Murwillumbah and Mt. Warning

---

After a lovely 4 days on the Gold Coast, and catching a bit of sun there I headed in to the mountains near Murwillumbah. What a breath of fresh air! The town was so laid back and had a hippy vibe going on. The hostel was situated on the Tweed River and had an excellent view of Mt. Warning. The hostel had the most character of any that I’ve stayed at so far. Most of the hostels are fairly large and impersonal. This one is ran by an old man known as Tassie; presumably because he is from Tasmania originally. But he now runs a hostel in the small town of Murwillumbah. The hostel is a converted house and each room is painted in different funky colors and patterns. There are funny blow-up and stuffed animals hanging from the ceilings in random places and Halloween masks on the doors in the bathroom. Yes it is a bit weird, but at least it has character! The first night I was there there were 5 people and the other nights there were only 4. Now, Tassie is a social butterfly so he had events organized on most nights of the week and free ice cream every night! The first night we went for fish and chips; Tassie knew everyone at the shop, partly because one was his ex.

On Wednesday morning Tassie drove me to the base of Mt. Warning where I was to meet another girl from the hostel to do the hike together. So we started on the trek up a little unsure about what the weather would be like. But here you just can’t worry about it that much because it changes so fast and often. One second it will be raining and the next it will be bright and sunny. You just never know! So we were prepared for the worst but hoping for the best.

Mt. Warning got its name from Captain Cook in the 1700’s when he came around the cape at Byron and encountered sailing difficulties (shallow seas or something like that). Anyway he named the large mountain he saw Mt. Warning to warn other sailors of problems to come. The Aboriginals however call the mountain Wollumbin, which means “cloud catcher”. Very fitting; it was often surrounded by clouds, and like most mountains, caught the clouds, especially near the summit. Mt. Warning is the plug of one of the largest shield volcanoes on the planet and the largest one in the southern hemisphere. The volcano has been eroded away over the past 20 million years or so and was actually present back in the day when Australia was part of Gondwanaland. Now all that remains of the volcano is the plug (Mt. Warning) and the outside edge of the caldera. I couldn’t help but compare it with Crater Lake, although they are nothing alike, except that they are both ancient volcanoes. (The caldera around Mt. Warning is much bigger) It’s amazing how two former volcanoes can end up so different after thousands or millions of years.

The beginning third of the hike is through sub-tropical rainforest. It is similar to the tropical rainforest I encountered up north. There were a lot of palms and fig trees present. It seemed like there was less undergrowth though. There were some ferns present but it seemed like there were fewer than in the tropics. The sub-tropical rainforest eventually changes into a drier, more open environment. The soil was rockier and the tree layer was dominated by eucalyptus. The forest in the last third of the hike was dominated by heath plants and shorter, stunted trees and plants.

The hike up was not too bad. The trail was pretty well maintained and was undergoing some maintenance; it was just a fairly steep hike and took about 2 ½ hours to get to the top. The last bit of the hike there is a chain that has been installed to help you up the steep rocks to the top. The chain was a nice bit of help, but not all that necessary in parts. It was not actually a sheer rock face and there were decent places to use as foot holds. Coming down was a bit more tricky though, but still very do-able and just challenging enough to be a lot of fun rather than really tedious and annoying.

From the top of Mt. Warning we were amazed and so lucky that we could actually see off the mountain. We were afraid that we’d be confronted with nothing but a wall of clouds. We were lucky enough to see the ocean and Byron Bay, about 50 km (30 miles) away. We also had good views of the outer rim of the caldera and the towns and houses that now dot the inside of it. We could also see the Tweed River snaking its way to the sea.

Wednesday is free jazz night at the hostel. Sounds great; we were all really looking forward to it. So we loaded into Tassie’s hippy van and drove towards the ocean for some jazz. We were all shocked when we walked up to a surf life saving club and saw a bunch of old people! They were there enjoying their usual Wednesday night activity. We felt really awkward at first, and most of the night; we were just about the only young people there besides some of the staff. Anyway, we listened to some not-so-good jazz and drank a little too much beer a little too fast while Tassie made his rounds greeting friends. Then I got to thinking that it didn’t matter so much that I felt awkward and drank about 4 glasses (not pints!) of been before the old guy across from me finished one, I was glad that Tassie was having fun with his friends. I think it’s what helps keep him young at heart.

After a bit the leader of the band stopped to make a shout-out to Tassie and his crew. How mortifying! Anyway the people there were nice and did seem happy to see us. Then the waitresses came around with a dessert that Tassie ordered for us! It was an unusual night but still fun.

Murwillumbah is a nice, laid back town…but that means that there isn’t much to do there. The library was having a book sale so I stocked up on some paperbacks and used some internet (not free). Thursday the weather was looking a bit iffy, of course. But me and another girl decided to take one of the hostel’s (free) kayaks out on the river. We paddled down the river just fine but once we got far down stream we had to paddle against the current and increasing winds to get back to the hostel. Now, I’m not a great paddler or that experienced but this girl was a wuss. I had to do most of the work and was getting quite worn out and annoyed. So I was glad to get off the water. Thursday night it was raining so we played a fierce game of monopoly. It’s been years since I’ve played but it was good fun. And I won.

My original plan was to leave Murwillumbah on Friday and head to Byron Bay for the weekend. But I kept forgetting to call and book my hostel in Byron and they were booked out for Friday night. So I had to stay one more night at Murwillumbah, which was OK with me really. Tassie had heard about this gallery and café place a bit outside of town that he’d been wanting to visit so he took me and another lady out there in the afternoon. It was not that exciting, but at least it was something to do for a bit. By Friday evening I was getting bored and antsy. The girl that I hiked Mt. Warning with said she would go out with me. So we walked around town for a bit but never found anything to do and she didn’t seem all that in to it anyway so we just went back to the hostel. I had coffee too late in the day so I was hyped up and bored out of my skull. I wasted the hours reading and playing Free Cell until I could go to sleep.

Saturday morning I had some time to explore a bit of the town of Murwillumbah; it doesn’t take long. And I did a short hike to a lookout where you can see the town and some of the surrounding caldera. I managed to find a hostel to stay at in Byron Bay Saturday night; I was kind of relieved I would be in a town with some nightlife.

---

Photos

Mt. Warning
Sunset over the Tweed River with at Mt. Warning in the background.

Hiking up Mt. Warning
The lower portion of the hike winds through sub-tropical rainforest.

Steep Climb
The last bit of the climb there is a chain to assist you up the steep rock face. The view is well worth it!

View from the Top
Believe it or not we could actually see the ocean and the Lighthouse at Byron Bay, about 50 km away. The mountains in the foreground make up the rim of the caldera.

Tweed River Valley
The Tweed River Valley is a place for agriculture and is dominated by lush fields surrounded by mountains.