Dryad Musings

Today was the first week day I got up to daylight. Mainly because we had half an hour lie in and didn’t get up until 6am as opposed to our usual 5.30am start. However, what a difference I felt; much more positive and energised and raring to go instead of feeling a bit flat and apathetic.

I felt it was such a momentous occasion I took a picture from our balcony. This faces South South West and you can see the waning Blue Moon still fairly high in the sky as she gets ready to go to retire for the day.

I love the Sun and Spring is my favourite time of year. It holds all the promise of what is to come; new beginnings and fresh starts. Spring has been here for a while now, even though Australians consider the 1st September to be the start (I think), I treat Imbolc as the turning point (which was the 2nd August according to my southern hemisphere moon diary). There was a change in the air, a Spring scent to the breeze, Nature started waking up and whispering to itself.

Now Spring is in full pelt as we head towards the Equinox and the divebombing Magpie season has started so get your helmets at the ready

Day two (5th July) and another scenic detour took us through Nimbin. Renowned for being Australia’s hippy centre for alternative subculture it is somewhere that’s been on the map to visit for some time. The drive in was beautiful through green valleys and great limestone rocks.

We arrived just before 9am and had a quick wander up and down the main street in search of a cafe for breakfast. It was all very peaceful and we only got approached by a hawker of “special herbs” the once. What struck me was the sheer colour abounding everywhere. There were rainbows and bright paintings where ever I looked.

The Rainbow Cafe provided a much needed and delicious breakfast with, for me, an introduction to a delicious herbal tea I’ve never tried before: Lemon Myrtle – wonderfully refreshing and sherbety. I enjoyed it so much that we took a stroll to the Green Bank where it was purchased from Tea Medica so I could get some for myself. What a delightful tea shop it was with the owner a trained herbalist and able to make up personal blends for anything one may require help with. I wish we had something like this in Sydney.

After having a good look round at all the various arty crafty shops and a few purchases later we regretfully had to be on our way. By the time we left there was a lot more hussle and bustle on the streets and amongst the colourful characters Mat and I felt quite at home. Nimbin is definitely somewhere I will visit again and next time we’ll visit the museum after everyone that we told asked “did you go to the museum?” Alas no, it was closed when we initially passed it.

Early on Wednesday morning we packed up the ute and left Sydey to start our drive to Brisbane. We are taking a mini working holiday as our friend Seb has organised some tree work for Mat and it’s a good excuse for another visit.

We decided to break the drive up over two days as 10+ hours is a lot to do in one day. Our aim for the first leg was to get to Corindi Beach, just past Coffs Harbour and just over half way, as we had booked a cabin there.

On the way we took a scenic detour that took us through Stroud and Gloucester – well we had to – Stroud in England being Mat’s nearest home town and Gloucester, the nearest city.

Continue reading →