New South Wales to Queensland -1hour!

We left the beauty of the rainforest. Our guide book writer seems to have a thing for lighthouses so of we went to Smokey Point Point Lighthouse, went up and around to see yet again amazing views of the surrounding beaches.
Driving on for a light lunch through Forster we made it to Port Maquarie, according to our book a destination interesting enough to stop. Indeed a beautiful sea side little village, again beautiful beaches and a walking trail going from beach to beach. we rented bicycles for Matt Val and myself and Djudj, not really to his liking was put in a little trailer on the back of my bike.
We ended up cycling for a bit and buying some paint and brushes after having passed the best of English left overs much to the amazement of Matt, Bowling and Crockett.
A sport mind you not as it seems put away for the youngest of Australians, I love the uniforms, the shorts the collars, the v-neck sweaters and in particular the long white shorts especially underneath the shorts.
We got to the promenade where the rocks are painted for a few miles on end and found an empty spot to leave our mark, I appolagise our artwork. I am not sure how long the paint we bought for two dollar fifty will last but we made everlasting pictures of it!
A swim in the sea, a few annoying phone calls causing stress I really don't need, and a good dinner to make for a near perfect two days, and a realization that, we are on the go go go and we need not forget to slow down and take time to smell the roses.
We decided to push on to Byron Bay where we would stay for at least four days and relax by the beach.
According to our guide book there Dorrigo was a place to go visit and so we did.
We booked a B&B that was in the guide book and drove through Bellingen where we stopped for ice cream.
A different vibe here. The board at the outside of the ice cream parlor had cards for yoga, healing, spiritual retreats, health foods, aromatherapy etc...
Most shops sold organic food and the people had a different new hippies look.
Quite a good vibes yet quite trashy at the same time. I was right in my comfort zone, or would have been about twenty one years ago.
We arrived at the B&B where Juan greeted us. I had a feeling of being checked out before he actually let us in and after going for food at the local supermarket we looked closer at the place we were staying.
Stunning views had to make up for the green carpet and the passé furniture.
A kind of shrine was there revealing two dresses one of a woman one of a child and a few pictures.
It looked creepy, dusty yet the feeling I had there was one of peace much to the contrary of the looks.
Val was a bit freaked by all this. Despite this we had one of the deepest sleeps we have had in the last few weeks.
The next morning breakfast was at Juan's diner "Juan del Fuego" the music in the diner/smallest motorcycle museum in the world was fiery Argentinian tango and breakfast was excellent.
It is bizarre how some people strike you as wanting to be open yet feel closed in as imprisoned by some sorrow not dealt with, this is my judgement only and we had been welcomed yesterday and today with a smile.
Oh yes, for the first time this morning i was wondering why this stupid Australian driver was coming straight at me when I realized it was I who was driving Belgian style, no harm but a frozen face from Val for a couple of minutes, no one had realized I was driving on the wrong side of the road.
A magnificent walk in Dorrigo National Park took us behind a waterfall. Australia is a Bird land that any ornithologist would love and the noises in the forest are just amazing.
Val and Matt walked ahead and on the climb back Djudj and I left behind got confronted with a passing enemy, "the je veux plus marcher, j'en ai marre thought".
Ten minutes later lots of screaming and more then a few birds scared, we carried on to reach the car, go for lunch and hit a three and a half hour trip to Byron Bay.
Nothing interesting apart from loud and not always in tune singing from the four of us, a horrible lunch in horrible village of which the name escapes me and a different encounter I must tell you about just outside of Grafton.
A brief wee stop at the petrol station turned out to be an interesting thirty minutes led as my interlocutor would surely say, by the son of God himself Jesus Christ.
Next to the seemingly closed gas station was a tree full of colorful parrots, behind a house with the sign Jesus Saves, in front of us a table with a little roof, cookies, chips, chocolate, and one in his early twenties looking blond dread locked bare top guy with fresh tattoos as a proof of his new found love for the Lords son. Sitting next to him a toothless long pepper salt colored haired guy dressed totally in white open shirt.
Hesitantly about their invitation Matthew and I sat down while Val and Djudj went for a wee.
I will resume the conversation we had while the kids (and Val) were munching away on sweets and salties.
This guy was the mission priest, he explained that this was a mission welcoming delinquents and addicts/alcoholics.
Wade or that is how I remember him went out to explain how one day after robbing banks and beeing condemned to ten years in prison found a tiny guy who came to his cell and made him feel he was on the wrong path and needed guidance and would find it through God and Jesus..... Wade continued telling us that a silence came over him and that suddenly he could see himself and feel he needed out of the chains he had put around himself.
I was translating and relating to his story as I had experienced it, basically the now priest had had a spiritual awakening after hitting bottom and had a found a way out he believed in.
This conversation only reinforced my belief in the need of spirituality in ones life, mostly revealed amidst a depression.
No matter what path or religion anyone takes as long as it is a positive one, if we do we will all be working for 'A Greater Good" OURS!!!

We arrived in Byron Bay in a dusty apartment, you now one of those you see on pic that looks fantastic cause they too pictures of the new furniture but 'forgot' to show the rest.
Its the dirt thats hard to stand not the lack of amenities or comfort.

Anyway Byron Bat turned out to be great. A late hippy town that still has a laid back atmosphere.
A surfers town daytime a music town at night with little bands playing in nearly every bar or restaurant.
We met our neighbors a couple in their sixties, Darryl took Matthew out on his surf for an hour.
They made us feel like we were visiting the kids grand parents, what a wonderful good vibe, family atmosphere, truly special people as far as i am concerned.
We went for dinner after a day at the beach and the kids couldn't stop dancing stealing the show at every music stop we did.
I took the Saturday morning to resource myself with a breath of spiritual talking.
The first night a was wondering what that squeaking noise was, we found out soon enough that there was a huge colony of giant bats living out here, impressed we were at this night creatures. 
The next day revealed colorful tents in front of us, sunday market at Byron Bay is a joyful happening.

Little stands with goods mostly organic when it comes to food and soaps, and goodies of all sorts.
Matthew took Djudju for a walk around the market while Val and I were packing.
A brief drive to the NSW/Queensland border took us to Kirra Beach.
A great little apartment across the beach spotless clean made Val revive to the point she went for a siesta while I took the boys to the sea with their freshly bought body board.
Matthew went out in the not so small waves Djudju following in his footsteps.
Now Djudji is a bit smaller then Matt and i thought the waves were pretty big but the little blond curly surfer looks guy didn't stand back and his actions were worthy of his looks.
The next day was a laid back beach day after a lazy morning and an early sushi.
Once again no wave was going to scare either of my boys.
What a joyful happening spending a day with the family at the beach doing nothing but thinking about how good it is to do nothing and how good it is to be with your family.
We are so privileged!