Nearby, a high-country river plummets once, and then again, over the double drop of a mighty waterfall. It pummels a deep pool 100m below and in the doing spreads a shimmering mist across the rock-strewn gorge. The eagle turns, glances down at me, and glides away. It rides the updraughts of a wind that ruffles the canopy of a rainforest, whose inhabitant species are as old as the hills it covers.
In this tangle, towering trees stand dressed in coats of the softest, emerald-green moss. These are the ancients – descendants of another place, another time. This is Gondwana country, and, like my soaring feathered friend, it’s breathtaking.
Dorrigo National Park
In the hinterland behind Coffs Harbour, on the New South Wales mid-north coast, sits one of the country’s 40 World Heritage-listed Gondwana rainforest sites. Here the trees are bent and bowed, gnarled and knobbly, smeared in lichen, and dripping with vines.
Just an hour’s drive south-west of Coffs along Waterfall Way, Dorrigo National Park is one of the most accessible places to explore these forests. Centuries-old Antarctic beech rub shoulders with prehistoric tree ferns and palms, and you can wander on well-maintained tracks and boardwalks admiring their grandeur.
Denne historien er fra September - October 2019-utgaven av Australian Geographic Magazine.
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Denne historien er fra September - October 2019-utgaven av Australian Geographic Magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Loveday Internment Camp, SA A
DURING WORLD WAR II, civilians n Australia deemed \"enemy aliens\" - mostly those of German, Italian and Japanese descent were housed in internment camps.
THE STORYTELLERS OF THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
More than 100 dedicated Master Reef Guides are sharing the GBR's most important stories with visitors in a bid to inspire its greater protection.
A BEAUTIFUL DISASTER
Does last summer's mass coral bleaching event sound a death knell for Australia's beloved Great Barrier Reef? \"Not on my watch!\" is the message coming from he army of heartbroken, but resolute, marine scientists who've responded to the crisis by doubling down on their research.
AROUND AUSTRALIA IN 44 DAYS
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the first aerial circumnavigation of Australia. Aviator Michael Smith retraces the flight in his unique amphibious flying boat, Southern Sun, starting and finishing at RAAF Base Point Cook, on Melbourne's Port Phillip, taking in 15,000km of vast, diverse and stunning coastline in between.
CLEAR-CUTTING KOALA COUNTRY
More than 3000sq.km of forests on NSW's Mid North Coast have been earmarked for the Great Koala National Park. But there's still work to be done before this proposed reserve becomes the safe haven koalas desperately need.
MORE THAN QUOKKAS
Sure, you can't avoid those cute little marsupials that made Rottnest Island world-famous, but there's so much more to life on this ocean-ringed jewel off the Western Australian coast.
A WILD POLO TUSSLE
It's an event reminiscent of a Banjo Paterson poem. For 35 years, in the High Country 200km east of Melbourne, city polo players have gathered annually at Cobungra, Victoria's largest cattle station, to vie with a rural team for the Dinner Plain Polo Cup.
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Contemporary marine park management is infused with traditional knowledge to tackle new threats on the Great Barrier Reef.
LOOKING FOR TJAKURA
The search is on across Australia's deserts for a culturally important vulnerable lizard.
RESCUING THE CHUDITCH
After intensive planning, recovery for this endangered marsupial species is being stepped up to secure its future.