Garry and Carols Van Trip: Grafton to Ballina

Christmas slows everything down even the blog posts. We have travelled from Bellingen to Ballina with a couple of hours in Coffs harbour and a couple of days at Grafton on the way.

The Bellingen markets were the best markets we have seen yet. They are very large around the local footy field and spread widely. A band was playing and there were stalls of all types including clothes, fruits, fish, timber toys and furniture, sea shells, books, and antiques. There are some really interesting wares to be found including a large range of organic and ‘green’ products. We were impressed by the lack of cheap junky stalls. The markets are not as big as the Eumundi Markets but people travel miles to visit them and there were hundreds of people in town. The big difference with these markets is that although they open as early as any markets, the Bellingen people only come out by late morning. The rush period for the markets is between 11am and 2pm.

Saying goodbye to Jasmine who had her face painting stall set up near the band stage, we headed for Grafton. Coffs Harbour was the first stop with a visit to the Big Banana essential. It is well presented and had both of us trying to remember how many decades ago we first visited it. We think it was 4. The café is very popular and the chocolate covered frozen bananas still taste great. After a photo of Grandma in front of another “big” thing for Henry, we left for Grafton. We chose a van park at Grafton from the book and despite a friendly manager is probably the only place we have stayed at so far that we would not return to. We chose it because it appeared further from the major roads but it turned out that a huge timber mill separated it from the highway. Fri and Sat nights were fine but it was time to leave when the mill kicked in early on Monday morning. The avenue of huge fig trees in the town centre area was impressive and on Sunday we took a drive inland to visit the pub at Nymboida. Russel Crowe purchased the Inn and built a Museum and Wedding facility in the grounds beside the pub. The’ Museum of Interesting Things’ contains a collection of Russel’s movie costumes, props, motorbikes and some local history items and stories including a history of the Nymboida Colliery. The Colliery went broke owing all its employees entitlements. A deal was done with the owners to hand over ownership of the Colliery to the employees (union) and it ran for another 18 months during which time they presumably earned their entitlements before it shut down for good. The Pub overlooks a 90 degree bend in the river which flows very fast and is popular with canoeists. There is a lot of sporting memorabilia on the walls of the pub including a lot of tributes from sportsmen and women helped financially by Russel Crowe – much of this work unfortunately not reported. The back veranda dining area overlooking the river was popular and provided a very good lunch. This is worth a visit and canoeing the river looks like fun.

Big Banana at Coffs Harbour

Fig Tree avenue in Grafton

Carol & huge stagecoach at Russels Crowes Museum of Interesting Things at Nymboida.

Orange County Chopper in South Sydney NRL colours.

Nymboida River from back yard of the Inn

From Grafton to Ballina we chose to drive through Casino and Lismore rather than stick to the Pacific Highway. It was a good choice as the road is good and the traffic was light. There were also no roadwork stoppages as there was on the Pacific Highway every 30kms – or so it seemed.

We are staying at Shaws Bay Van Park in East Ballina for 2 weeks over Xmas and New Year. It is a Big 4 park but is smallish with small sites well packed in from Boxing Day. The facilities are good and the location and friendly owners are its strong point. It is on the edge of a wide river with sea walls extending into the sea. Lighthouse beach is a surf beach a short walk along the wall and there are several small beaches right beside the park with small swells washing up the open sea way/river. On another side of the park is a large shallow tidal lagoon fed through the seawall. This lagoon is excellent for swimming, canoeing, fishing, etc. It is a great spot beside the water, highly recommended for any time outside school holidays for us oldies. There is a great pub next door serving good priced food on the waterfront.

River and one of the beaches beside the Shaws Bay van park.

Kirsty, Ben and the girls joined us for Christmas. They drove down from Brisbane for a few days and rented a unit at the park. We have visited the House With No Steps, the Macadamia Castle, the Bangalow Markets, and Lennox Head Beach. The House with no steps runs several business to assist the disabled with employment. They have a great play area for kids with water fountains, mini-golf, swings, etc. They also have a large plant nursery and shop. The Macadamia Castle is on the highway and was very interesting for the kids with lots of animals to interact with and feed. We were impressed with Isobel who lined up to hold a small blue tongue lizard, then a small python about 40cm long. We expected her to back away when the handler got the larger 1.5m+ Woma Python but she held it fearlessly and posed for photos. Madelaine loved the chickens and fed the kangaroos.

Outside the Macadamia Castle

Madelaine after enjoying a swim and chocolate

Isobel on swings at House with no steps.

Carol & girls in tree house at Macadamia Castle

Feeding the Chickens

A very brave Isobel with a Woma Python

Feeding the roos...

...together.

The Bangalow Farmers Markets sold mostly organic (expensive) fruit and veges but the walk among the very interesting shops in old buildings along the main street was nice. We drove along the coast to Lennox Heads today. The weather is warm and dry but the big swells coming onto the beaches from an ex-tropical cyclone off the coast has bought the crowds out. The waves are also big enough at 4m+ to scare most surfers out of the water. Nature sure can be impressive.

The Baked ham for Xmas dinner from the Weber Q