Slip, Slap & Slop

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales
February 7th 2007

Published: February 18th 2007

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DnH

Anna Bay

Looong beach, with hardly any people... How great if there'd been some waves!

On the wrong, sorry, left side of the road again, we steered north from Sydney (Mexican Wave) along the New South Wales (NSW) coastline. Airconditioning in cars should be law in this country. Luckily we had one with, in the +30 celsius heat. Nevertheless, we quickly felt the urge for a dip in the ocean and maybe a wave or two.

Anna Bay came up shortly after and we stopped. Tide was too low, and the the small waves were breaking on the beach, but the view and the warm water - niiice! We stayed for a couple of hours, trying to be sensible in the fierce sun (UV index is sky-high down here), and continued on to Port Macquarie for a sleep.

The next morning brought something that we hadn't expected - rain! And as the waves were crappy we continued north to the Billabong Koala & Wildelife Park. Koalas' fur feels like silky cotton balls but the little body underneath it is hard as steel - very odd. Sleeply little creatures as they are, they sleep 18 hours a day, we left them alone after a quick visit, to go and feed the kangaroos and wallabies. It went

Anna Bay

very well at first, until two of them got a bit too excited and scratched D's arm. Disinfectant and a band-aid sorted that out and we jumped in the car to our main goal for the trip - Byron Bay.

Hot (35 celsius) and humid, but we like! Byron Bay gave us glassy 3ft waves with a light offshore wind. Perfect. Got a board and spent the most of the following two days on the beach. The town is trying to decide if it wants to be hippie or posh, and finds itself somewhere in between. Full of fashionable shops, nice restaurants and a few top-end hotels, it also hosts heaps of surf shops and people selling handicrafts on the street. The surfers seem to be winning the race so far though.

Allthough the plan for our short stay in Aussieland was to spend a lot of time at the beach surfing, we thought we'd try to get some other activites in. The country has a lot of rainforests so maybe one of those could be worth a look? The little sleepy town of Dorrigo (1192 citizens, elevation 792m), convieniently situated right next to Dorrigo National Park was

Big Banana - Coffs Harbour, NSW

For some reason, NSW is littered with BIG stuff. We went to see a few of them.

therefore the next stop.

We arrived a couple of hours or so before sunset, checked in at the pub and headed off to Dangar Falls. That place was full of life. Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos and a Laughing Kookaburra came to greet us almost instantly. As we were making the short walk back to the car, after visiting the fall, we heard loud noices in the bushes next too us. Very loud! Like a plutoon on its way home or something. It was a wallaby, who showed its face for a split second as it crossed our path, and disappeared out of sight into the bush again. We could still hear it though.

The next morning we took a 7km walk through the rainforest, which was interesting. Loads of loud birds and the odd insect. We had been told by an old lady at the tourist information in town to look out for snakes, so we did. Not a single one had the courtesy to say good morning, (un)fortunately. The walk is very well laid out, maybe a bit to well. It almost doesn't feel like you're in a rainforest, when you walk on the narrow but paved path. However,

Big Oyster - Taree, NSW

if it wasn't paved it would probably be reclaimed by the forest within a few weeks, which means you'd probably need a guide to find your way through the dense vegetation, meaning less people would get the opportunity and they would have to charge for a guide.

Enough vegetables for one day, we thought, and jumped in the car to go south again, without really know where to go. We had too far to go to make it to Sydney that day, so somewhere in between maybe. Quick look at the map and we found a place called Old Bar on the NSW coast. That sounds good, let's go there!

Old Bar is of similar size as Dorrigo, and as far as we could see there was only one hostel, but what a place! Stewart, the owner, was more than welcoming as we arrived. "Do you want to join us for a barbie?" Why not? A quick trip to the local Bi-Lo got us something to actually put on the BBQ and the bottleshop sold us some compulsory XXXX Gold, just before closing (through the gate actually). When we came back a couple of Stewart's koori friends showed

Big Prawn - Ballina, NSW

up and joined us and the other three guests at the hostel. Went to bed far too late after being casually entertained by Stewart's friend who told stories, played the guitar and sang. Before hitting the sack, Stewart tried to convince us to come surfing six hours later. As we really needed some sleep we kindly rejected his invitation.

Next morning D managed to lock us out of our room, and as Stewart was still at the beach, all we could do was to wait.
- Do you want to borrow a couple of boards, said Stewart as he came back from the morning surf.
- But, when do we need to check out, it's already 9.30?
- Doesn't really matter, I don't need the room tonight anyway, take your time.
What a guy! That's the kind of place you're more than likely to recommend to other people. Add to thisa recently refurbished house including a large games' room, a yoga room and an "art gallery", the Namaste Beach House in Old Bar is a winner. The waves were not so good though, as the wind had turned and made the contitions rather messy. Mid afternoon we sat in the car

After eating for an hour...

... I need to sleep for at least 12!

again, heading for Sydney and one last night in Kings Cross.

Pa fel, f'lat, vanster sida av vagen styrde vi norrut fran Sydney (Mexican Wave) langs New South Wales (NSW) kust. Luftkonditionering borde vara obligatriskt i bilar har! Som tur var fick vi en med, i den 30-gradiga hettan. Trots detta kande vi snabbt behov av att doppa oss i havet, och kanske en vag eller tva.

Strax var vi framme i Anna Bay och stannade till. Tidvattnet var for lagt och vagorna brot precis vid stranden, men utsikten och det varma vattnet - kanon! Vi stannade i ett par timmar, forsokte vara forsiktiga i den starka solen (UV-indexet ar skyhogt narnere), och fortsatte sedan till Port Macquarie for att sova.

Nasta morgon bar med sig nagot vi inte vantat oss - regn! Och eftersom vagorna var kassa fortsatte vi norrut till Billabong Koala & Wildelife Park. Koalapalsar ar mjuka som silkiga bomullstussar, men den lilla kroppen innanfor ar stenhard - valdigt skumt. Somniga sma filurer som de ar, de sover 18 timmar per dygn, tyckte vi det var bgast att lamna dem ifred och gick for att mata kanguruer och wallabies istallet. Det gick jattebra i borjan,

Sally the koala

tills tva av dem blev lite for ivriga och rev D pa armen. Sarsprit och plaster fixade det, och vi hoppade in i bilen for att aka till resans huvudmal - Byron Bay.

Varmt (35 grader) och fuktigt, men vi tycker om! Byron Bay gav oss blanka 3-fotsvagor med en latt franlandsvind. Perfekt. Hyrde en brada och tillbringade de tva foljande dagarna pa stranden. Staden forsoker bestamma om den ska vara chic elle hippie, och hamnar nanstans i mitten. Fullt av poppiga affarer, mysiga restauranger och nagra fina hotell, men det finns ocksa massor av surfshoppar och folk som saljer hantverk pa gatorna. Surfarna tycks dock vinna racet sa har langt.

Fastan planen var att spendera var tid i Aussieland med att surfa tankte vi att vi skulle gora nagot annat ocksa. Landet har manga ragnskogar, sa nagon av dem kanske kunde vara vard en titt? Den somniga lilla staden Dorrigo (1192 invanare, 792 meter over havet), praktiskt nog belagen precis bredvid Dorrigo National Park, blev darfor vart nasta stopp.

Vi kom fram nagra timmar fore solnedgangen, checkade in pa puben och gav oss av till vattenfallen Dangar Falls. Det var fullt av djurliv. Gulsvansade svarta kakaduor

Oh I didn't realise she'd be this soft!

och en Laughing Kookaburra kom for att halsa nastan pa en gang. Nar vi var pa vag tillbaka till bilen horde vi ovasen i skogen bredvid oss. Hogljutt ovasen, som en pluton pa vag hem eller nat! Det var en wallaby, och den visade sig en kort sekund nar den korsade stigen, innan den forsvann i djungeln igen. Vi kunde fortfarande hora den en stund.

Nasta morgon tog vi en promenad pa 7 km genom regnskogen, vilket var intressant. Massor av hogljudda faglar och en och annan insekt. Vi hade blivit tillsagda, av en gammal dam pa turistinformationen i Dorrigo, att halla utkik efter ormar, vilket vi gjorde, men inte en enda ville komma fram och saga godmorgon. Promenadvagen ar valdigt val anlagd, nastan lite for val. Det marks nastan inte att man gar i en regnskog nar man gar pa den smala men asfalterade stigen. Om den inte varit asfalterad skulle den formodligen vara igenvuxen efter bara ett par veckor, vilket betyder att man behover en guide for att hitta vagen genom den tata vaxtligheten, och da far farre chansen att fa mojlighet att se skogen och man skulle behova betala pengar for en guide.

Nog med

Spidey the monkey

gronsaker for en dag tankte vi, och hoppade in i bilen for att fortsatta soderut igen, utan att riktigt veta vart vi skulle. Det var for langt kvar till Sydney for att hinna pa en dag, sa nanstans halvvags kanske. Efter en snabbtitt pa kartan hittade vi ett stalle vid namn Old Bar pa NSW-kusten. Det later bra, vi aker dit!

Old Bar ar ungefar lika stor som Dorrigo och vi hittade bara ett vandrarhem, men vilket stalle! Agaren, Stewart, var valdigt valkomnande nar vi anlande. "Vill ni vara med och grilla?" Varfor inte? En snabbtripp till den lokala mataffaren (Bi-Lo) for nagot att laga pa grillen, och till flaskaffaren ("bottleshop" som ar benamningen pa stallen som sljer alkohol) for nagra oblgatoriska XXXX Gold lagom innan de stangde (vi fick handla genom gallergrinden). Nar vi kom tillbaka dok nagra av Stewarts koori-vanner upp och at med oss och de tre andra gasterna. Kom i sang alldels for sent efter att ha blivit underhallna av Stewarts kompis som pratat strunt, spelat gitarr och sjungit. Innan vi kastade oss i bingen forsokt Stewart overtala oss att folja med ut och surfa sex timmar senare. Vi behovde verkligen sova sa vi avbojde.

Before D got scratched...

Note: not an evil animal, they were fighting over the food!

Nasta morgon lyckades D lasa oss ute ur rummet, och eftersom Stewart fortfarande var pa stranden sa kunde vi inte gora annat an att vanta.
- Vill ni lana nagra brador undrade Stewart nar han kom tillbaka fran morgonsurfet.
- Men, nar maste vi checka ut, klockan ar ju redan halv 10? (normal utcheckningstid brukar vara kl 10)
- Spelar ingen roll, jag behover inte rummet ikvall iallafall, ta god tid pa er.
Vilken kille! Det har ar ett sant stalle som man mer an garna rekommenderar till andra manniskor. Lagg till ett nyrenoverat hus med ett stort spelrum (biljard bl a), ett yogarum och ett "galleri", och Namaste Beach House i Old Bar ar en klar vinnare. Vagorna var inte sa bra dock, vinden hade vant och blaste sonder dem. Mitt pa eftermiddagen satt vi i bilen igen, pa vag tillbaka till Sydney och en sista natt i Kings Cross.

Additional photos below

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