Day 7 Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia Trip

For most visitors Nimbin is a different world. It is like no other rural town. It is characterised by brightly coloured, often psychedelic, mural facades and shopfronts that are designed to create an alternative ambience. It is a town where vegetarianism, alternative health therapies, craft shops and candle factories are vital parts of the local scenery. To wander along the main street of Nimbin is to experience such shops and facades as the Green Bank, the H.E.M.P. Embassy, the H.E.M.P. Bar, the Nimbin Craft Gallery, Happy High Herbs, Tribal Magic, the Environmental Centre, the Nimbin Mad Hattery and Perceptios Books. The cafes serve wholesome and unusual food. The shops are full of crafts. This is the heart of the Nimbin experience. Walk along the street and absorb the atmosphere. The Nimbin Visitor Centre has a map but it is hardly necessary as all activity in the town is located on Cullen Street

Nestled in the rugged ranges of Nightcap National Park, World Heritage-listed Protestors Falls walking track leads through magnificent rainforest to a spectacular waterfall. An ideal short walk for families and nature-lovers.

As you walk along this easy track, you’ll notice how subtropical bangalow palms and native tamarind give way to towering rainforest giants of yellow carabeen and strangler figs. Listen out for the call of the rose-crowned fruit dove and the barred cuckoo-shrike. You might even see a pademelon darting through the bush. If you’ve worked up an appetite, enjoy a leisurely lunch at Terania Creek picnic area. 1.4km Return

On the eastern edge of Nightcap National Park, near Lismore, Minyon Grass picnic area has beautiful views of the cascading falls and the surrounding forest. It’s a little quieter than popular Minyon Falls lookout, making it ideal for wildlife and birdwatching enthusiasts.

Take advantage of the free gas barbecues, as well as picnic tables, and enjoy a leisurely lunch on the edge of the rainforest. Look skywards for soaring peregrine falcons, or to the forest floor for brush turkeys and Albert’s lyrebird. Male Albert's lyrebirds have long, ribbon-like tail plumes. You might even hear the call of the threatened Fleay’s barred frog.

Minyon Falls Minyon Falls is among the most iconic and biggest waterfalls in the N.S.W and it is right on Riverbend’s doorstep, literally 3 – 5 mins away.

The view from Minyon Falls lookout is simply stunning, not only of the falls themselves, but on a clear day you might be lucky to see all the way out to the coast.

From the lookout, watch as the flow cascades over Minyon Falls to a deep palm-shaded gorge roughly 100m below. The tops of the cliffs are forested with Australian eucalypts, blackbutt and scribbly gum and at the base is a beautiful natural pool that was made for swimming. We definitely recommend a dip in the waterhole.

Minyon Falls is a great place for a quick stop, where there are view points of the waterfall from the top, it’s a big drop!be safe.

If you’d like to spend longer at this pretty place, there’s a picnic area with plenty of shady trees, barbecues and picnic tables and a great camping area as well.

There are also a couple of bush-walks and walking tracks that leave from the picnic area, including Boggy Creek Walk which takes you to Rummery Park Campground and Minyon Falls loop walk, which takes you down to the base of the falls. It will take you 1-2 hrs just to walk down to the bottom of the waterfall and have a swim and then the return hike, you’ll want another swim when you get back to the top.

Minyon Falls really is a spectacular waterfall cascading energeticly through a valley of ancient rainforest, and surrounded by buzzing wildlife and birds. It might feel like you have just stepped into Jurassic Park.

The Cape Byron Headland Reserve is a State Conservation Area managed by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. It comprises spectacular sea cliffs, rare and beautiful coastal vegetation, spectacular beaches and a high quality walking track system that offers spectacular views of both the surrounding Cape Byron Marine Park and the hinterland to the west. Situated on the most easterly point of mainland Australia, the reserve is a popular tourist destination. The Cape Byron Lighthouse and lighthouse keepers cottages, built in 1901, are an outstanding feature of the reserve. All the buildings are listed on the National Estate Register, and offer visitors an insight into what life was like in the days of the lighthouse keepers.

The loop walk can be started at numerous points, including Captain Cook lookout, The Pass, Wategos Beach and Cape Byron Lighthouse.

Having enjoyed the fabulous views from Wategos, the vista gets better as you climb up the well maintained path to the Lighthouse. Watching the view across Mt Warning or seeing dolphins and whales playing in the ocean are memories that will stay with you . . Truly wonderful!

A short drive from Byron Bay, Bangalow is a charming township of elegant federation buildings, inviting parks and delicious treats. In a verdant valley, the village's main street, Byron Street, is full of cafes and restaurants as well as galleries and boutiques.

You can taste locally grown coffee and browse for gourmet souvenirs. Fertile land in the area produces macadamia nuts, fruit and vegetables, coffee, dairy goods and meat.

THE DELI The lovingly restored vintage building sits beside the restaurant and is surrounded by edible gardens. Browse our shelves stocked with local and international artisan products including sauces, condiments, cheese, charcuterie, and our famous wood-fired sourdough. Our deli hampers provide everything you need for an impromptu picnic at the beach or in the rolling hills of the hinterland. Harvest hampers make the perfect gift. Ready-to-eat sandwiches, salads and hot pastries are also available to eat in or take-away.

The iconic Shaws Bay Hotel is situated in East Ballina just over the Missingham Bridge next door to historic the Fenwick house. Our fantastic on-site restaurant the Shipwreck Restaurant & Grill offers lunch and dinner 7 days a week and caters to a wide range of tastes and dietary requirements. Your friends and family are sure to love the great menu!

The public bar offers the sports enthusiast two big screen televisions and a number of smaller televisions to cover multiple sports and games at the same time. Our big screen TV will make sure that you and your sports loving friends will have a great time! Enjoy the Views in the Beer Garden

The front beer garden offers a relaxed enjoyable space to spend some time with your friends and the back beer garden is the largest of its kind on the North Coast.

Enjoy a drive through town...

Welcome to Ballina, NSW

Ballina is a large coastal town in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. It has an estimated population of 15,900 and its very own airport.

The lighthouse that still sits proudly in Ballina was designed by a name called James Barnet and first lit in 1880. It isn’t clear where the name Ballina comes from. Some say it was named after the Irish town of Ballina. Others believe that it’s a Bundjalung word meaning “place of many oysters.”

After their journey from Ecuador in 1973, fishing trawlers towed the Las Balsas rafts into Ballina. You can still find one of the rafts in the Ballina Maritime Museum.

Ballina is best known for its huge prawn sculpture. It’s the world’s largest prawn made from fibreglass and concrete. It stands next to the entrance of the Bunnings Warehouse carpark.

Enjoy a drive through town...

There is something gently amusing about a town that proudly claims that it is "The Scottish Town in Australia." Of course it looks nothing like a Scottish town. The claim is based on two simple facts: a large number of the early settlers in the valley were originally from Scotland and the town itself, although the spelling has changed, was named after a good Scot, Alexander Grant McLean, who was the New South Wales Surveyor-General from 1861-1862. To compound this for over 100 years (it had its 112th celebration in 2015) the town has held the Maclean Highland Gathering where pipe bands, caber tossing, wearing of kilts, a parade down the main street and highland dancing are all part of the celebrations. The town is located where the southern and northern arms of the Clarence River meet but, being only 6 metres above sea-level, it has been prone to flooding and is now protected by a levee bank which runs beside River Street. The Maclean district is recognised as the southern limit of the Australian sugar crop.

Enjoy a drive through town...

Grafton, located nearly 50 km from the coast, is a substantial and gracious rural city characterised by wide streets, elegant Victorian buildings, a superb location on the banks of the Clarence River, a sense of solidity and permanence, and a long-standing concern with civic beauty which is obvious from the 24 parks which adorn the city. The first ornamental trees were planted as early as 1874 and the city's famous jacaranda stands, which are celebrated with an annual festival, were planted in 1907-08. The city is situated on, and divided by, the Clarence River which, until 1932 when the unusual two storey bridge was built, presented a major barrier between the city centre and the road to Sydney. The Clarence with its tributaries - the Nymboida, the Orara, the Mann and the Coldstream - constitutes the largest river system on the northern New South Wales coast. It drains over two million hectares and contains over 100 islands, including Susan Island which lies between Grafton and South Grafton. Grafton is the major settlement on the Clarence River and the commercial centre of an extensive agricultural and pastoral district. The fertile river flats are used for dairying, sugar cane and mixed farming. Fishing, the raising of pigs and cattle, and the processing and marketing of primary produce are also important to the local economy.

Moonee Beach Nature Reserve

At Moonee Beach Nature Reserve, the rare and unique thrive: endangered bats roost in seaside caves, pockets of coastal rainforest thrive and pandanus trees flourish. Threatened and uncommon plant communities grow on the exposed headlands of Bare Bluff and the confidently named Look At Me Now headland. This place of magnificent scenic views and glorious coastline is the traditional homeland of the Gumbaynggirr people who value Look At Me Now Headland as an important and powerful Aboriginal heritage site.

There’s more to make the most of in this gorgeous part of NSW. Bring along your fishing rod, surfboard, diving gear or snorkel for the ocean or more sheltered estuary, which is part of Solitary Islands Marine Park and ideal for kids. Moonee is also a great place for picnicking, hiking, canoeing, birdwatching and seasonal whale watching. Keep your binoculars out for spotting white-bellied sea eagles, ospreys and brahminy kites as they hunt along the coast.

Eastern grey kangaroos are found throughout the reserve and swamp wallabies frequent the coastal rainforests and heathlands. 80 bird species are known, including 10 endangered species, such as sooty and pied oyster-catchers and black-necked storks. Squirrel gliders are found in eucalypt woodland and three endangered bat species, the Queensland blossom bat, the common and the little bentwing bats, roost in coastal caves. Two rare butterflies, the Australian fritillary butterfly and the black and white tiger butterfly, reach the southern limit of their distribution in this reserve.