The Voyage from Brissie to Kyogle

Waking up in Brisbane, we cranked our engines at 3:30 to make our 5:00 southbound train into New South Wales, which cost an astronomical amount compared to other public transport we’d had in Oz. ($51 USD/2 tickets/2 hours.) We were quickly learning that prices can range drastically from region to region in this country. Upon arriving to the station 45 minutes early (because that’s what we do,) it was interesting to observe the team of mostly minorities as they cleaned our train…something we normally never see. They collected all the trash, vacuumed the floors, wiped down the trays, and even replaced the little headrest cloths that we are pretty sure rarely get swapped out in other places. Impressive…

An Off-the-Grid Cabin with some Lady from the Internet

In the town of Kyogle, we were fetched by a random lady we met on the internet who would be driving us further afield and tossing us into an off-the-grid cabin in the middle of the rainforest. What could possibly go wrong?! In reality, we’ve “known” Caroline since 2018 as a tried and true follower of our page. She and her husband, Mark, even welcomed us to their home during COVID if we needed a place to go, so we absolutely had to make a visit reality during our premier trip to Australia. 

Not only did we get to know some special new mates, we were able to experience life in the rainforest and see part of the country we never would have otherwise. Oh yes. This felt like the REAL Oz! 

Little did we know that our new roommate for the next five nights would be a palm-sized huntsman spider who greeted us like a colossal Charlotte over our threshold. What a welcoming party to our new home! 

Caroline assured us these spiders are friends because they don’t build webs and provide services as mozzie and pest destroyers. These “friends” are only MILDLY venomous, and for humans, their bites are not considered medically significant (for most people.) “Just don’t provoke or try and give him a tummy rub,” she recommended. Uh….that would not be a problem. 

Others arrived to the party a bit later including a whole family of red-necked pademelons, who would be regular, perhaps more welcome visitors, despite Caroline’s great huntsman sales pitch, throughout our stay at Casa Caroline’s. 

We were quite fortunate because these small kangaroo cousins are normally quite shy, but we even caught them coming right up to our doorstep. They generally inhabit temperate forests near grassland, hiding in the forests by day and emerging into the grasslands to graze in the dusk, but we spotted them even throughout the day. 

Our wonderful local (human) hosts…Caroline and Mark. We are so grateful for their warm hospitality and filling us in on Aussie traditions, politics, and knowledge, including helping us maneuver the scale of “only” mildly to deathly hazardous creatures. (Side note: notice the groovy Indiana Jones-esque chalice in Mandy’s hand which was filled with Prosecco after she plucked it off the shelf of the local community center.)

On the way home from the train station, Caroline and Mark drove us up to the overlook of Kyogle which features of prominent view of the Gadigal peak, which is the indigenous name meaning “helmet.” From the air, it presents as a woman preparing for childbirth.

Our little rustic cabin for five nights was tucked on the edge of their property and thanks to the immersion with the rain forest, critters and lack of A/C, definitely made us feel like we were glamping. It was perfect for us with SCREENED windows which (mostly) kept the new friends out, a quite comfortable bed once we added on a floor fan, reading lights, and lots of shelves for our packing cubes. 

They also had a camp-sized esky (cooler) which was perfect for storing our food, and a small kitchen in which to prep it. 

Oh, and then there was the compost toilet in a nearby outhouse. In Oz, these can be referred to as a dunny, or an even better name….drop box. Now, of course we have used plenty of compost toilets in our lives, though this may have been the first for an extended period while having to protect our asses from the elements of subtropical Australia.

This is something Caroline and Mark have been doing for six years in their own drop box, attached to their house, so we were keen to listen to their sage advice. They advised us there are two rules to the drop box…keep the lid closed any time we’re not using it…and don’t look down. Also, make sure you flush out the pee funnel with water using the provided vessel, and anytime you have to do a brown snake, cover it with compost material so it can marinate overnight. If you see an actual brown snake while taking a poo, that’s a whole other strategy.

The first morning, Caroline, Mark and their one-eyed pooch curiously named Blinky took us out on a meander to show us some of the trails we could take around the community of Collins Creek, which offers a quite serene environment. 

They also showed us the community centre which was the meeting hub for the ~20 like-minded people that lived on the massive plot of land, and we met our first lace monitor, or tree goanna which can grow up to 2 meters long. Mandy rounded a corner and nearly walked smacked into him as he was crawling under their house the first morning. 

Later, one of his buddies could be found dragging his creepy claws along the tin of our cottage’s roof. As we developed chills up our spines, he just popped out for a lookie!

More pademelons in our backyard; we couldn’t believe how many we saw! We also saw many wallabies (who think they’re hiding) in the nearby grassland. 

And even our first signs of nearby koalas!

In fact, the community schoolhouse, which has startlingly inviting amenities like flat-screens and a vegetable garden for the 12 children who attend, is home to several Buruubii, which is the indigenous word for koala.

According to local knowledge, they reside in the gum and eucalyptus trees right outside the school. And we used to get excited about a squirrel out our classroom windows growing up! 

Unfortunately, the only one we ended up seeing in Collins Creek was a crocheted variety perched in the rafters above Caroline’s porch. 

Besides the aforementioned toilet, their house itself it has fully functional plumbing and hot water, but ran entirely on solar panels and rainwater. Collection is rarely an issue because it rains a LOT. 

Living here reminded us a lot of our life while housesitting in Panama with similar steamy weather and walking roads, though in this case, the trees were draped with stag-horn ferns, rather than howler monkeys, and the jungle wasn’t quite as thick (though just as daunting!) Still, there were constantly palm fronds tumbling to the earth like glaciers receding, cicadas buzzing, and cockatoos squealing like raptors overhead. A place that was undoubtedly ALIVE!!

Wild tiger Lillies. Wow! And, a Torch Ginger plant, which looks more like a Muppet to us. The yellow bits are edible and taste a little sweet like honey. 

The community swimming hole where platypussies sometimes appear. We were elated to meet these cute little creatures until Caroline mentioned that they could be dangerous too….apparently via a spur on the male’s hind legs. Terrific. Sadly (?), none appeared but plunging in the water after a run certainly felt sublime.  

The entrance to the community certainly makes you feel welcome. Our bigger concern is for the person who has to wade through that grass to do any updates to the sign. Speaking of, Mark doing some much needed weed whacking in one of the fields. Not only do they care for their own property, living in Collins Creek also means giving back to the community in monthly “worker bees.”  

This is typically followed by an evening potluck social down at the community centre, which was a perfect opportunity for us to meet the neighbours…which included quite a few children and far less vegetarian food than we would have originally generalised as being in this type of community. 

Speaking of vegetarian, Caroline also encouraged us to try Vegemite…again. In case you’re not familiar, Vegemite is basically the peanut butter of Australia…an absolutely staple food spread made from leftover brewers’ yeast extract. It’s strong. It’s salty. And tastes a bit like chucking a cube of bouillon in your mouth. In short, it’s NOT peanut butter.

Although we’ve both had a nibble years ago, thanks to “try it!! It’s really good”-pushing Brits…I (Mandy) agreed to taste it again. It was slightly less disgusting than before thanks to mastering it with butter and a light spread, as opposed to the globbing it on as I’d done before under British direction. Uhhhh…guess you gotta start young with this one?! 

That said, despite her ill choice of this particular condiment (along with every other Aussie), Caroline was a damn fine cook, particularly in the Indian cuisine department, which she whipped up for us on the last night. SOOO delicious. We can’t thank her, and Mark, enough for a wonderful stay! 

Into Border Ranges National Park

From our off-the-grid cabin in the rainforest of northern New South Wales, we had ample opportunities for exploration thanks to the use of Caroline’s little Hyundai. What it lacked in power steering, it made up for in a punchy “beep-beep” kind of power over the winding gravel roads. Our first jaunt took us about an hour afield to Border Ranges National Park, a stunning World Heritage park forming part of the Gondwana Rainforest, again with no charge. It is one of the most extensive areas of subtropical rainforest in the world and alongside the remnants of an ancient volcanic caldera. 

One of the most famous spots in the park is the Pinnacle Lookout, which provides an unsurpassed view of one of Australia’s most spectacular landscapes over the Tweed Caldera. At 1000m deep and 40 km wide, it is recognised as one of the largest and best preserved erosion calderas in the world, leaving behind plenty of lush and enchanting forest and magical waterfalls.  

One such waterfall was Brushbox Falls, which we hiked to via a forest laden with weaving and gargantuan strangler figs and tree ferns. But before we even got on the trail, we encountered another massive lace monitor, or tree goanna. 

We went to over 15 national parks during our two months in Australia, and this had to be one of the best. And, it was great to get on some official trails…

…even if it meant the possibility of other wildlife. Fortunately, the national parks system of Australia is quite good about notifying visitors of any dangers, including a specific sunny section of the trail where Coastal Carpet Pythons tend to sunbathe. Of course, once you read a sign like that…you begin seeing them everywhere!

The inside of this behemoth bird’s nest fern also looks like a good place for some serpentine R&R. And there was definitely no shortage of tree ferns either. 

Or flowing water with very inviting pools. Despite the heat, however, we were always a bit wary about taking dips in these parts. 

Layers of strangler fig branches crocheted into the tree.

From the Pinnacle Overlook, which really felt like we were on the edge of a crater, we could see knobby Wollumbin 14 km away, which is so named after the traditional owners of the land. It was also named Mt. Warning in 1770 by James Cook as a reference point for future sailors. Many of these locations have been rightfully renamed, which is a small step in acknowledging the atrocities colonizers placed on the indigenous peoples here, like in so many countries. In the meantime, our president is renaming the renamed Denali back to Mount McKinley. Argh.

The trail to the edge of the crater also featured heaps more of Australia’s Stinging Tree with its ironically endearing heart-shaped leaves.   This time we dared to get slightly closer to examine the little asshole and observe the stem, which is indeed blanketed with tiny silica hairs. These are what will inject neurotoxins if you so much as brush over them so we just let our phone do most of the zooming.

Always on guard, which is why we didn’t have a nibble of these berries. Later we found out that we could have because they belong to the Walking Stick Palm and are perfectly edible. This Orange Pore Fungus, or Orange Ping-Pong bat, is considered an invasive species, however, and is widespread throughout Australia and many other parts of the world.

On the rutted and bumpy road to get back to Caroline’s, which was punctuated with several stops to check out the cute road crew, where we found them grazing in the roadside forests and pastures wherever they pleased. 

The Hippie Haven of Nimbin

We’ve been intrigued by quite a few hippie havens around the world from Pokhara, Nepal, to Dahab, Egypt, to Goa, India, to Gili Air, Indonesia to multiple in Oregon and California. And truth be told, we’ve loved all of them for their happy-go-lucky lifestyles and joyful, harmonious energy. But, a visit to Nimbin, dropped amidst farmland and rainforest in northern New South Wales, Australia, could potentially be the hippiest of them all. 

Known around the world as the spiritual home of Aquarius, Nimbin is a blend of hippie counterculture and artists’ community industries and was the site of the 1973 Aquarius festival. Since then, it has become an icon in Australia’s cultural history. 

This internationally famous village is a veritable hippie theme park… vibrant and colorful, with its unique mural streetscape of indigenous, wildlife, and peace-sign-laden facades, equally colorful people, cannabis activism, a poignant Church of Aquarius, and what truly feels like a not-so psychedelic trip via punchy VW van back to 1968. 

Nimbin became Australia’s hub for the hippie movement after the ’73 Aquarius Festival which attracted a large number of artists, activists and alternative thinkers who stayed in the area. Since then, its maintained its reputation for sustainability, permaculture and a communal way of life. The word Nimbin comes from the legend of the “Nyimbunji”, which means ‘clever man’ by the First Nations Widjabul peoples. 

This clever man must have been adorned in plant-based threads because the town is markedly hemp…heaven. In fact, one of Nimbin’s most notorious pulls is open advocacy for cannabis law reform. Shops and cafes openly display pro-cannabis themes, although Australian law still prohibits its sale and possession. Regardless, we got offered it on three occasions. It’s bizarre how underground this vice still is in a place like Australia when compared to the States where you can catch wafts of it regularly in most big cities these days. 

That said, while here, of course we had to check out some shopping opportunities…though Greg is concerned they don’t have his size. Perhaps some plant-based cooking instead? Whatever you do…Be Polite.

You know it’s a hippie town when the sign poles have been yard-bombed. They even have “Happy Coach” buses doing daily tours from nearby Byron Bay. 

The Nimbin Apothecary offering wisdom, witchcraft, elixirs, medicinal powders and healing balms. Speaking of witches….

As you can imagine, there are also plenty of art galleries.

And even a Church of Aquarius, which is a concept of the countercultural movement, rather than an actual religious institution. The “church” represents a philosophy of harmony with nature, creative expression, and personal freedom rather than a structured belief system. 

It’s definitely the first “church” we’ve ever see donned in peace signs…but isn’t that one thing Christianity is supposed to be about anyways? The “church” offers community workshops and gatherings, such as the one they were currently advertising….a “Monthly Sonic Energy Alignment” evening. 

Interestingly, the town also has a real church at St. Stephen’s. The first Presbyterian Church services in Nimbin were conducted in this building in Sept. 1922. Today St. Stephen’s service is only conducted the first Thursday each month where “all our welcome to experience its old world charm.”

And, why shouldn’t an aging care facility be plastered with rainbows like everything else? Like the Nimbin Community Center…

…which was formerly the school building established in 1904. Today it’s home to valuable community services, organizations, and events that may have never found a home without this community asset. 

This is “Bunjunlung Country,” and this beautiful tree represents it. 

And one thing you can almost always find in these communities…plenty of vegetarian and vegan options. Also, a pillow, hopefully not made of hemp, for those happy coach passengers to lay their heads. 

The Hemp Embassy, which ensures “Drug Education and Information.” They even have a mystical marijuana fairy figure! Her name is Holy Smoke.

Seriously. How can you not be happy in a place like this? (Even if it’s just from a contact high.)

Alternative kind of direction signage. Simply fashionating…

Like the rest of the town, the grocery shopping promises to be a down-to-earth experience, including volunteer-run co-ops with organic and local bulk goods like pour-your-own honey, oils, and grains. The lack of processed foods was notably appreciated. And…even the thongs seemed locally sourced. 

What a unique little wonderland….. 

Wild in the City

Even after passing two weeks on a working dairy farm and in the everything-can-kill you sub/tropics of Australia, we had delightfully managed not to cross paths with a snake. So, when we arrived to the always “safe” suburbs of Lismore, we’d completely dropped our guard when we met the first. And…it was quite…brown. 

In case you weren’t aware… unembellished, Plain-Jane brown snakes can possibly be lethal in Australia. And Greg watched with horror as one glided its way directly into the garage in which he was supposed to deposit a bag of rubbish for our friends. These are the same friends, Caroline and Mark, whom we had stayed off-the-grid with in the rainforest. This recently purchased suburban home, which they intend to move to, had better views and a more pleasant toileting experience, though encountering the other kind of brown snake suddenly made us a bit uncertain about the trade off. 

Greg came to get his snake shooter, (Mandy), who excitedly had the camera poised and ready for action when Mr Brown decided to emerge from under the garage 10 minutes later. 

When we sent the coverage to Caroline, she immediately responded she thought it was indeed an Eastern Brown which is prevalent in this part of Oz and thought to be the second venomous snake in the world causing paralysis and blood clotting. Nifty!! 

Fortunately, after Caroline sent the photo to an online expert, they ID’ed it as a “Yellow-faced Whipsnake” which looks similar to a brown but has larger, more rounded pupils. And lucky for us, it was “only” MILDLY venemous! Hooray! 🤣

Shortly after filming some video footage, the over-a-meter long bugger slithered into the yard. And yes, it’s in this photo. Can you even its camo blending?!? Scary. 😬 We waited a few minutes before Greg cautiously stomped his way into the garage, trash bag in hand, to finish his task, while Mandy helpfully took pictures of his backside.

Coming back into the “safety” of the home, we continued to be on guard because Caroline also mentioned a huntsman spider was living somewhere in the house. Superb…another eight-legged flatmate. Fortunately, in the less than 12 hours we were there, we didn’t have the opportunity to meet, although Mandy made Greg do a full sweep of our bedroom before turning in for the night. 

We also spotted the head of a giant lizard outside the window innocently peeping up like that dinosaur in Jurassic Park which spewed green goo all over that chubby park attendant. Needless to say, Oz continued to be an adventure…even in suburbia.

Ahhh…but the view!! 

Arriving to our 7:00 am bus to Brisbane from Lismore was quite indicative of the small town transportation challenges that Australia can relate to the US. There were buses, but they didn’t start until 7, and Ubers were not regularly running. To schedule one, we would have spent nearly $30 USD for a 10-minute ride. 

So, we did what any budget travelers would do…. Greg drove Mandy to the semi-sketchy bus station (also similar to the US, but not as seedy) using Caroline’s car at 6 am and dumped her off with the backpacks, while he drove the car back to Caroline’s house and then RAN back to the bus station which took about 30 minutes. 

Seeing Greg and the light of day in Lismore was quite a relief when you’d been listening to a sadly deranged woman have an imaginary conversation about a pink skirt on repeat for the last hour. 

Finally Seeing Koalas in Lismore

Although we unfortunately wouldn’t see a koala in the wild on this trip to Oz, while in the Goonellabah/Lismore area, we had a terrific opportunity to check out Friends of Koalas, which is a non-profit run by volunteers dedicated to saving the area’s injured and sick koalas. Dishearteningly, there are a lot of them. In fact, their numbers have reduced by approximately 90% over the last decade, primarily due to habitat destruction, death from road kill or dog attack, and disease, which is often in the form of cystitis and chlamydia. If you would be interested in helping the koalas, we encourage you to do so at the link in the comments. 

Our Final Stop in Oz: Gold Coast

Following our second housesit in Brisbane, we still had to work our way south to Gold Coast because we had a classically 6:00 am Jetstar departure, which would be late, the next morning. Fortunately, traversing this 2-hour journey would be an insanely affordable $.31 USD/each thanks to the ease and value of public transportation in Brisbane. Yes, you read that correctly. Wow!

For the journey, we opted for what was indicated to be a “Quiet Carriage” which amazingly exists. Unfortunately not everyone regards signs including the mother of a little person, who would proceed to emit a decibel-quaking temper tantrum, followed by an hour of using the aisles and hand rings as her personal jungle gym. That was enjoyable. 🤣

But alas, we somehow made it to Gold Coast in one piece. It was here at the station our host, Kim, would pick us up for the night, who is a friend of dear friend Caroline’s.

Before we headed to her home for the very short evening, she took us down to the waterfront where we’d get a slice of Gold Coast, which was developed as a high-rise haven for retirees and tourists, with its vibrant nightlife, outstanding beaches and terrific surfing. We found ourselves south of the high rise blob, resembling Miami, in Burleigh Beach, which was quite hopping, yet with a very chill beach vibe. Beach loving Kim has lived in GC most of her life. 

Burleigh Beach is the kind of place where drum circles and fire twirling happen every Sunday evening…(with previously attained permits because this is still Australia after all.) It’s also the kind of place where people are able to just use cable locks on their bikes, and everyone surfs because the water this far down the coast is fortunately (mostly) safe from perilous creatures. 

But here, it’s the aggressive riptide that will get ya! It’s clearly a great place to gather on a blanket with some friends and enjoy some discreetly disguised adult beverages and lunchables. (Aka chacuterie.)

Arriving to Kim’s house, we were elated to find her sweet welcome package on our bed, which unfortunately we had no time to enjoy thanks to our 2:30 am pre-scheduled Uber departure. And the fact that we were of course, enjoying their company, delicious Tex Mex dinner, and her personally coined “Burleigh Sunset.” This was an aperol spritz with a dollop of mango sorbet and an umbrella which made sure we felt super fancy. 

Kim and her husband’s bedroom. Yes, that would be not one, not two, but three surfboards. 🏄 🌊 Huge thanks to the Cartwrights for their hospitality! Amazing to meet you 🙂