Coffs Harbour

This week we have been lucky enough to score a couch surfing stay. That means we get a sweet house to stay in and don't have any work to do. As it actually sounds like a real vacation, we have found ourselves struggling to keep busy. Is this a sign that it may be almost time for us to head back into the world of working, getting paid, and having more responsibilities than we can carry in just our backpacks? I think so.

Anyway, Coffs is a nice little town on the coast in New South Wales. There are a few nice shopping centers and luckily enough the town is trying to be the first around to have seamless wifi throughout the town center, works for us! Our first afternoon here our host took us up to the town's skywalk ledge where we were able to get and overhead view of the entire city and orient ourselves as to where things are. (Well Brian was able to get orientated as I never know where we are meant to be going...) We have spent a few days wandering around the city and popping in and out of various shops. We spent a day earlier this week in the botanical gardens. They had different sections, from a nice river walk, huge greenhouses, endangered plants, as well as local plants and ones from countries a far. The North American section seemed to be lacking a bit, but we saw a few trees that reminded us of home.

Mutton bird island was our other long trip. After the nice long trek down to the jetty which must be at least 5k we hiked the trail to the island named after the bird that lays and hatches its eggs there, the mutton bird! The views of the ocean were very nice, but we did get a quick shower that didn't even last long enough worth putting a rain coat on for.

On our last day we were able to check out the markets down on the jetty and spend a few hours in sunshine. When we were walking on the pier we even saw a dolphin swimming in the water below! We are pretty sure that he was playing with the food that he just caught. It was a fantastic highlight to end the week with!

On Monday we move again to Dangar island, our last helpx stay before we leave Australia. Hopefully it will be a great one to end our trip!

Until the next stop,
Jes and Brian

Easter Kayaking on the Bellingen River

It is safe to say that we have never really had nice enough weather on Easter to throw on shorts and a tank top and head down to the river for a little morning kayaking. The scene was beautiful, partly cloudy so just sunny enough to stay warm but not extensive to the pony of getting burnt. We took a leisurely paddle down a nice wide and slow moving section of the river for a couple of hours. Recently there was a very large flood in the area so the banks were covered with a good amount of debris and yet the animals of the area were loving it. We saw plenty of fish jumping right out of the water to et some bugs, a variety of birds hanging out having a splash, and of course water dragons scurrying along the banks. With the rainforest mountains in the back drop and the occasional cow in a neighboring paddock mooing hello is was a wonderful way to spend Easter morning. How eventful was your holiday?

Until later,
Jes & Brian

Rainforest Romp

New England it surprisingly enough a place in Australia as well as back at home, it is a national forest park at we were lucky enough to be taken to by our hosts for a nice hike around. Upon waking up the morning of the hike we were doubtful about embarking on our little adventure because there was a whole lot of fog and a bit of rain in the forecast. Regardless, we packed a lunch and headed out to an experience that I was not prepared for. The rainforest was a beautiful fairy like wonderful land with the moisture handing in the air and green moss growing from almost every surface possible. We took a nice hilly loops walk that ended up being just a couple of kilometers but it felt good hike, sweat, and see, smell, and hear the rainforest.

Crystal Castle

This afternoon we get a hold of two complimentary entrance passes into Crystal Castle in Mullumbimby just because we work at the motel! We took the scenic drive there and it was just as beautiful when we arrived. We walked the meditation labyrinth, saw the various Buddhist deities, stopped at the coy pond, and enjoyed the beautiful views. We even saw the stupa where we spun the cylinders that are meant to release all the prayers that they hold. The grounds get their name from the millions of crystals that are all over the property. Geodes that you could fit inside of! Rose quartz everywhere! And lots of other stones that we were not able to identify. It was a peaceful and relaxing afternoon to say the least.

Until later,
Jes & Brian

Silly Nimbin

The Aquarius festival in the time of peace, love, and happiness was held in a never before heard of town called Nimbin. When the festival was over people decided that they didn't want to leave and just stuck around. This is how the entirety of the own was formed.

The town itself it pretty quirky, as you can imagine. Generally it's just a lot of people smoking pot, eating pot, and whatever else. Needles to say we were not interested based on the strict laws the Australia actually has in place regarding marijuana. Although this community is a little pocket in the middle of no where that can get away with it...I guess. But the main industry is actually tourism because of the interesting way that this actually came to be. We checked out the local, hand made museum and it was pretty cool the way it all worked out.

The happy coach was out mode of transport for the day and on the way out to nimbin we were able to stop at Killen falls, a beautiful waterfall and also and old town pub. Lunch was included after our investigation of the town and it was a day well spent!

Until later,
Jes and Brian

Happy Birthday to Brian!

For a low key 28th birthday for Brian we went down to the local pub and had a few drinks an watched some live music. The venue is an open air deck just outside a hotel and across the street from the Brunswick river. The music was nice and jam like and we loved every part of it. It rained just a tiny bit but we were lucky enough to score some seats under an umbrella table so we were good to go. Come to find out the owners of the motel that we are staying and working at know the lead singer of the band, because he wants to date their daughter, and was able to hook Brian up with a cd of his music and even got him to sign it with a friendly happy birthday message too! Maybe when he hits it big we can say how we hung out with him and had pizza after one of his shows! Fantastic!

Until later,
Jes and Brian