Grieving for losses: Fire at Budds Mare, Walcha, NSW

Budds Mare includes a deep valley through which the wild Apsley River flows, but we only ventured to the lookout area in June 2018. This area is still closed due to the impact of bush fires this summer, and I feel sad that others will not be able to share its beauty for some time yet, even when it re-opens.

We drove out to Emu Creek Road through dry plateau countryside that was being lightly kissed by a shower of rain, and where the numerous deciduous trees were mostly bare. Then we turned onto Moona Plains Road to travel out to Budds Mare, which was on the edge of the Oxley-Wild Rivers National Park, and along this road we noticed once again that all the properties in this shire had been supplied with blue metal signs indicating the property name and address.

We came to where the road wound down the edge of a mountain and then crossed another plain, which I presumed was Moona, as we passed Moona Plains Station along the way. We then crossed a grid into a property and travelled along a dirt track, which wound across paddocks and over more grids, before we topped a hill to see rows of ranges and gorges laid out before us.

It was a little further to reach Budds Mare, and we first travelled through a native forest. At the Camping Ground here, we parked and walked 150 metres to Paradise Rocks Lookout, where we had excellent views down into the deep gorges of the Apsley River and its tributaries, and there was a rainbow at the end of the outcrop called Paradise Rocks. As we stood at the lookout we could hear Lyrebirds calling to each other, and we were enticed to walk a little way along the 8 km walk that ended up in the Gorge at Riverside (also reached by a 6 km 4WD track).

We could not resist poking our nose down the 4WD track, until we came to a notice that advised drivers to engage 4WD now and to display Riverside permits, and this preceded a steep descent, so we turned around and returned to Walcha via the way we had come.

Remember: Our days are happier when we give people a bit of our heart rather than a piece of our mind. Gratitude App