Dorrigo is a quiet town of about a thousand people on a high plateau in northern New South Wales, a dairy and potato district that feels cool and green compared with the coast an hour below. The plateau is the edge of the old volcanic land that rose after the great Gondwana breakup, and it still catches the rain from the Pacific. The result is a rainforest that has survived as an island of tall, dripping trees, now protected in Dorrigo National Park and listed with other east-coast reserves as the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia. A short drive from the town you can walk a boardwalk through the canopy and look down on ferns and strangler figs.
The road to know is the Waterfall Way, which climbs from Coffs Harbour and Bellingen up the escarpment to Dorrigo and continues toward Armidale. The ascent is a long run of bends through forest and farmland, with the road cut into the hillside and the air changing from warm and humid to cool and misty as you climb. The surface is generally good, but the shade keeps it damp, and in wet weather, when fog sits in the trees, the visibility is low. Wildlife is a real hazard: wallabies, wombats and possums come out at dusk, and cattle sometimes wander on the road. Dangar Falls, a pretty drop just outside the town, is an easy stop.
Dorrigo has the feel of a town that is used to riders. Cafes, a bakery, a pub and a fuel station on the main street cater to travellers, and a railway museum and a small steam railway recall the time when trains carried milk and timber down to the coast. Bellingen, twenty-two kilometres down the hill, has a larger choice and an arty atmosphere.
Season matters. Summer brings heavy rain and humidity, with thunderstorms in the afternoon, while winter is dry and clear but can be cold at night on the plateau. Spring has wildflowers and a clean light, which many riders prefer. Leeches live in the rainforest and are harmless but unpleasant, so wear boots on any walk. It is the sort of place where a flat white and a hot pie taste far better than they should.