Dorrigo National Park

Awhile ago we went off for a weekend camping and hiking around Dorrigo National Park.  It was too wet for the camping side of things so we ended up finding more suitable accommodation but we decided to set off on the 6km hike regardless.

We got off to a bit of a shaky start when Blue decided he did not want to have his photo taken with Possum while on the Skywalk.  The tears were short lived at this point so we set off into the rain forest below. 

The rain did add an element of discomfort as well as beauty.  By the time we finished the 6km we were all soggy but we had dry clothes to change into so things could have been worse.

Possum hiked the whole 6km without assistance and Blue did most of it under his own steam too.  I am so proud of them because it was not easy.  

The rain bought out the leeches.  100's and 100's of leeches.  I am not exaggerating much either; I have never seen leeches like it and the children did NOT like them at all!  There were more tears (and some screaming) when Blue realised a leech had crawled into his mouth.  Not nice for him at all but thankfully easily removed.

The children are now saying they had fun, but at the time they both said they never wanted to walk in another rain forest EVER again.  Ha ha; hard to blame them after the number of leeches we flicked off, or that fell off eventually.

Having a break behind a waterfall was fun.  We stopped long enough to eat our fruit (and remove more leeches) and then continued.

Before we do another trip like this I need to get the children some suitable long pants.  I had a lot less issues with leeches due to my long pants but I did not think of this before we set out.  Live and learn!