We now understand why the area is named "Diehard"! 25klm after leaving Glen Innes we came to a right hand turn-off to the Mann River Park....gravel road after we had been told it was blacktop to the campsite, first strike! The brochure we had been given reiterated that it is a steep decent....now that is an understatement, it drops 1000 metres over 16klm, with a fair bit of that distance flat, strike two. The road is actually the Old Grafton Road, noted on publications as "unsuitable for caravans"...strike three. So of course we had to go there, and thankfully we did as it is just amazing!
 
The actual descent is blacktop, with dirt at the beginning and end for a few kilometres, but it redefines "steep"! On the way top the bottom every u-bend denotes another downward spiral and another ridge to round. The brakes on both the Patrol and the Lotus were running hot. Most of the descent the road is little more than a lane and a half and fortunately the only vehicle we met was near the bottom at a wider section.
 
The campsite lived up to the reputation, it is truly stunning, so for a while we could forget that tomorrow we face a long hard climb*. There were abot five other campers in-situ when we arrived, and one wonderful site on the waters edge under some trees was taken. With our rig we opted for one of six terrace sites overlooking the picnic area, each site with a small concrete pad, BBQ table and a wood firepit with swing hotplate and chains in place.
 
A warm day, harrowing drive, camp set....time for a swim! Cold? Yep, bloody cold but worthwhile it seems. We spent the remaining afternoon collecting firwood from the pile provided and preparing a beef curry to cook in the Bedourie over the open fire. At 5pm we joined the other campers for a happy hour while the sunset and our dinner slowly cooked. The sunset down in the gorge was swift and with little fanfare, but the stars which quickly made themselves visible were a treat. We wandered back to our camp, enjoyed the curry with a bottle of red or two and sat for hours before the fire to enjoy the night sky spectacle, shooting stars and all!