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Published: July 21st 2006
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It always takes longer than you expect to pack up. Sylvia thought we would be away by 0900; I thought 1100 was more realistic. We finally hit the road at 1300!
The five hour drive to Macksville was uneventful but tedious. The downside was that we arrived in the dark and the temperature had dropped to 7 degrees (all temperatures in this blog are in Celsius). We managed to get the camper set up in the dark without too much trouble but were freezing by the time we clambered inside. Wearing most of our clothes, we went straight to bed to keep warm, heads covered in a beanie to keep them from freezing. When we woke up at 0700 the next day, the temperature was 1 degree and it was a real struggle to get out of bed.
Fortunately the day got better after the sun rose and by the time we got to Coffs Harbour to watch Sylvia's grand-daughter play for the Northern NSW football (soccer) team, it was 25 degrees. We then continued on to Yamba where the rest of Sylvia's grand-children were on holiday.
Yamba is a small seaside resort at the mouth of the
It's not easy being an Iluka prawner
If you don't die crossing the bar, there's a good chance you'll be shot at! Clarence river which has grown massively over the last few years since Byron Bay became a tourist trap. It is also famous for its surfing beaches and its prawns. Sylvia's middle daughter lives there so, for the first time in over ten years, Sylvia was able to be with all her daughters and grand-children. Sadly, the camera started to play up so we have no photos of the occasion which are worth publishing.
Across the river from Yamba is the small fishing village of Iluka. Bordering on the Yuragir National Park, it is famous for its world heritage rainforest and its fishing spots. This is the only place in the world where I have caught a fish! Woody Head, nearby, is a well-known camping spot within the national park. It is the habitat of a rare species of tree called the Yucca. I couldn't find any more information about it so you may want to Google to find out why it is rare.
After a couple of days in Yamba, we headed north towards Murwillumbah (Called Murbah by the locals - being lazy, Australians like to abbreviate things) to visit Sylvia's son. On the way, we stopped off
Fresh prawns on the deck
Fresh off the boat. $15/kilo - enough to feed nine people. at New Italy - a tourist attraction which commemorates the settling in Australia of a group of Italian migrants from the Veneto region in northern Italy. They had been persuaded by a frenchman, the Marquis de Rays, to purchase homes and fertile land in an imaginary paradise in the pacific called La Nouvelle France.
Setting out in early 1880, they arrived at the promised land - after a disastrous voyage during which several of them died - only to find that it was a tropical hell. They were confronted with deprivation, disease, starvation, cannibals and death. By some means, the Australian government heard of their plight, and in April 1881 sent ships to rescue them - a rare humanitarian gesture at the time. Of the original 340 migrants who set out from Italy, only 217 reached Sydney. They were given land in the north of New South Wales and managed to create a thriving, self-sufficient settlement which they called New Italy. Many of the suvivors descendents still farm in the area.
Our route verged off the Pacific Highway after New Italy. We started inland via Coraki and Lismore (for those of you following this on a map) to
Woody Head
Beach fishing is extremely popular Nimbin, the hippy capital of Australia. Back in the early 1970s, when I was living at Byron Bay - which was then still a sleepy little surfing village and not the tourist nightmare it is today - Nimbin was a dying town. Mainly agricultural, the farms were failing due to drought and low prices in the markets for their crops. In 1973, a local farmer agreed to host the Aquarius Festival (Australia's version of the American's Woodstock and UK's Glastonbury). The festival was an enormous success and it also led to a revitalisation of the area. People discovered that properties could be purchased for a song and the local council was willing to allow multiple occupancy of land. This meant that people without sufficient money on their own could combine with others to raise the purchase price. Almost overnight the population trebled and the town has never looked back. These days the original "settlers" are in their forties and fifties and their kids are moving back into the cities but Nimbin now has such a rich tourist history that it survives quite happily.
Murwillumbah's main claim to fame is the fact that it sits within the caldera of an
Sylvia enjoying the beach at Woody Head
You can tell from the jumper that it was not a warm day. extinct volcano. Surrounded on three sides by high cliffs, it is dominated by Mount Warning. This is one of only a handful of sites which are held sacred by all aboriginal tribes. It is the first part of mainland Australia to greet the sunrise and many people trek up the mountain each night for the experience. For some reason, it has become a tradition to take a garden gnome up the mountain with you and leave it at the top! As we have been here many times before, for us it is only an opportunity to meet Sylvia's son and get ourselves ready for the main part of our holiday through western Queensland and the Outback.
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lorraine
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hello
Sounds as though all is going well. The pictures are beautiful. I am very jealous right now. Just thought I would let you know I passed another semester on all subjects, 3 credits and a pass (gee I have got some brains after all). Back into the swing of it again now. Enjoy your travelling and look forward to hearing more of your travells. Lorraine