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Published: November 17th 2012
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King Parrot
Bald Ridge National Park Our travels today took us to Nimbin, a town made famous in the 60’s and 70’s where the hippies moved to. It still has a lot of alternative lifestylers there selling pottery and organic food etc., with long haired weirdo’s walking around in bare feet trying to look cool! The hemp cafe stunk of weed when we walked past! Pete was even asked if he would like to buy a joint! Next stop was a Sunday market selling much of the same thing. Best part of the day was travelling through some beautiful countryside which looked so green after the last two rainy days.
The town of Lismore was our stop yesterday. A quiet place but with plenty of shops, airport and a shopping mall. Bought a new Navman GPS as we were unable to update our old one. Still the same old voice but she is now a lot smarter and has not instructed us to go in the wrong direction once today. We also purchased a wireless tyre pressure monitor unit to automatically check all the 6 wheels on the RV whilst travelling on the road. We have had a couple of faulty valves recently causing the tyres
to leak air so this little device (with the not so little price tag I may add) will hopefully alert us to any problems in the future. Third acquirement was a CB radio and aerial so that when those big road trains are heading towards us then we will know way before we see them! Also if we do break down then hopefully we will be able to contact someone. Last week an experienced park ranger died in the outbacks when he got bogged. He strangely enough decided to walk out but did not make it!
Off tramping in a couple of National parks tomorrow as the weather is now hot and sunny once more. Bad start to the day as we had a flat tyre! Fortunately we were camped in a little one horse town that at least had a garage so were able to get some help. The instructions to take off the spare wheel located under the RV were incorrect so Pete spent a frustrating amount of wasted time before the mechanic arrived. We are now confident that should it happen again it hopefully will not be too much of a headache. It could have been
a lot worse as it could have happened where we are tonight which is in the middle of a national park and a long way from a garage so all turned out well in the end.
The bird life is amazing here as they are used to campers feeding them tit bits and even pinch food if they can get away with it. There are lots of Kookaburras and bright red crimson parrots. Tomorrow we are going to climb Bald Rock, Australia’s biggest granite monolith! Sounds impressive but it is only a 2 hour return walk! Well the walk was amazing and the granite boulders on top of the rock seemed to be so precariously balanced on the edge like huge marbles waiting to be rolled!
Now, currently in Armidale, a really interesting town with impressive old buildings and even a university. We went on a 3 hour free trip on a small bus along with 12 others courtesy of the local council around the city which was very informative. The free nearyby campsite we are at ,by a dam, is lovely and we have had enjoyed some great happy hours with the folks next door. Visited an
amazing old 30 room homestead that was gifted to the National Trust in 1984. No one in the family wanted to take over the mammoth task involved in the restoration and upkeep so now it is open to the public. The old lady, the last of the owner’s daughters did absolutely nothing to it from 1970 when it was left to her and all the furniture, carpet, wallpaper is the original stuff. The guided tour was so interesting and to top it off we enjoyed Devonshire tea (with scones and jam and cream of course in the adjacent cafe!
Unfortunately our plan to attend the local rodeo has been put off due to the weather. We will, I am sure, come across another one in another town. Pete wants to see someone being chased by an angry bull or being bucked off a horse!
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