On the road to Byron

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Heading off in a bright yellow Holden Nova at 6am to Tamworth felt like an excellent idea. We, myself and Joel, had maps, a recently fixed radio, limited money and wait, yes, i forgot my camera (photographer fanatic). We drove up through Cessnock and Singleton to Tamworth. It's about 500 kilometres. We passed the (apparent) world's largest Sundial in Singleton, but didn't care to stop.

First night, Tamworth, we visited a lovely friend Eryn, saw the golden guitar (definitely not as big as it looks) and continued east through national parks. First night, we somehow managed to pass Australia’s biggest waterfall. We camped at a small campsite in the middle of nowhere with another group of campers, but they kept to themselves.

Second day, still heading east we found MY FAVOURITE TOWN nimbin, though it was bucketing and we bought zilch it was still wonderful. We left considering the rain and drove into Byron to meet with two Canadian friends. Staying at the ART FACTORY, which is a must, there was little space for more tents. Although I was told to call ahead for camping, we arrived with no booking minutes before a storm. The staff were amazing, and told us to put up our tent before paying so our stuff wouldn't get wet. Although we didn't, a lot of other people organised tours through the travel agency there. There seemed to be a lot of travelers working there. There's a bar or three and a pool and its very close to the beach. It was definitely a place for young people, and I would head back up to Byron just to stay there again.

Byron beach the next day, beautifully warm water and excellent surf and Joel deciding never to leave (he was headed home to America in a week). The beach was gorgeous. Sadly, due to time constraints, we left and drove south along the coast to Coff’s harbour.

I’m pretty sure this was the night we drove around for a million hours in the dark in the middle of a national park looking for somewhere to camp. Ended up sneaking into a camp ground and pitching a tent, leaving at 5am so that we didnt get caught. The next day we left and drove to port macaroni (macquarie), and visited a koala hospital (definitely a must). HOT SHOWERS this night. We stayed at Flynn's beach Holiday park. It was a good price for somewhere with a pool, power, hot showers and a kitchen.

After port macaroni, a spectacular national park in the middle of nowhere found us a campsite filled with leaches, well for me at least. Still no shower, but a campfire kept us lovely and toasty. The next day aafter scrambling through EVERYTHING in the car to find a pair of lost boardies and a key/debit card. Not wanting to head back home we drove through the royal national park and camped at Bonnie Vale camp ground with HOT SHOWERS!!!

After a last trip (for Joel) to Wollongong and Gwyasian (otherwise known as Asian Take-Away in Gwynville) and a very packed north beach we headed back to mine to unpack and say goodbye.

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