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Published: March 16th 2008
betsy in the sunset
our lil home away from home...way away!(S) So in the last few weeks we have found ourselves driving through Queensland outback, down through some cool National Parks, windy roads, waterfalls and mountainous regions (perhaps foothills), to the coastline of Byron Bay and up the Gold Coast to visit some good friends. Nightcap National park was a gem to find and to get there we really put Betsy to the test. All the roads were narrow (very narrow) up hills, down hills, winding around coffee and nut farms for miles on end. We visited the infamous Nimbin where the Hippie lives undisturbed (other than the bus loads of backpackers coming through to sample some of the best local grown herb around) and we thoroughly enjoyed the...atmosphere. I couldn't keep a smile off my face...at the cliche of the place. It was far out man.
We didn't stay long however, we took in as much as we needed and left on our marry way to find some forest and a place to lay our bed. I mean head(s). And so we drove through all the winding roads up into Nightcap National Park to camp for a few days. We swam in some rock pools (very refreshing) and saw an
amazing waterfall where we stood at the top reaching nearly 200 ft in the air. It was of course - gorgeous.
Then off to Byron Bay where we ended up catching a bit of rain so we didn't stay longer than a few days. The ocean was beautiful to reach again after driving nearly 4700 km from Darwin. Even if it was gray and rainy. So, we headed up the coast to visit my really good friend's (whom I haven't caught up with just yet!!!) parents and had a great visit there. We nearly went for a swim...too bad we missed that opportunity, but we did get our feet wet!!! And Jill took us to Springbrook National Park where we again got to see waterfalls galore (could never get sick of them!) and hiked an hour through rain forest and rainbows. Jeff tried to climb rock for an advantageous photo opp, but thought it a bit risky and so instead I sprained my ankle to avoid him hurting himself. That's the way we work folks.
Well, we started getting antsy to get working (why, I ask myself now) and so we drove to the fruit picking capital of
Queensland 3 hrs inland from Brisbane and found ourselves a quaint little camp to park ourselves at and within one day we were working on an apple orchard picking....well apples, surprise surprise. And now we eat, breath and talk apples. Oh ya and dream about them too. It really is a living nightmare. For the first week it was REALLY tough. Bruised shins, calves, sore backs and shoulders, long days starting at 530 am and finishing at 4. But neither one of us is a stranger to hard work, so we have adjusted and have decided to stay here the rest of the year picking apples. (ha ha, ya right.) Maybe, we might last another week. Now that we finally have a comfortable bed, I think we will manage. We broke down to buy a foamy after our air mattress deceived us and decided to have a leak in it of which became an annoying hassle of finding our bruised and sore bodies on the cold ground when that annoying alarm clock rang at 430 in the morning!!! We were pained....
But on a happy note, we are happy apple pickers, very good at it I might add (whatever
that means) and we are exploring the area of the famous granite belt in lower Queenland. Enjoy the pics, the later of them we took today on our two hour hike up the granite boulders to view Balancing rock and the Pyramids. It was very cool. It was our day off.
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Jon
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Aussie!!!
Come back soon! I hate your trip due to jealousy.