Byron Bay to Coffs Harbour

30th April

Welcome to Australia - sorry this place is currently under construction! there is an unbelievable amount of roadworks, even on the roads you'd not expect to find them, sometimes its hard to see any road "works" just the road cones and barriers, maybe the odd mount of soil here and there. I guess with the Aussie tax year coming to a close, they need to spend the money quick, or the councils will be fighting to get their levvy next time. Its a bit stop - start, especially when the sun's beating down and the fan keeps cutting in and out on the bike, you just need to get going and keep going sometimes.

Anyway a good time in Byron Bay, I do have a soft spot for that place now, but on I go and no real destination today except to make some progress down the coast towards Sydney.Coff's Harbour seemed a good stop, so its across country a bit, inland towards Casino, no, its not like Vegas, at all! Just a country town, but would take me away from the mundane main highway. I could have kicked myself really, I wanted to visit Nimbin, famous for its, well shall we say relaxed atmosphere. Apparently this place held the Aquarius festival in 1973 and some of the revelers never left and kept the new age festival feel going to this day and you know what kind of festival that would have been in '73! I had the day to myself yesterday and never thought about going there, but I really didn't have time today and needed to keep going south, bugger!It was a good road from Casino down to Grafton though, nothing spectacular, then out onto the main coastal highway. I did go through a town called Woolgoolga and came across this magnificent Sihk temple on the outskirts, seemed quite out of place really.

Just a few K's down the road into Coffs and found the backpackers, a good one too called the Ausitell (I think) where they run scuba diving courses (PADI) for the guests.I met another guy on an old Kawasaki GT550, Ben from just down the road in Newcastle (NSW not Teeside) a seventeen year old on his way to Brisbane to a convention for tall people! he was 6'10" and still growing! maybe we should have swapped bikes? :)