Day 5 - Byron Bay to Gold Coast

I had set my alarm for 6 so I could get up and have a shower but when it went off I was way too lazy to get out of the car.  So instead I woke up at 8, Hari felt like more Tim Tams and wine, so that is what we head for breakfast.  When I headed to the showers to rinse the cups off there was a big man with tattoos all over his body standing there.  I didn’t back away though because I knew he could smell my fear, so I continued on.  The first words he spoke to me were high, almost like a girl, the contrast between his look and voice made me laugh.  After all was well and the cups were clean, we headed for the information center to figure out what we could do with our day.  The center opened at 9 so we waited for an hour, during this time we got dressed, brushed our teeth and just chilled outside the center. 

When it finally opened it didn’t take me long to decide on the activity for the day, a 6 hour tour from Byron to Kills Falls to Nimbin and back.  I was excited to get started but the first thing I needed to do was shower, bathing suits were quickly put on and we quickly walked to the beach. 

While I was dipping myself in the water for a second I noticed a blue jellyfish feet away from, I could not get out of that water faster!  So no more swimming for me that day, instead I headed for the showers, where I was able to wash my hair for what seemed like the longest time.

We had to practically run back to the car so we could catch our tour bus that almost left without us.  The ride to Kills Falls was scenic but un-eventful.

The moment I stepped off the bus it was shoes off and feet in the mud, squishy red mud!  The waterfall was so beautiful and apparently platypuses live in the river above it; we didn’t see any though.  We stayed for 15 minutes and I got so caught up in the water the group almost left me behind… thank goodness I turned around and ran after them.

Can I jump?

Where are them platypus's?

Purple berries.

Upon our arrival at Nimbin (Cannabis capital of Australia), we were ‘warned’ about weed being sold to us and to watch out for cops, the word ‘taxi’ is used instead of cops here.

We spent an hour walking up and down the streets checking out each little store, they were ALL so cool.  At one of them Hari bought me two beautiful sarongs as a goodbye gift, so sad to think we only have three days left together.  We were not approached by any dealers but when we entered a bookstore some police escorting a boy my age came in asking the bookkeeper to watch him until they came back.  Not sure what he was in for exactly but I could guess it was for selling weed.

You can't help but smile when you see this!

For lunch the driver Pete prepared veggie burgers for us and we all chilled out in the sun.  Two boys from the tour came back late for lunch so we could only suspect what they were doing… we were right!

One of the boys sat down at the table and just pulled out a bag of weed like it was nothing and started preparing a joint.  Hari was so curious because he has never smoked or seen cannabis in his whole life; so funny to watch his expression.

Finally it was time to get on the bus and I was so happy for that!  Apart from watching the two boys sell cookies to a French couple on our bus I slept most of the time and so did Hari.

After we got dropped off we grabbed some snacks at Woolworths and then made our way for Gold Coast!

It rained a little bit on the way there but nothing we couldn’t handle and finding a camping spot couldn’t be easier.  We got one right on the beach with a very clean public washroom with showers right behind it; what a dream spot!

Welcome to Gold Coast or Surfers Paradise...

For dinner, Hari took me to his favorite pizza place called Crush that makes the best pizzas I have ever had in my life!  Apart from cold Ocean Park Pizza.  We feasted on this, before going further into the city so Hari could show me around a bit.  After walking around a bit more Tim Tams needed to be bought!

Mmmmmm!

When we got back to our camping spot we noticed the bathrooms had been locked… I wasn’t going to let that stop me.  There was an open shower just behind the car so I grabbed my things and headed towards my clean freedom!  It was windy and the shower was cold but for some reason after about a minute the water got fairly warm; my first warm shower in 5 days!

Felt so nice to be clean and I think that’s why I had such a good sleep!

Day 4 - Coffs Harbor to Byron Bay

The early morning started with me realizing Hari forgot to close my window all the way so I woke up with a wet arm and wet sleeping bag, joy!  The rain is just pounding down on the car and Hari continues to sleep even when it is bright outside.  My need to pee is strong but I am too polite to wake up Hari and know he will be awake soon anyway.  Hopefully it doesn’t continue like this all day long, tonight we will go to Byron Bay and spend the night there.

After Hari woke up we lost the car keys… I stood outside in the cover of the trunk as he tore apart the car trying to find them.  We did find them thankfully and we headed to the public bathrooms to brush our teeth.

The rain was so heavy by the time I ran across the street my clothes were wet.  We ran across the road back to the car and ordered a hot chocolate from the lady outside in her stand.  The hot chocolate we ordered was delicious and came with a large pink marshmallow and sprinkled chocolate.

Our first stop was to the mechanic to fix our headlights.  When I got out of the car Hari told me there was Wi-Fi… I immediately asked for the code and used my time wisely.  I sent Devi multiple snapchats wishing her a happy birthday but when I went to Facebook to talk to her I found out we weren’t friends.  I had to add my own sister on Facebook.  My blogger for some reason wouldn’t load anything so I was disappointed that no one would be able to read things for another few days.

After talking to the very kind mechanics, we were directed to the Big Banana.  We researched everything we could do when we got there, which is actually a giant banana.  We decided on the Coffs creek walk that led past the botanical gardens.

The walk began at the dolphin aquarium.  I took my shoes off as soon as we got onto the boardwalk along the mangroves.  It was lightly raining and everything was perfectly still, except for the rain that fell.  The only thing that wasn’t calming was when Hari continuously joked about pushing me in the water and then grabbing me at the last moment to save me.  By the end of the mangrove walk I beat him with my sandals, showed him not to mess with me again.

Time for a walk-a-bout.

So much rain

Crazy crow and statue.

Besties!

45 minutes of walking brought us to the beautiful botanical gardens.  We walked through China, South Africa, a rainforest and endangered species of plants.  The smells that came from the flowers were a sent I could have smelled forever.

Visited China

And the rainforest.

And the rain begins again!

We were a bit lost and it was partly my fault.  Wasn’t long before I got our walk back on track and headed in the right direction.  We passed a field that had ducklings in it and Hari joked about stealing them and bringing them on our trip; I was tempted to say yes.

What we thought was a whole walk around the mangrove river turned out to be only half and the rest was walked along the road… for an hour.  The walk wasn’t all boring even when the rain picked back up again and got me soaked; I refused to put my jacket on.  Hari hurt his ankle again and I could do nothing but laugh at him when he continued to.  Hari also taught me how to say food, how are you, and I am good in Hindi.  He quizzed me later on and we ended up having to repeat my lesson because I forgot.

An hour-long walk later we finally made it to the car where we feasted on our leftover Thai food.  It surprisingly tasted really good.

When our bellies were somewhat full we headed to a chocolate factory… it was more like a sad building with overly priced candy in it.  We had fun tasting the free samples but left after that.

We headed to Woolworths for a quick chip and dip stop and then headed back on the road to the Occasional Parrot Winery.  My job on the way there was to feed Hari the chips and dip, a simple enough task.  However, at one of the stop lights Hari grabbed the water below his feet and lifted his foot of the brake.  I was too busy getting the last of the dip out of the container to notice that we had just bumped the car in front of us.  Everything was fine and the drivers ahead didn’t care but Hari blamed it all on me, he calls me trouble because he has never been in any accident before; I hardly call this an accident.

The Occasional Parrot Winery ended up being a warehouse that couldn’t be accessed.  I was once again blamed for bad directions and choosing the wrong places to see.  Next stop is an actual winery.

Raleigh winery is in the country situated perfectly by a river.  We tasted 2 whites, 2 reds, a rosé, a white and red port and three different creamed wines.  My favorite out of all of them was the coconut cream wine; oh my god is it good!  It tastes just like a milkshake but with alcohol in it, they lady says it is better than Baileys and I believe her.

So pretty.

So many grapes.

Drink up!

They were all so good!

Lovely lady serving us.

Off to Byrons Bay we go!  Hari and I like to blast Bollywood music while eating Tim Tam’s; a chocolate biscuit covered in chocolate.  At one point we were stuck behind a police truck that was doing 80 in a 100 zone.  I dared Hari to overtake him and after a minutes thought we were speeding past them.  We laughed when all the other cars behind us started to do the same thing, we high-fived each other and continued on our journey.

My new favourite song!

We are currently resting in a warm grass field with a warm breeze brushing against my right side while Hari gets some sleep before we continue our 3-hour drive.  He always sleeps and I always type.

Sleepy Hari

Oh god...

The moment we drove into Byron Bay I fell in love instantly!  There are so many young, hippie people walking around; I know why my mom says it is her favorite place.

We had to drive around a bit to figure where we were going to camp; usually we do it next to a bathroom with showers, this time there were none.  The showers were all outdoor and bathrooms were in the center of town, not good.

After picking a suitable sleeping spot we put on clothes that were somewhat nice and headed into town to find food.

I was craving Mexican food and there just happened to be one on the corner of the street.  We got two huge burritos and took them to the beach to eat.  I was so happy to eat such a big burrito and even more to be on the beach in lovely weather, couldn’t have asked for a better dinner.

When dinner was done we headed back to the car to begin our nightly routine.  I was in need of a shower but they were all open in the middle of everything; a skinny dip in the ocean was going to have to do.  The beach was dark with few people on it, perfect for a naked swim.  I picked a spot, stripped down and ran into the water.  it felt so insanely good, the water was cold at first but turned into a refreshing dip within a matter of seconds.  When I felt clean enough I headed out of the water to find my clothes.  The only problem was, I had forgotten where they were.  I strolled up and down the beach completely naked trying to find my clothes; I did this about three times until I actually found them.  The relief I felt when I found them was way to great, I had actually considered asking someone on the beach for help; not sure how well that would have gone down. 

I was so sweaty from running up and down the beach that I went for another swim; this time I didn’t lose my clothes.  I headed back up to the car just in time to drink the brandy crème wine with Tim Toms.  Holy goodness did the combination taste good!  Hari turns into such a child when we starts drinking it is the funniest thing ever; he doesn’t even need that much either.  We listened to music and when the time came to go to bed we had no problem with that. 

Tomorrow we head for Gold Coast!

Day 3 - Port Macquaries to Coffs Harbour

The day started at 7:14 when I woke up.  We drove to the information center only to learn that it opened at 9, Hari found this outrageous and said to me that they are lazy.

We headed back to the beach for a walk along the edge and to see all these different painted rocks.  After a while of talking we walked back to the beach to cool our feet off and then back to the center we went!  

So many rocks!

Not as good as the real thing.

Adventure Time!

Rocks or Art?

Look, it's me!

We checked out this nature reserve walk and decided to do that.

It took us 15 minutes to drive there but 2 hours to walk it.  What we thought was a round-a-bout trail turned out to be several trails all leading away from the main road.  We walked for so long and only when we came to a vineyard and Hari had twisted his ankle did we ask for directions.  The man told us the Googee trail we went on is about 20 min but you are suppose to turn around when you reach the end.  We laughed at each other and headed back the way we came; Hari limping the whole time.

So cool

I love fungi!

So much forest

Straight ahead, no stopping!

Pretty

Where do we go?

We seemed to move faster the way back despite Hari having to use me and a stick as his crutch.  The relieve we felt when we got back to the car was like seeing water in a desert.  Next stop was to a koala rescue place.  I somehow managed to mix that up with a hostel and we went there instead; Hari did nothing but laugh at me on the car ride back.

Lunch was a quick stop for veggie burgers and then to a boat-renting place.  We had some trouble getting there but not much.  I got to drive the boat most of the way which was super fun!  We went in and out of water front homes and when Hari drove he swerved the very slow boat side-to-side in an attempt to scare me; it didn’t work.

Watch out boats!

Getting wet again

Nap time.

Next stop was to the actual koala rescue center, which turned out to be a bit depressing.  I was excited at first because I thought about the Hanson Bay Sanctuary; it was not like this at all.  I was quite relieved when we left and headed to our last stop… the lighthouse.

No room to move

All fences

At least the babies get released.

Hari mostly wanted to stop here so he could rest and I could catch up on my typing.  So this is what I am doing here in the somewhat cold wind as Hari sleep on the bench… typing.  It is quite nice because the magpies are super brave and come really close to me and the ocean is always nice to hear.  I however want to get going to Coffs Harbor so now I will wake Hari and be off!

Always tired.

Lighthouse.

So bold.

Hari’s internet has run out so now we have to use maps… I can’t read maps.  We got lost for 20 minutes before turning around and starting over.  Finally I managed to get us back on the correct highway and off we went!

How do you read a map?

It seemed to take us forever to get to Coffs harbor and of course it started raining again.  I didn’t mind the rain but it makes driving extremely difficult and to make matters worse our headlights wouldn’t work.  Hari had to resort to using his high beams, which didn’t go over too well if we passed another car and they weren’t off.

It was about time when we made it to Coffs harbor because we were both tired and ready for bed.  After a heaping meal of Thai food that neither of us could finish we headed for our campsite.

Before we got there though I was told there were no bathrooms in the area and would have to take my shower here.  Yay, another cold shower for Kali!  I have gotten use to them by now and it doesn’t really bug me, only the fact that I can’t go pee when I wake up now.

I finally get to sleep now.