If the grass is growing long under your caravan, it may be time to move on.
After a few weeks at Woodenbong, we spent the last weekend with friends and revisited the Tooloom falls and campground. There is something tranquil about this place.
Since we started traveling, we have been intrigued by the different rigs people choose to travel with. The largest rig we’ve seen was a massive motorhome towing a double decker trailer with a Hilux ute at the bottom and a 7 meter boat above it. Even more intriguing is how light some people travel. Many people prefer a small car, a motor bike, or even a push bike with a small trailer. The absolute winners so far were these two guys, walking along pulling a trolley, carting their life in it.
Our next stop was the Murwillumbah’s showground. On Wednesdays the famers come to town and we could stock up on fresh produce from the local famers market, 100m away from our van.
We did a few daytrips to the local attractions, starting with the obligatory Big Avocado at Duranbah.
From there to our first beaches for the trip, working our way from north to south. We started at Fingal Head and visited the hexagonal columnar-jointed basalt named the ‘Giant’s Causeway’. These formations were named after a similar formation between Scotland and northern Ireland.
After Fingal Head we visited Kingscliff, Casuarina, Cabarita Beach, Hastingspoint, Pottsville, and Wooyung.
We took “the road less travelled” and had lunch at the Big Motorbike at Mooball.
We stopped at Heath’s old Wares, an antique shop like we have never seen before. The shop is in Burringbar, and sells anything from a huge Ugg boot to kerosene lamps.
We also stumbled across the interesting history of the decommissioned railway line, connecting Lismore and Murwillumbah. This railway line was referred to in the Australian Parliament as the “line from nowhere to nowhere” and was finished in 1894. If you think your job sucks, spare a thought for the guy that had to present the business case for funding to parliament to build the “line from nowhere to nowhere”.
The Tweed Regional Gallery is nestled amongst the farmlands in Murwillumbah South. This modern gallery café provides a great vantage point to green farmland surroundings.
In the gardens is a life sized bronze figure by Tim Storrier called the Grand Impedimenta reflecting on human mortality.
Margret Olley is one of Australia’s most admired painters for still life and interiors. To celebrate her 100th anniversary, Tweed Regional Gallery exhibited many of her works between March and October 2023. They even re-created her famous Duxford Street home studio inside the gallery as shown below:
We did the hiking track in the Mount Warning National Park.
There were ferns, moss and fungi throughout the rainforest.
After the walk, we had lunch at the Crams Farm Reserve. This 14 hectare hidden treasure has massive water fronts and perfectly maintained lawns. We had the park to ourselves.
Before 1973 Nimbin was a declining town, as forestry and farming resided in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales. The town was reinvigorated in 1973 when it was identified as the venue for the Aquarius Festival. The festival was a large gathering of students, hippies, and people preferring an alternative lifestyle. Some of the 1973 partygoers never went back home and are still living in Nimbin. When driving through the main street it feels as if time is standing still, as if you are walking through weed induced calmness.
A tea for every occasion…
Below is the age care facility in Nimbin where drinking tea may not be the most significant part of the day. You will never grow old in this place…
Not uncommon to see a queue at the public telephone and wi-fi booths.
On the way back from Nimbin to Murwillumbah we took a detour through the Border Ranges National Park, did a bushwalk and visited a few vantage points.
Not sure if you’d want to eat at this picnic table…
We spent a bit of time at Brunswick Heads before heading to our next stop at Alstonville.
Alstonville showgrounds allows caravans around the oval and is clearly dog friendly, welcoming your mutt to reception with a bowl of fresh water.
A 10 minute drive took us to Tosha Falls.
Ballina is home to the Big Prawn and this thing was humongous.
From Ballina, we stopped at the Pat Morton lookout and Lennox Heads boardwalk, before having a special morning tea with friends at Lake Ainsworth.
We headed north to Byron Bay and stopped at the lighthouse, built on the most easterly point of mainland Australia. With 2,200,000 candelas, this lighthouse is the most powerful in Australia. From the lighthouse we could see the humpback whales migrating south.
Just a short walk from the lighthouse, we took this photo at the most easterly point sign.
Next we headed south and spent a few days in Yuraygir National Park and visited the Red Cliffs, Grey Cliffs, and Lake Arragan.
The wallabies were roaming the campground.
To the west of Brooms Head is Lake Cakora. The water-flow into the lake erodes a treelike image, dubbed the “Tree of Life”. The tree changes colour depending on the colour of the water flowing into the lake. We spent a few hours finding the Tree of Life and managed to take this picture.
As the sun was setting, we started packing up to move to Coffs Harbour.
