We decided last night to move on from Bryron Bay - we loved it, but there is so much to see (and the campsite is far from cheap).
First stop was Byron Bay itself, where in a mad fit of generosity, Jim gave each member of the Hopkinson family a 5 dollar budget. The female members bought themselves a leather bracelet (and one for their dad too, as he needed to look more like a traveller). E and K also brought themselves a hippy hair scrunchie.
Then it was on to Nimbin, an even more hippy colony. On the way we saw Macademia plantations, bananas growing and citrus fruits and we stopped off at a couple of roadside stalls and bought some Macademia Nuts, lemons, grapefruits, tangerines and tangelos (tangerine / lemon/orange cross) - all delicious!)
Nimbin is only 60k or so from Byron Bay, but it took well over an hour to get there due to slow windy roads. It really is an alternative end of Australia - we passed farms with colourful flags outside, and lots of opportunities for Yoga, massage, art therapy and all sort of other therapies.
Our heart was in our mouths as we witnessed an Echinda cross the road in front of a lorry - near miss, but the Echina lived another day!
Nimbin really is a hippy colony, with an open cannabis market - which I am pleased to say made the girls feel uncomfortable.
After a picnic lunch in Nimbin watching people doing tricks at the skateboard park, we carried on towards our intended destination Glen Innes.
We drove through agricultural towns (Kyloe and Casino) , which really looked like relics from the 1920s (you could film a Western Movie in some) with streets designed so that a bullock and cart can be turned around.
Then it was onto Tenterfield - just 125km away and a solid main road on the map. However we had not banked on the fact that the road crossing Great Dividing Range - the road was very twisty and turning, steep and slow, as it climbed 3000 feet up and then down again.
The Great Dividing Range is many National Park - rainforest, and we saw plenty of parrots etc. In teh valley, you could now be in rural UK (hence this area being called New England) - could perhaps be in Suffolk - rolling hills and cattle farms.
We then had to decide whether to carry on towards Glen Innes or quit there. We decided to carry on, and pulled into a roadside camp just after dark. Jim parked up the van, but got out to see he was in a swamp. He tried to move ithe van but soon discovered he was STUCK IN THE MUD.
Fortunately there are a few other grey nomads camping, so they can hopefully help us extract the van tomorrow. In the mean time the whole family have had licence to use the campervan loo, rather than wade through the swamp to the roadside camp loo. We won't be sitting outside eating breakfast tomorrow!
We are using roadside camps to save a few dollars - if we need to get a tow out, it will end up a false economy. Update will follow tomorrow.
Plan for tomorrow is to drive to Glen Innes, find a catholic church (if we get out in time), see the home made Stonehenge that they have created in this part of "New England" and do some fossicking for Sapphires.
We then plan to travel along the waterfall way and may camp in a National Park tomorrow, so may be out of mobile reception. This roadside camp is only 10k from Glen Innes, hence we have reception - although reception in NSW is much more consistent that it was in NT and WA.
Stayed at Heritage Park free roadside camp - approx 5km North of Glen Innes
The Nimbin local bus
Getting into the Nimbin spirit
Girls showing off their hippy scrunchies and bracelets.
Marooned in a swamp!
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