I hope you liked the photos that I've started putting on. I've added one to the didgeridoo entry and there will be more accompanying following entries hopefully.

Leaving Queensland the only event of any note was the bus breaking down. That was ok though as everyone played games and told jokes and even riddles - the break down was obviously getting to us by this point. The highlight was a game called 'black and white' where people who knew ithe game said sequences that conformed to the pattern (such as "black-white-black-black-white") and those who didn't had to try and work out what the common pattern was. This was good for two reasons: 1 Because there was this American guy who had made us play a couple of these types of games and who wouldn't stop till absolutely everyone worked them out and he didn't know this one. Secondly and most importantly: The pattern of Black and White is that there is no pattern and the game is designed solely to frustrate those who don't know, in our case this American guy.

Nimbin, Northern New South Wales

Next stop was "Mythical Nimbin" the "alternative lifestyle" (read - marijuana) capital of Australia. The town is pretty small with a population of less than a thousand but it is a big tourist attraction. Everyone here it seems is a hippy or stoner or dropout or all three.

The thing I liked most about Nimbin is the surrounding countryside. The area is volcanic and so it is extremely verdant. The drive was really pretty, endless rolling hills and little brooks. Unfortunately we didn't stop so our pictures through the window of the bus aren't great. Even the hostel had really nice grounds though being set in a kind of farm-style setting with horses etc.

Another good thing about our hostel was the free wine that was available. 'Help yourself' the owner said 'red or white they both taste the same'. That night we talked to the owner, a thirty year old guy whose parents had originally come to the area in the early 70's when the Aquarius festival (hippy festival) had happened in Nimbin. They had originally tried to live off the land in the woods but had found it too trying and come to the town after a few months. The Australians call this 'going feral' and this is actually not rare in Northern New South Wales.

In the evening we went to a butter factory which had been turned into a cinema. The place was pretty strange. You got a meal with your ticket and the seats were deckchairs. In the middle of the film there was an interval where some Nimbin residents went outside to partake in a 'smoking' break, you could also purchase Apple Pie and Ice cream which needless to say we did. One highlight was probably speaking to a real hippy (I could tell this was so becasue he had a ponytail a CND logo earring and told me that the toilets were: "that way, man") Another box ticked then.

The next morning we went to the Nimbin museum which basically looked like a garage of the type of person who doesn't actually use it to park their car in it but just fill it with Junk. I had never seen anything like it. Best of all the entrance had a little sign which said "Free entry but $2 if you can". Superb. (It turned out that we couldn't.)

A picture of the cluttered mess that is Nimbin Museum:

Byron Bay, Northern New South Wales

On to the next place the slightly alternative surfing town of Bryon Bay. This is a town of 5,000 but is incredibly touristy. It has superb surfing, great weather, good beaches and it's not too far from Sydney which adds up to an extremely overtouristed town. In peak season the tourists make the population swell to 60,000 - that's twelve times it's normal size. In fact unscrupulous residents of Byron have been known to rent all the rooms of their house out to unsuspecting tourists and then leave. This means the tourists are stuck with up to six other bewildered family/couples when they thought they were booking a guesthouse.

I decided to do what Byron is most famous for and took a couple of surfing lessons. I can tell you now that surfing is not easy. However, the company I went with were pretty good and taught us a lot of technique befire we went in and helped us with timing the waves so that I managed to stand up and surf a fair few times.

The next day we walked to the Byron Bay Lighthouse and the most Easterly point in Australia. I like these rather meaningless significant points I remember going to the most Southern point in Britain. All I can say is that it was very windy and we didn't manage to spot any whales (which you should be able to do).

In the evening we watched this woman twirling fire pois (essentially balls of fire around her body and head). The next day Tuely bought some. I'm hoping she won't burn herself or me. We'll have to see.

Richard, Geelong, 25th October

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