Never Never

Further up Never Never Creek are more swimming holes we hadn't seen before, and were tipped off about them by a friendly nurse whose German shorthaired pointer I chucked into the river to be helpful. Yesterday we went to investigage, and the places were as beautiful as she'd promised.

The water was ABSOLUTELY FREEZING, like, when you fill a glass with ice and then fill it with water, let the ice melt for a while then drink it, and you can feel the cold hitting your stomach. It's way colder than before, which is weird as this is the tail end of summer, but apparently it's because of all the rain that made the floods, it's still working its way down form the mountains. I still don't understand this, it would make more sense if those rains formed a huge glacier which was now melting, but I was never very good at geography so I'll just accept it.

Close to Never Never is a place called the Promised Land, and it's quite surreal seeing a bus go past with a sign saying 'PROMISED LAND' as its desination in its front window.

Can I also mention that Tiffany and Russell are having a baby girl and I am SO excited!!!!!!!

Minyon Falls

Warning: If you don't find trees even faintly interesting this will be incredibly boring for you.

Yesterday we decided we weren't going surfing. That left options of staying at home or doing nothing, or....well that was all we had. We asked around as there are lots of boys staying here at the moment, and Caleb said that Minyon falls was good for a trip. So off we went.

We spotted climbing routes! Only problems being getting to the start of the routes, topping out into thick Australian bush full of nasty wildlife, and the fact that we have no rope. Not to mention my ability to climb. But....

After going to see the falls close up we decided to embark on a Walk down to the bottom of it. I was scared but we had lots of food to fuel me and the promise of as many rests as I wanted, so off we went.

A helpful sign told us to look out for the progression in the plantage from wet sclerophyll forest to sub tropical rainforest, so this was duly noted. And to start with, a squiggly tree!

Cool roots

As we descended down deeper into the forest, it got generally darker but bright sublight charged through in bits, making the photos look all enchanted forestesque.

Snazzy lichen

Crazy rooties of the Bangalow Palm

There are a couple of cheeky fern things that have set up shop in the upper branches of this big tree, using its height to get lots of light.

It felt like a long walk and I had a couple of rests, but finally we found the river coming away from the falls.

We found a pool and decided to stop there and have lunch and a swim. The waterfall was just a few hundred metres further over some boulders but I was knackered and wasn't too fussed!

Zappa spotted a big eel! I was very excited. For someone that isn't that bothered about wildlife he's very good at spotting it. You can kind of just about see it in this photo. It got annoyed with me being seemingly inedible (or maybe it didn't like having its picture taken) and it properly splashed me with its tail and got me all wet.

I felt much better after the rest and food and we started talking about stuff we'd like to do, kind of like New Year's resolutions but a bit late. We talked about going camping and making things and going hang-gliding and stuff and I got so excited, and we talked about it on the walk back up, and other stuff, I was chatting away and I was so happy and distracted I didn't have time to get worried about if I could make it or if it was too much for me, and I didn't have a single rest and I was fine! It was a 2km proper uphill walk! SCORE. It is so insane how much our minds affect us.

Before we go, guess what this rather beautiful thing is?

Someone's windscreen!

Zappa's Flooded Birthday!

The other day the anticipated exciting event happened - the river flooded!

Where I was standing to take the above photo (unflooded Bellingen photo):

The view from Suzy's verandah is usually green fields:

Very exciting! Luckily we'd just bought tons of food so we were set. Suzy lives on the same side of the river to us (the non-'town' side) and so we went over to her house to do a jigsaw puzzle with her, Iona and Taylor, her daughters (well, Taylor more spectated. Now and again).

At first we couldn't get to town or the highway but we could get to Quigley's house, so it was all good. But then the river kept rising, and yesterday the back road flooded too - we were due to housesit for Quigley and Jean today! Suzy reckoned we should go at whenever low tide was, which would give us the biggest chance of getting through. So we woke up on Zappa's birthday, had birthday pancakes, and set off through the driving rain. The road/off-road had big ridges in it from all the water flow, and the water under the bridges was really close, but we made it! To find that the bridge to the driveway had been half-washed away and was now part of a raging river.

Not so cool. No matter! There was another bridge we could walk across... Quigley rang and said if we couldn't get there it was fine, the neighbours could look after the animals. We decided to walk up and see  how easy it would be to get all our stuff over the bridge and up to the house (the driveway is really really long, it's more like a track). We mostly wanted to see how our invalid chicken was doing.

Bit dodge...

Alright, very. It was so slippery too!! It was exciting (it's ok Mum, I'm still alive). We walked up, Possum the horse seemed very pleased to see us, and the garage door was open, as was the chicken pen gate, and someone's car was there, so we assumed someone was in, which was confusing, as Sally, the person housesitting until today, was supposed to have left yesterday. It turned out noone was there, and when we went to see the little paralysed chicken, it was soaking and lying in a pile of its own faeces - it obviously hadn't been moved since we'd left. It STANK and had almost no food, which was nowhere near it and sodden. That sold it. We were definitely staying, if only to look after it! I dried the chook off and put it in a new bed inside:

Poor little thing! We reckon it can move its feet a little better. Surprising it's managed to find the energy to heal anything considering. The other chickens didn't have any food at all so they were happy to see us too. There were piles of eggs everywhere in their favourite laying spots!

Apparently Sally isn't an animal person. I find myself believing this. I'm sorry if this has been a little bitchy but it makes me quite cross finding animals in a state.

Anyway yes it's Zappa's birthday and his chocolate cake is in the oven! Tonight we're going out for a curry in Coffs Harbour. He seems very happy. He is currently telling the chicken about the girl in Kill Bill who rehabilitated herself from not being about to move, as a motivational talk. Cake's ready!

Ooglie Booglie Part II and Possible Flood

Who after reading the last post thought I was a bit special booglying everything? Well guess what? Later, after posting that, Zappa got right into it and went more nuts than me!

The next day Zappa was working doing some garden work for some friends, but it started throwing it down with rain, so I went to pick him up after an hour or so. He’d had an idea the night before about painting a massive map of Australia on the wall, which I liked but didn’t take seriously as he’d had a few drinks and had also decided he was going to become a kung fu pro. However, there we were stuck in the house in a deluge with Zappa’s newfound free time, and he suggested we actually do it.

We went into town to get supplies – multiple big sheets of card we stuck together, paint and a map. We decided to stick to New South Wales as that’s realistically where we’ll probably stick to. And it was really fun! Apart from the geography exercise at the start, drawing gridlines and scaling things up and down. I made myself fired from that job. Painting with a big brush with big strokes is fun. I did the land and Zappa did the sea, and you can tell because the sea is immaculately blue and the land is like blerrgghhh.

We’re going to stick things on where we want to go and things we want to do, like stick surfboards on good-sounding beaches, and tents on possible campsites, and colour them in once we’ve done them. All the maps with that sort of information on them have been area map type things, and it gets really frustrating not being able to see the bigger picture of where everything is in relation to each other, so that you can plan a whole route.

Onto the Possible Flood! It has been deluging down for the last few days, and the river has got all fat and big, and is rather close to the underside of the bridge today. This is the river normally:

 

And this is it currently:

Well that really doesn't do it justice as it was taken in the car, but it's pretty full.

It’s not uncommon for the river to flood in the rainy season, and one half of Bellingen is completely cut off from the other. It’s not like Somerset floods, where there’s suddenly a soggy lake where a field used to be and you can go and take arty photos of reflections, here there’s a raging monster that flings big trees and dead cows down its torrent self, and you’re not allowed anywhere near it.

So in preparation for the Possibility, we have developed what my mum calls Siege Mentality (she usually uses it in a Christmas context), and today I went and bought up loads of food, including a tin of butter beans, which weren’t on the list but seemed like the sort of thing when you’re marooned you might end up eating. Damn, now I’ve remembered Winnie the Pooh’s tactics when he was flooded in. I should have got lots of jars of honey. I’m such an amateur.

Happy New Year!

Bonjour from Bellingen Library, the coldest part of Australia I've been to so far.

Zappa started the New Year with a boom by contracting some nasty tummy bug and spending 2 days cooped up in the house. Then he thought he'd round it off by going to a remedial massage guy to sort out his shoulder which has been bothering him for a while - look what the man did to him!!!

He looks like he's been abducted by aliens! He said it felt nice but it looks horrific. The circles are these suction cups the guy put on, and the lines are from this ceramic roller thing. Eek. He said his shoulder feels a lot better though.

Yesterday we took a picnic to Never Never Creek with some of the other housefull that we've been spending Christmas and New Year with.

It was a gorgeous day and the water was beautiful:

Sunny the dog came too. He's as mad as Poppy, my family Jack Russell, but without the nastiness. And he applies constant anti-logic to every situation. 'What would be the logical thing to do in reaction to this? Right, I'll do something completely different.'

Zappa, by Me

Me, by Zappa

Oh and you know I was raving about Jenny and Ray's ficus tree, Baby Ben? Well I found another of Jungle's relations:

P.S. Mum, check your junk mail box in your hotmail for an email from me, I used my uni account as hotmail doesn't like me today. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Byron Bay

Greetings! We are here in Byron Bay, drug capital of Australia, destination of all school leavers after exams (which is sadly now) and home to the Byron Bay Hat Company. It is lurvely!

First though, I will show you something of the Bellingen area's loveliness, where we were before, without internet. Or phone signal. Sometimes even the sat nav couldn't find us.

We found a slow-flowing, crystal clear river to swim in called Never Never Creek.

It has a good rope swing at this bit, and rocks to sun yourself on.

Here is a picture of Zappa in the river

because NEWSFLASH, we bought an underwater digital camera!!!

There it is. Isn't it beautiful and green? I love it so much. I know it's extravagent but Zappa said he'd totally do some extra days work for it. YAY



Something not so beautiful and green (well, that's debatable I suppose) was our next critter. I was scared one night when what looked like a huge dog poo on a step suddenly jumped up to the next step. In the morning the culprit was revealed!

Also, the Bellingen Community Market was on while we were there, to our good fortune.

It was really wonderful, like a mini glastonbury festival, but just the shopping and bits of food. In the photo is a guy playing the didjeridoo and the hang! (pronounced hung, very hard to obtain instrument). I bought a couple of tops, some thai fishermans trousers and the short skirt version, and some very natural peanut butter which was going cheap as it was past its sell-by date (still not that cheap, ah well, I liked it and its naturalness), which made me feel extremely sick for hours after eating as part of my lunch, and has lurked in the cupboard ever since as I don't really want to try it again to make sure it was evil, but I can't bear to throw it away in case it wasn't.

I digress.

We pootled up the Pacific Highway, passing the Giant Prawn, which I'm sure was in Endless Summer II, I was so excited.



It was a rainy miserable day which was nice for me as a passenger because we didn't expire from heat exhaustion in Dingo, but not so good for the driver because of the whole visibility thing (I'm sure this visibility thing is a myth, don't you just FEEL where to go?), and not so good for the blood samples courier in front of us when the rain had dissolved the road into, er, offroad, which was quite a bone-shaking ride for a few hundred metres.

Anyway Byron Bay, it is good. The beach and supermarket have been prettty insanely busy this weekend, but what with all the schoolies, what do you expect. The surf was nice and gentle, we went out to a couple of spots. Ray is our new surf coach. The tip we learnt today (amongst others) was that if you want to get a parking spot, you get there before 8am.

Noish. The beach is usually much more existent than this apparently, this was a super high tide. I actually surfed a little bit at the second spot! Ray brought us a biiig learners rubber-topped board to play with, which I loved, much more what I'm used to. It's like catching a train. It got a bit exhausting lugging it out through the white water though, Zappa's is muuuch much lighter and easier to turn, but not as easy to catch waves with.

We went off in search of the famous lighthouse, and found it.

And had a lovely view of the beaches on the way back down.

Ahh well after not having computery technologicalities for so long my eyes are feeling rather square. I shall retire. Enjoy.