Cold air is the first thing you notice at Ebor, because you have climbed up from the subtropical coast onto the New England tableland and the climate has changed with you. The falls are on the Guy Fawkes River, a short walk from the Waterfall Way, and they drop in two stages over dark basalt into a gorge thick with tree ferns, ancient-looking eucalypts and mist. After rain, the noise carries up through the forest, and the sun can throw a faint rainbow across the spray.
There are viewing platforms on both the upper and lower falls, reached by a short path from the car park and not much effort even in boots. The lower platform shows the water falling in a tall, narrow ribbon, with a rock amphitheatre behind. Look for lyrebirds and wallabies in the scrub, and keep an eye out for the tiny, bright fairy-wrens that dart through the undergrowth. The river ends up in Guy Fawkes River National Park, a rough and remote wilderness far below, which feels worlds away from the road.
The riding up here is a pleasure of a different kind than the climb from Bellingen. After the tight, twisting section through the Dorrigo escarpment, the Waterfall Way becomes a long, sweeping highway across open grazing country, with granite boulders and misty paddocks and wide, easy curves. Winter mornings can be properly frosty, with ice on the road in shaded patches, and snow falls on the tableland now and then. Summer brings fast thunderstorms and cool, clear air. Early morning is when the mist lies in the valleys and kangaroos graze along the verge, so slow down.
Ebor itself is a tiny village on the plateau, and the tableland has a hardy, quiet character, with sheep, cattle and apple orchards. History here is mostly pastoral: squatters, drovers and timber cutters who made a living out of this rough country.
Services are thin. Dorrigo, about thirty-six kilometres to the east, is the nearest town with a decent range of shops and fuel, and Armidale is the larger town to the west. Check your tank before you leave Dorrigo or Bellingen, and keep a layer for the cold. A hot pie from a bakery in either town is the standard reward for the climb.