So on with the journey it was. The girls had spoken to a park ranger earlier who had given them a load of maps and recommended a few campsites up the coast. The original plan was to go to a coastal campsite in a national park and hopefully get there before dark, so we could set up, get a meal ready and just relax for the weekend. Needless to say, we miscalculated hideously and it was dark by half 5, it was raining, the camper van's wipers seemed only to add more water to the windscreen, articulated lorries flew past in the opposite direction only inches from the van, the entire road network was filled with road works and we were lost. It got to the point where we just said we'd go to the next campsite we saw and stay there for the night.
So along came the town of Kempsey and with it a roadside caravan park. We drove in, rang the bell and the owner came out and limped up the road towards us in her dressing gown. It really wasn't that bad though, she was very friendly and helpful, told us we could park up anywhere, use the electricity and the communal kitchen. The campsite itself was, as Maya so deftly put it, 'very trailer trash'. And it was indeed. Just a few plots down from us were some redneck Aussie hick, bogan type people, staying in their lovely looking caravan, complete with a little place for their pets and car wreck for the kids to play in.
Our own camper was not exactly luxurious though. There were two lower beds and one upper one, where I'd be sleeping for the night. I had about 2 foot of clearance from the roof and my own two feet had to hang in mid-air because clearly the average Australian camper is only 5 feet tall.
Our dinner was made on the little gas burning stove in the van and we had spaghetti bolognaise with ingredients bought in the shopping centre earlier that day. Only it got to the point where we couldn't be asked to cook the meat and decided instead that a veggie meal wouldn't be too bad. So we had Spaghetti with tomato, mushroom and onion sauce. And very nice it was too. I actually like mushrooms now as well!
That night was comfortable, if a bit of a pa'lava to organise - my bed was neither easy to set up nor get into, but once I was there, I had a pretty decent night's sleep. I was woken up in the morning by Anna, who had spotted a flock (herd?, pack?) of kangaroos a few metres from the van. And in part of an ongoing venture, they were all named Bert. Alf the quakka came first, Bert the kangaroos second, Carlos the ugly bird thing third, and Dennis and Earl are yet to be found... you get the idea.
Anyway, breakfast was jam and marmalade and similar such things on bread and was followed by showers in the surprisingly clean toilet block. We managed to leave soon after 9 and were optimistic that we'd be at Byron Bay by mid afternoon. We drove through a lot of wilderness, and countless little towns that all felt very deep-south American - wooden bungalows interspersed rather too frequently with churches bearing questionable promises of 'healing' and 'enlightenment'. We drove on regardless and soon saw signs for Ballina and Byron Bay. We stopped for lunch in a little town just south of Ballina and from there it was only an hour or so to Byron.
Byron itself is a very small beach town and is something of a Mecca for those with dreadlocks and guitars. It's a very very friendly place, packed full of little privately owned shops and not a big name store in sight. This time of year, it's a bit on the quiet side, but to be honest, it's all the better for it. There are patches of completely deserted beach and others that are still packed every day. There's a cool little lighthouse just down the coast, which I walked down to at quarter to six yesterday morning to catch the sunrise.
The last few days have been spent lazing around on the beach and wandering the town. I've met a few cool people in my youth hostel and we went out to 'Cheeky Monkey's' nightclub, which was such an awful place it was almost good. Certainly a good laugh anyway.
Yesterday I was wandering along the beach and spotted two familiar figures in the distance. Anna and Maya were sitting on the beach and were about to head out and do some kite surfing (it's what they're here for) and invited me along. So I hopped back into the camper van and we drove to Lennox Head beach. It took ages to get the kite ready and sort out the bits of string, but they did manage to get it up in the end, although apparently it wasn't windy enough to do any proper stuff. In the end we gave up and decided to go swimming in the massive waves. We went out for about 20 minutes, swallowed about a gallon of salty water each, decided that the rip currents were getting a bit strong and headed back to the beach, just as the sun was setting and it was getting cold. Having dried off and packed the kite up, we headed back to the camper van and they were kind enough to drop me back in Byron before heading off to their campsite.
Running out of time once again, but here are some photos:
Particularly proud of this one :) Well worth the 'ole click!
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