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Published: December 19th 2006
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The drive to Tenterfield proved uneventful, though the only dorm accommodation in the town was closed because of a problem with the toilets so I ended up in a cabin with exclusive use of all 5 beds. The teddy bear on the pillow gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling.
Tenterfield played a role in Australian history, being the place where the idea of federating the Australian states was famously advocated by the then-Prime Minister of New South Wales in 1889. It was to be another 12 years before this actually came to fruition with the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia (which may sound confusing to British ears more accustomed to "commonwealth" only being used in the context of the British Empire). However that wasn't why I was in Tenterfield.
That night, a real humdinger of a thunderstorm decided to stop over the town and put on a spectacular show of lightning. This was accompanied by sheeting rain and gusting winds, keeping me pinned in my overly-bedded cabin with only "Dance With The Stars" (or something) for company. Unfortunately water started to creep under the door, a state of affairs that went unnoticed until a small paddling pool had
formed, and I was forced to sacrifice that day's copy of "The Australian" as, inexplicably, there were no sandbags to hand. The temperature must have dropped a good 15 degrees and I had to sleep under the duvet to avoid shivering. Morning revealed a freshly-laid carpet of leaves and branches outside but no trees had come down.
My 2 intended targets were Bald Rock, the largest granite monolith in the southern hemisphere, and Boonoo Boonoo Falls, supposedly only pleasant but conveniently close. I was warned by the lodge owner that the road to the latter would be mud after the night's deluge so I abandoned that idea - I've seen a torrent of waterfalls on the east coast anyway. She also said that Bald Rock would be slippery, which it was (but not in the sense she'd intended).
On the way to the rock I stopped for a look at Thunderbolt's Shelter, one of many hideouts supposedly employed by the nineteenth century bushranger Captain Thunderbolt. Bizarrely, a sign on the road pointed to Thunderbolt's Shelter but, once off the road, the only sign was to some World War 2 tank traps. And once you'd figured out you needed
Lennox Head beach
One of the best surf spots in the world to take an unmarked trail to actually get to Thunderbolt's Shelter, there was no sign to indicate when you'd reached it. So maybe I didn't see it after all. However I did see some rocks that could possibly have functioned as a shelter.
Worse was to come. At Bald Rock I took the only marked trail from the carpark which, after nearly 4km of trudging, brought me out at an unimpressive mound of rocks. Worse, through a gap in the trees, I could see something that possibly was the largest granite monolith in the southern hemisphere - and it wasn't close to me. Back at the carpark, while muttering obscenities, I noticed that a ranger's truck that I'd seen on the way in had gone. And right behind where it had been standing was a sign marking the trail to Bald Rock. Since I now didn't have time to do that walk in addition to my previous one, Bald Rock was to remain unclimbed. I swore roundly then headed back towards the coast.
I took a detour via Lennox Head on the way to Byron Bay. It's apparently one of the best surfing beaches in the world but
there was more kite-surfing action than hanging ten so I was unable to confirm that. And after a surprise tour of Byron Bay, forced on me by the presence of a one-way system that I hadn't even noticed previously, I was back at the Cape Byron YHA.
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