mike & rhonda's latest adventure: Full Moon Happenings

Continuing north along the interior of New South Wales, life is becoming stranger and stranger. We found another deserted campground in Boonoo Boonoo National Park........for some particular reason, pronounced “Bunna Bunnoo”........allowing for another totally quiet evening and lovely campfire. We did a short walk out to the nice falls (210 metre drop) and the next day hiked out to the top of Bald Rock (another nearby NP), which is supposed to be the largest exposed granite rock in the Southern Hemisphere. It was a nice relatively easy walk to the top with a good view and a much steeper decline, but I'm not sure it would rank anywhere near the top of the largest granite monoliths in Canada.

With an extra day in hand before our upcoming day at the BluesFest, we decided to play a round of golf (unusual for us on our overseas trips) at the local Tenterfield G.C. which came highly recommended. Here is how the conversation went at the front desk:

How much would it be to play a round of golf & do you have a time to fit us into?

It is $25 per person and you can go out whenever you would like.

OK, great. We would like to rent come clubs.

No problem, we will bring you up two sets. No charge (they were knock-offs but they were new and in a brand new golf bag).

OK, then we would like pull carts.

No problem, they are right our the door on your left. No charge.

OK, then I need to purchase some golf balls (as you can see we came totally unprepared).

No problem, you will find some in the golf bag along with some tees (slightly used but unscratched Titleists, Calloways and Bridgestones).

I was about to ask if a 6-pack on ice was also included in the $25 pp charge but figured I should settle for the current deal while it was on the table! The golf course was lovely, we played in 3.5 hours, and other than the mental strain of converting metre distances to yardages, it was a delightful time at a bargain price.

The next day we stopped in to Border Ranges NP. A cyclone had ripped through there in February, and they were still cleaning up the mess. Half of the hiking trails remained closed and one of the side roads we wanted to take was still covered with fallen trees (see picture). The view at the end of The Pinnacle hike offered gorgeous views of Mount Warning and the ancient volcano caldera which is now actively farmed.

And then it got really strange as we arrived in Nimbin, the Happy Capitol of Australia, a true hippie town, although it is a poor man's version of Salt Spring Island in our minds. People (locals and visitors) seemed very apprehensive whenever cameras were visible so very few pictures are taken around here. As a result, what happens in Nimbin, stays in Nimbin (more so than Las Vegas), and everyone seems to like it that way. It was a good place to chill for a couple of days but that was enough.

Two days ago we arrived in Byron Bay, a normally busy beachfront paradise, but even more overcrowded right now due to the BluesFest. We found a last minute cancel site in a Caravan Park (previously all parks had been booked for many kilometres around). While the music festival was going on just outside of town, there were several bars with 'live' bands to entertain those that were not going to BluesFest. Two different people suggested the Beach Hotel where Lisa Hunt was playing and it turned out to be an excellent tip. A former southern U.S. singer who now lives here and performs once a month drew a huge crowd of close to 1,000 people packing the pub and she rocked. We were there for 3 hours before taking the 10 minute walk back to our campsite for a late dinner.

Yesterday we went to the final day of the BluesFest where the headline performers included Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitt and the Zach Brown Band, among several others that we know and a few more that we discovered during the all day event taking place at multiple stages. We set up our chairs in the morning at the large Main Stage tent (great acoustics, overflowing in the evening with over 10,000 people squeezed in and around) We spent most of the day there, periodically catching performances at some of the other stages. The vibe was good, the music was great and there were 40 food and drink stalls to keep us nourished. Not as eco-friendly as the Calgary Folk Festival and a really strange no-alcohol policy at the festival campground (requiring us to find a storage area for our van wine at the last minute), but otherwise it was well organized. Zac, Bonnie and Paul were all superb,backed up by incredibly talented musicians. We had pre-booked a campsite at the festival site so we were able to enjoy the entire day.

Today we will drive north along the east coast beaches to Brisbane where we will spend a few days.