On the Road Again pt. 2

The next night was quiet and tranquil. Well it was until some moron on a dirtbike decided that he was going to go tearing through the forest in the middle of the night although, it was a nice change from the wombats shaking the car from the night before.  In the morning there was still no one on my beach so I sat and had breakfast and read till some people showed up. I then moved on and headed towards Eden.

A little later in the day I felt a headache coming on so I found a nice park to camp at that was far from the road but just above Eden. It was a perfect place to just wait out the pain. Next morning I went to the Killer Whale Museum.

This is Old Tom

Back in the day whales were hunted for their blubber to turn into oil for everything from bicycle lubricant to light. While this sounds sad I find it incredible that the men that hunted the whales were even successful. They would go after these huge whales in the little wooden rowboats, then one of the rowers would try and harpoon the whale when they got close enough. It must have been terrifying. The unique part of Eden’s history is the killer whales. They worked with the whalers to help them catch other whales in exchange for the killer whales’ favorite parts to eat (lips and tung). The killer whales would coral a whale into Two Fold Bay then send one of their team to alert the whalers and then lead the whalers to where they had the corralled whale for them to kill. Old Tom was the leader for this team of killer whales and sometimes he would even pull on the harpoon ropes to help out the whalers.

After Eden I went and spent the weekend in Noojee (beautiful rainforest where they have so many off roading tracks!). I started on a trail and was taking it slow when as I was crossing a bridge a kangaroo jumped out behind the guardrail and I had no time to stop; the kangaroo got hit. I was in shock but the kangaroo just kept going. I figured it was a sign that maybe I shouldn’t go off much further and made camp next to the river just below Toorongo Falls. The area is so cool. It has trails marked all over the place and even has special parking for motorcycle trailers. It is an off roaders heaven.

I spent my last night just south of Alexandra along side a river and next to some cows. There were some friendly fellow travelers and we enjoyed the evening talking over coffee. It was a perfect end to my week.

"It feels good to be lost in the right direction" -somebody

I was lost a LOST this trip but I found such beautiful places and had the road almost always to myself. It was such a strange and new feeling but it was also very nice.

Noojee Historic trestle bridge

On The Road pt. IV

The Blue Mountains

Driving through the Blue Mountains was lovely and I found a nice campsite for free. Just after pulling in and eating dinner it started to poor. So I hunkered down and read till dark and just enjoyed the atmosphere before going to bed. In the morning I went to the Information center where the lady was very helpful showing me great places to hike at an easy level. The hikes were beautiful but there were SO MANY STAIRS that my legs tired out quickly. After a long morning of hiking I decided to try out another free campsite down the road. There I met a nice Turkish man.  He lives out of his van, makes his own yogurt, collects rain water for drinking, uses the river to wash and makes his own bread. It sounded very interesting but certainly not the lifestyle for me. 

While setting up camp for the night a huge storm rolled in and I experienced what was probably one of the biggest rainstorms I've been in. The raindrops were the size of large bird droppings and the lightning and thunder seemed to last all night. The rain even seeped into the bottom of my car door a bit and got my sleeping bag wet. Thankfully only a little spot. next day you would have never guessed that there had been a storm and I drove around a bit before heading down the mountain and to my Helpx in Hornsby. 

 

    "Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world."-Gustave Flaubert

In that storm I felt immensely tiny and was very glad that there were others camping nearby to know I wasn't alone in my tinyness. 

On The Road pt. III

    

     Heading west from Coff’s Harbor you start to drive up into the rain forest. The road was absolutely beautiful and a bit scary. As usual for this trip it was a rainy and foggy day and the mountain road was windy. Trees were tight together and the road so windy that on some of the switch backs the road was too narrow for two lanes and they just stop the dividing lane and its up to you to make the corner. 

     

     Then as you continue on further it just becomes one lane again while construction crews are clearing away what appears to be a landslide that had been covering up the whole road. But the scenery is absolutely worth it and your ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ is Dorrigo National Park. I fell in love with this little place and wish I had spent more time there. They have a bridge to nowhere so visitors can look over the tops of the rain forest trees then one can go below for a sort or long walk among the lower part of the rainforest and experience it at a different view. Unfortunately as usual with this trip it started to rain so I cut my stay short and continued on. 

     At Ebon I stopped at a cute little café and had lunch and decided to re-evaluate my course (the burger I had there was amazing after all of the processed food I had been eating).  I had been driving more than planned and stopping less thus I was making better time than planned and had only a couple hour drive left and still had a few days till I needed to be in Sydney. Looking at my Maps book I decided to check out the Grey Gum café and maybe spend the weekend there after a night in another national park near by. This one had a beautiful hike where you could see the way the mountains had formed with some spectacular waterfalls.

 

    Next day was onto grey gum café on putty road. On the map it looked like I would be driving on mountain roads again and as I kept going it just looked like plains. Then I came upon a memorial for truck drivers and as I was thinking about how strange that was I turned a corner and immediately found out why there was a memorial for truck drivers. The road became extremely curvy and there were lots of signs about land slides. The drive was beautiful and I took a short break at an old abandoned truck stop. 

      

     The Grey Gum Café was delicious and I got to talk to the owner as I ate and he made sure that I was comfortable and had everything I needed. He also encouraged me to stay for the music festival that weekend. I was going to but in the morning as I went outside there were so many flies I couldn’t breath and I didn’t want to live in my car for any longer while waiting so back to the maps I went. With a couple of days left on my trip I figured why not do a trip into the Blue Mountains? And off again I went.

 

"A good traveler had no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving." -Lao Tzu 

I had no fixed plans on this trip and my only intent was on arriving in Sydney, I think I did ok though as there really was no rush.

On The Road pt. II

     After that first night I woke up to an absolutely beautiful camp and I had parked right next to the river and I felt so lucky.

     I continued my way down to Byron bay. Unfortunately it was raining so much by the time I got there that you could barely see anything. Thus I decided to continue on. I figured that sight seeing is no fun in the rain so I might as well get some driving out of the way while I was stuck in my car anyways. This might not have been such a great idea, as the rain never seemed to stop. The rain eventually let off and I decided to check out Bundjalung National Park. It was beautiful dirt road drive for about 20km. I was sure that I was headed nowhere but upon arriving it was a beautiful campsite. I would have loved to stay but I was a bit uncertain as to how to pay for a campsite as the instructions were a but unclear. 

     As it was only noon I figured I would drive on. I ended up at Yuraygir National Park. This park was even nicer and right on the beach. The only downside was that I picked the spot that all of the parrots seemed to like. Needless to say it was a bit loud till dark. Next morning I got up and headed for Coffs Harbor

     Once again the rain caught up with me. Coffs Harbor was also so rainy one could hardly see anything. I decided to give myself a driving tour around and make the most of it. It was a pretty drive and the road up to the Light house was nice. I asked some tourists if it was worth the walk around it and they said you couldn’t see a thing off of the lookout. I was a bit disappointed at my timing and decided to move on.  Next Bellingen to Armidale.

"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience" -Eleanor Roosevelt