Southward bound on the Pacific highway

Gosh, it's been bloody ages since I wrote anything on here..... and we are sadly lacking in photos again. Oh dear, if only the internet places weren't charging 7 bucks an hour!

Anyway. Our first night in Tara Toyota Torago (Tara T. T. instead of Tara T.P.... Get it?!) was great - a comfy bed, some privacy (dorms are a pain in the arse), and the freedom to move on whenever and where ever we like. And each evening has been much the same, with our only worries being about whether or not the campsite is close enough to the beach and if the walk to the loo in the night is going to be so far that we might get freaked out by the wild bugs and beasties that are everywhere in Australia! Sweet!

At Coolangatta, near to the Benidorm-esque Gold Coast, was a typical surfy beach town overlooked by a mixture of high and low-rise holiday apartments. The beach was beautiful - wide and long, with picnic and barbeque areas for all to use. A scene that has been typical all down the coast. Coolangatta gets a particular mention because we spent some of the morning watching a real surf contest (dude!) with none other than Kelly Slater competing for a spot in the semi finals. The scene was full of 'gnarly' surf dudes and babes, all armed with photography equipment that could rival any paparazzi photographer's bag. Man.

We wended our way ever southward with a general aim for Sydney. We paused for 2 nights in Byron Bay, set on another stretch of amazing beaches but with a hippy feel about the place. In fact you couldn't move for small shops selling tie-dye and dream catchers among the other touristy stuff! The general laid back air of the place is largely credited to a nearby town called Nimbin, where the local police seem to overlook the quantites of dope that can be bought. There are even shuttle busses decked out with a few spray painted flowers dedicated to ferrying people to and from the town for this very purpose. We decided not to bother with the 50km detour, figuring that beer and wine of an evening is probably enough of a vice to indulge in!

We followed Byron with Yamba, Coffs Harbour, and Booti Booti National Park. All places worth a stop and all are very tranquil with lots of sun and sand in one form or another. Our body boarding and frisbee flinging skills have improved immensely.

From Coffs Harbour, we headed inland briefly (too much beach can be a bad thing you know!) to a pretty country town called Bellingen. The buildings here being older and more original than many we had seen so far, and therefore more attractive. Here we bought some supplies, including passion fruit butter, from the monthly foodie market. The market itself was smaller than we anticipated, but the free foot massage (for International Womens Day) was a treat, as was the insight into local Aussie culture given to us by the bohemian older woman who did the foot rubbing!

Hannah