The Promised Land

Turning west, away from the coast, we arrived in the hippie town of Bellingen. The 'town' (more like a village) had lots of shops selling everything from Tofu to eco-friendly clothing and jewellery, with insense wafting from every shop front!




Our hostel had great views of the countryside and the river and our room came complete with Buddhist mantras on the walls! More worryingly...the hallway was decorated from floor to ceiling with hundreds of naked photos of previews guests! (check out the gallery! I'm not sure what is worse... the naked pictures or that fact I was taking photos of them?!)



Despite the nakedness, the hostel was great! The countryside surrounding the town is called The Promised Land. We borrowed a couple of car tyre inner-tubes from the hostel and headed off to a stream called Never Never Creek (very Peter Pan....or Michael Jackson). We had a great day swimming in the crystal clear stream and floating down the small rapids!






After two days with the crusty hippies and Nigel the resident giant lizard, we set off in search of the sea again. A few hours up the coast road we stopped at Lennox Head. A world renowed surf spot, this tiny town has a great laid-back holiday feel. Our hostel is opposite a seven mile beach that is almost totally deserted. On the other side of the hostel there's a fresh water lake that is surrounded by Tea Trees that turn the water red with Tea Tree Oil! Swimming is supposed to be very therapeutic and Nikky loves nothing more than soaking in the cool medicinal oil for an afternoon!

After our hippie experience in Bellingen, we thought we had 'ticked off' that experience from our list. But little did we know that Graeme who runs our hostel had kept a treat for us! Upon checking in we were told that we had "the best room in the house"..."Great!", we thought....until we realised that he meant HIS house! We were shown to our room...next door to his. We opened the door and were greeted by our room mates: a dozen teddy bears! We thanked the owner, closed the door and cracked up laughing! Despite the room we decided to stay here for a few nights, as the location is fantastic.

It's Australia Day here tomorrow, so the entire country is going BBQ crazy! We can't wait to join in the fun!

Coming up next time...we drive north into Queensland towards Noosa for our last week in Australia!