This short documentary depicts the beauty and unique ecosystem of the Kalang area and the forests of north-eastern New South Wales, while exposing the unsustainability of past and future logging operations and the destruction of endangered wildlife habitats. In January 2020, after the devastating fires of the summer, Scotchmans and Rose Creek State Forests were “taken off the logging list“. Friends of the Kalang Headwaters have proposed the area of the upper Kalang, middle Bellinger and Nambucca rivers be conserved in a nature reserve.
We went for a motorcycle ride to explore the Kalang River, and to see the environment for ourselves. The increasingly narrow road twists and turns over numerous bridges up the Kalang valley, changing from bitumen to gravel as you get further into the valley. On the return, we followed the South Arm road along the river as far as Urunga for coffee. The Kalang River was originally called the South Arm, and the Bellinger the North Arm, names now reflected in the local road names.
Up until a timber bridge was constructed in 1928, travellers crossed the Kalang River by ferry at Urunga. A new bridge was built in 1972, and the Urunga Bypass with the 150m long dual carriageway crossing of the Kalang River opened in 2016.
Combine this ride with a visit to Urunga Boardwalk to see the Kalang River join the Bellinger and make its way into the sea.
