One long day

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A stop in Nimbin
Great place for potheads to stop
None for me thank you!

Our morning stop was at the small hippie town of Nimbin where an alternative lifestyle is quite noticeable here. Great place to stock up on "special" cookies and muffins ("Do you know the muffin man?" haha) We watched the "Nearly Nimbin" film that talked about the Aquarius Festival of 1973 and how the town turned over to the hippies and with it pot smoking. For such a small place there were quite a few people lurking about the streets and there were a few "offers" asking me if I wanted a smoke. Being a Sunday, most things were either closed or had a later opening time. Since we got into town at almost 9:30 and with most things closed, we did a lot of wandering for the next 1.5 hours. There's only so much wandering one can do so we eventually found a spot on the grass to sit down. So for about half an hour we watched this one crazy dog chasing and barking at all of the passing vehicles. I'm surprised he didn't get hurt!

Then it was more driving, a break for some lunch and then a stop at a park to walk to a waterfall. It took a while to get there even though the park was supposedly close by. Well, it could be because of the two buses on tour, Sean's bus (that would be the lead bus) had only been in the area once before and my driver, Dan was on the East Coast for the first time ever in his life! lol So it was the blind leading the blind. It was funny when I saw a sign stating "Brisbane 94" then took a small nap and woke up to see "Brisbane 99". Hmm, that can't be good! It turns out Nicola who was in the front seat of the other bus was trying to do some map reading. Unsuccessfully I might add! Well, I guess we did find the park eventually and the 4km walking loop to see the waterfall was pretty nice.

Then it was some more driving but first a pit stop at an adult only fudge store. Adult only because their special ingredients were various alcohols. The store also sold blocks of soap that were clearly marked "soap not fudge." I should hope so since the soap was out in the open...never mind hygiene...so overrated. haha

Our next stop was to Surfer's Paradise to drop off and pick up people. This place was much different than I expected it to be since it is actually quite built up...more than I expected at least. I think we circled the block for at least 15 minutes trying to find the transit centre entrance. After a few exchanges of passengers we were on our way to Brisbane...one more hour on the bus.

By the time I called Ann and Rob, it was 7:30. I met Ann and Rob on tour back in Cambodia and Laos in March. It was really nice to be able to catch up with them and even nicer to be able to stay at their house! They've basically let me stay in their basement where their daughter Tracey was staying before touring around Aussie. So it is like my own private ensuite. It’s so nice to be able to stay in a nice home for a change and not in a bunkbed. It was also nice to be able to spread my stuff out and actually look forward to doing some laundry tomorrow. lol I also plan on doing a walking tour of the CBD and check things out. If time permits I'll catch a City Cat ferry ride on the river and go to the Mt. Coot-tha Lookout. I guess I do have two days to do all of this. I should really spread out the fun. lol

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