre in the district, becoming landlocked.
It is situated on the Bellingen River.
It is part of a pre-colonial area called Bellinger Valley. Overland exploration in this region started in 1840, when William Miles and a group of sawyers from Kempsey discovered the valley and the river.
The river, whose native name was Bellengen, was found in 1841 by Clement Hodgkinson a government surveyor.
Shortly afterwards Major Henry Oakes, the Crown Lands Commissioner, walking up the coast from Kempsey to the Clarence River, forded the Bellinger bar at what is now Urunga and noted “the land in the vicinity being of the finest description with abundance of cedar.”
In July 1843 the first cargo of red cedar from the Bellinger valley was transported to Sydney.
By the early 1900s, red cedar supplies were virtually depleted, except for those that survived in the inaccessible upper reaches of the Bellinger Valley. The cleared areas were turned into prime farming land and the valley became a dairying centre.
Land ownership
The first five town allotments were surveyed in 1869 and were sold by public auction at West Kempsey Court House on September 14th, 1870.
Our afternoon
We had a bite to eat at Diggers Tavern for lunch. We then took a stroll along the boutique shops before returning to our camp spot.
Gas problems
We had some issues switching from car battery to gas today. The fridge wouldn’t run properly. In the humidity of the day we had to remove the fridge electronics panel.
We found the issue and we are now running off gas again. Yahoo!!
Tomorrow
Tomorrow we plan to go up to Dorrigo and do some rainforest walking.
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