Road Trip down the East Coast
Apologies for lack of updates! Since my last post nearly a month ago, we have mainly been on the move and doing so much that I haven't had time to sit down and write about everything! After spending a fun few days on the Gold Coast, we headed up to Brisbane for a few days, to visit my friend Kate in Sandgate again. We then took a tour to Fraser Island. This is an island entirely of sand, no rock, and yet it is covered with beautiful forests and has some stunning lakes. There are no roads, only 4WD tracks, and everything is quite basic to protect the island. It is quite a scary place - lots of dingos (which can apparently attack humans although usually only children), nasty flies, millions of types of nasty spider... and you can't swim in the sea because of the sharks and jellyfish! We swam in some of the freshwater lakes on the island though, which was lovely.
After picking up the car which Helen bought in Brisbane, we headed south again. After another short stopover on the Gold Coast, we headed to Byron Bay. There we hired surf boards, had a couple of surf lessons and basically didn't leave the sea for a week! Well we got out to eat and sleep but that was pretty much it. At the end of the week we were covered in bruises and sores from the board but triumphant that we could stand up and surf... even if it was only on tiny waves and for just a few seconds at the time!
Our next stop, a few hours further south, was a place called Bellingen. About twenty minutes drive inland from the coast, it is a pretty, arty town, popular with artists and hippies! We spent three relaxing days with the parents of a friend of Helen's, in their amazing, environmentally friendly home. They live on a commune, and are amazingly self-sufficient. They use rain water to drink and wash in, solar panels to heat water for showering, and have an outside pit toilet which doesn't flush, you just use sawdust! This is quite scary as it is open to the rainforest on one side... truly a loo with a view. We also visited another hippy commune at a place called Bundagen, which is on the coast... and saw people surfing naked!!! Given how scratched and bruised we got surfing, even fully clothed, this looked like a painful activity!!
Heading onwards down to Sydney, we stopped overnight at beautiful Anna Bay (Port Stephens), went sandboarding on the dunes and sailed out from Nelson Bay to spot the resident pod of dolphins. Swimming from the beach we even spotted a penguin!
Returning to Sydney we spent just a couple of days with Jess in Balmain, and then continued our drive south-west to Melbourne. From here, Helen is off to Asia for a few weeks, and I am flying over to New Zealand in a couple of days time.
After picking up the car which Helen bought in Brisbane, we headed south again. After another short stopover on the Gold Coast, we headed to Byron Bay. There we hired surf boards, had a couple of surf lessons and basically didn't leave the sea for a week! Well we got out to eat and sleep but that was pretty much it. At the end of the week we were covered in bruises and sores from the board but triumphant that we could stand up and surf... even if it was only on tiny waves and for just a few seconds at the time!
Our next stop, a few hours further south, was a place called Bellingen. About twenty minutes drive inland from the coast, it is a pretty, arty town, popular with artists and hippies! We spent three relaxing days with the parents of a friend of Helen's, in their amazing, environmentally friendly home. They live on a commune, and are amazingly self-sufficient. They use rain water to drink and wash in, solar panels to heat water for showering, and have an outside pit toilet which doesn't flush, you just use sawdust! This is quite scary as it is open to the rainforest on one side... truly a loo with a view. We also visited another hippy commune at a place called Bundagen, which is on the coast... and saw people surfing naked!!! Given how scratched and bruised we got surfing, even fully clothed, this looked like a painful activity!!
Heading onwards down to Sydney, we stopped overnight at beautiful Anna Bay (Port Stephens), went sandboarding on the dunes and sailed out from Nelson Bay to spot the resident pod of dolphins. Swimming from the beach we even spotted a penguin!
Returning to Sydney we spent just a couple of days with Jess in Balmain, and then continued our drive south-west to Melbourne. From here, Helen is off to Asia for a few weeks, and I am flying over to New Zealand in a couple of days time.
posted by Bea at 5:42 AM
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