Northern Tablelands Discovery program

Discovery coorindator Rebecca Smith getting gear ready for the overnight camp at the Carrai Plateau next week

Want to get away from it all during the school holidays? If you have a four-wheel drive, then the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has something that might be just what you are looking for.As part of the Northern Tablelands Discovery program, the NPWS is organising a four-wheel drive tag-along tour to the remote Carrai Plateau, east of Walcha.

“Even though the Carrai is only 80km away as the crow flies, it takes more than four hours to get there from Walcha, passing through five different National Parks,” Discovery coordinator Bec Smith said.

“The tour will visit historic places such as Youdales Hut on Kunderang Brook, old mill villages such as Kookaburra and Daisy Plains and take in spectacular lookouts such as Mary’s View and Hoppy’s Lookout.

“The drive also passes through the only patch of cool temperate Antarctic Beech rainforest within Oxley Wild Rivers National Park - a relic of when Australia was part of the super-continent Gondwana.”

The catered tour includes an overnight camp at Daisy Plains Huts. Each car will need to bring overnight camping equipment and all personal effects. Numbers are limited to six vehicles, and each vehicle needs to have low-range gearbox.

The overnight camp will be on Tuesday night - with the tour leaving Armidale that day and returning to the city late on Wednesday.

This tour has never been run in the region before. Discovery rangers will be looking after the 4WDrivers very well, by providing a barbecue dinner, plus bush breakfast and lunch.
Anyone wishing to be involved in the tour is asked to contact the Northern Tablelands Region office in Armidale, phone 6776-0000