We set out early and drove to the end of the Myall Lakes National Park, where there is a ferry to take you from Mungo Brush over to Bombah Point. While we were sitting there waiting, the ranger appeared and started asking about the Landrover - this is definitely a weird "man thing", they are fascinated by cars and like to start conversations with random people and kick tyres. Strange. The ferry appeared and we drove on, then through Bulahdelah to Seal Rocks and Sugarloaf Point, which was very pretty.
From there, we drove up through the lakes to Forster, then inland to jump on The Buckett's Way, a long stretch of road that goes to Gloucester. Then we were well and truly in the country, with dry yellow grass, dirt roads, gum trees and rolling hills. Honestly, I've never spent much (any) time in the actual country, and never realised that a lot of the roads out there were dirt! I also didn't know how beautiful it actually was...
We left the farmland behind and drove up into Barrington Tops National Park, a mountainy region covered in gum trees. It gets snow there in winter, and it was definitely chilly there even in September. We settled in for the night at Manning River campsite, built a fire, then had a dinner of a very hot curry I'd made to bring with me, rice, and some sparkling wine. Later, we also had an encounter with a very fast-running wombat while we were walking to the loos! It made for an interesting night!