The Bellinger is a small yet very beautiful river which rises on the eastern escarpment of the New England National Park near Ebor. It flows east under the escarpment formed by the Dorrigo plateau, passing through the township of Bellingen to enter the sea near Urunga. Although it has only a small watershed, it rises in an area of consistently high rainfall which ensures a reasonable flow through most of the year while at the same time creating problems of access, as there are many fords to be negotiated in getting to a reasonably high put-in point.
This is the only feasible white-water section of the river as above Dardanelles Bridge access is difficult and below Thora there are only occasional gravel races and the river is rather uninteresting. It is an easy two day trip with many grade 1-2 rapids.
 This is a very twisty river which offers beautiful glimpses of mountains and forests with the Bellinger River State Forest to the north and Die happy State Forest to the south. The best rapids in the section are between Cleavers Crossing (Map Ref. 665327) and Orana church (Map Ref. 702328). This stretch of 8km can make a pleasant alternative short day trip. There are numerous suitable campsites but permission should be sought before camping as some landowners do not welcome visitors. Alternatively checkout the NSW Spcial Map Viewer web site and try to lan your overnight camps on National PArk Estate. Care should be taken when approaching low-level bridges or floating water-driven pumps. When their is a lot of rain the river rises very quickly cutting off access and also the river becomes very fast flowing and so increases in difficulty and so should not be paddled in those conditions. We do not have any recommended river levels