Blogs from New South Wales, Australia, Oceania - page 1209

Greetings friends today we are finishing up our time in the hippie alternative lifestyle town of Byron Bay. It is a very small town centered around relaxation and surfing....but mostly surfing. Lots of strange dirty people wandering around the beaches and hemp shops and plenty of hot bods hitting the waves. We are staying at a hostel called The ARts Factory. Very strange....it was created by 2 american vietnam draft dodgers who came to australia and started a dance club. Now it is a very hippie place with all sorts of zany sleeping, eating, living options: you can sleep in a double decker bus, or a giant teepee, get free didgeredoo lessons etc. Last night we saw a neat aboriginal culture show where some natives danced and played the didge. His playing was really great. At ... read more

1 July 2003 It was seven forty-five when I drove out of the motel in Culcairn and continued my way north along the Olympic Highway. It had been raining most of the night and the paddocks looked water logged. I’m not prepared to say the drought has broken in this part of the state but the locals tell me that they are getting more of this weather. Found the Pre-School in Henty, but nobody was home. I drove around the back to see if there was a car parked but there wasn’t. I waited in front of the centre until it was close to starting time then rang the centre. The director answered and asked if I was in the blue car outside? I said yes and drove around the back again where she let me ... read more

28 June 2003 Decided not to drive back to Melbourne but headed to the next town where I was booked to work on Monday. I left Temora and followed the southern road to Junee. It’s a large town with many grand buildings. I was only passing through and zigzagged my way through the main shopping area and continued southeast until I saw a sign indicating the direction to reach Wantabadgery. I was now on one of the back roads of New South Wales. To the left and right lay green paddocks with flocks of grazing sheep. I followed a narrow road that wound its way through a shallow valley. I came across another branch in the road on the outskirts of Wantabadgery, didn’t go into town so, have no idea what I missed. The new road ... read more

30 June 2002 In the last six months I have been on trips away from Melbourne on many occassions. On this trip I have no plans in keeping in touch with my girlfriend, not my phone anyway. Why? Because she is coming with me. The Hume Freeway was the planned direction to the coast south of Sydney. We stopped only once and that was in Gundagi where we had lunch in a restaurant that she had read about in a food magazine. We were a bit disapointed with with the meal. After a nine hour journey we arrived in Bomaderra. Settled into our motel unit then drove down to the local bowling club for a meal. 1 July 2002 I had a morning session, it went well and the staff were good. I managed to finish ... read more

24-25 June 2002 I looked out the window to see how the weather was. Above was blue skies but it looked a bit cold. I should say, very cold! Before I could leave for work I had to get the ice off the windscreen. The sessions on both days were busy. No matter what state I find myself in, afternoon TV is not worth the power used to transmit the images. 26-27 June 2002 I had no intentions repeating the last couple of afternoons, so decided to have another look around town. First the sheep auctions at the Sale Yards but they were empty. Thirty-six kilometres west of Temora is Ariah Park, a quint little village, lined with trees and had petrol bowsers placed along the footpath. Some photos were taken in the main street then ... read more