20260420 Des decided to do a short trip to give the motor home a bit of a run, we packed the van and headed south towards Lismore following the M1, Pacific Motorway. The sun is shining and the road is clear ahead so put the metal to the peddle and put some distance between us. Our bellies need food so we decided to stop in the old hippy town of Mullumbimby. Now this place brings back some memories of our younger days in this cool hippie town. There was no fear of getting caught while bartering on the streets in broad daylight. The delight in those days were a bickie or a bag of the good stuff, but off cause we never indulged . 🙅
The town of Mullumbimby and it still has that charming appeal about it.
Mullumbimby, also known as "Mullum" is one of those unique towns typically known for its laid-back vibe, wellness, and organic living. A hippie town that’s often described as a "hippy holdout” and to this day still retains a strong 1970s alternative lifestyle, a great town with a different twist, a must to visit.
We stopped for lunch at Palm Park where we made a yummy fresh cornmeat sandwich and while munching away I strolled the grounds and found a lovely creek where a couple of dogs were happily cooling off in the river, on a hot day I would have easily joined them.
The Biggest Little Bunyip, Steel and Stone, stands as a metaphor for this community's resilience and ability to adapt to an ever changing environment.
Hanging out in the shrubs on the creek with all there worldly belongings.
And another small tent tucked away in the shrubs, there everywhere but then again we are in a Hippy town.
Brunswick River
With our bellies full, on goes our walking shoes and off we go, Ya gotta love Mullumbimby with the old hippy shops and its layback atmosphere not to mention the odd hippy wondering down the street, today the old hippy seems few and far between.
I spotted a Herbal shop and was quick to step inside for a brows, I had an interesting chat with the herbalist regarding Mullen tincture and left with a better understanding on how to improve my mix.
Interesting graffiti in one of the allies.
The artwork depicts themes of consciousness, cosmic energy, and unity
We then left and instead of going back to the highway we followed the bloody nav that took us along the Coolamon Scenic Dr, an awfully winding not to mention rough road, but an awesome view and very beautiful, certainly not a place to take a motor home.
We passed the Crystal Castle that sits at the top of the mountain and yes, it would have been nice to stop for a look but I didn’t dare ask Des who just wanted to get off this mountain. We did pass some quant towns along the way like Coorabell, Federal, Eureka and Clunes just to name a few before we finally arrived in the town of Drake.
The Crystal Castle in New South Wales is a magical place of giant crystals, sacred statues, stunning rainforest & gardens, unique jewellery and fresh food, one for the bucket list.
The long street into the town of Drake, where the Lunatic Hotel stands, I often wondered where the pubs name came from, good old google found the answer, it was renamed from the original Drake Hotel to honour the nearby Lunatic Gold Mine. The name reflects the rich, albeit wild, mining history of the area, and is sometimes associated with a historic local racehorse as well.
We camped at the Lunatic Hotel, Des and I should fit in well here, with it’s free camp and showers and toilets that I’m not sure we should be using, but normally these country towns are pretty cool. We strolled to the Pub for a drink but it’s starting to prove too expensive to drink in pubs these days, bring back the old days without the stupid rules of today.
21/04 Des made breakfast in the camp kitchen before we drove off towards Tenterfield passing Boilva Hill, Lismore and Casino where you never walk the streets at night alone because of the drugs, so I’m told. Our plans were to camp at the Bottom Pub in Deepwater for the night but decided to stay at the Riverside Reserve just before town and cook my camp fire stew.
All set up in one of our favourite camp-spot.
Now we need some wood so on goes the boots and gloves then off we go, we will need a bit to get the coal for my stew and lucky for us, there’s heaps. We sat around our fire with a drink in hand chatting away while watching the Roo’s bounce by, these fellers follow the same routine every afternoon, heading to the creek for a well deserved drink of water. This is a short trip so we only stayed a couple of day and as usual I made too much stew, but on the flip side we didn’t have to cook the second night.
23/04 We packed up and headed to to Longhorn Pub in town to camp for the night and grab a shower only to find there’s no more free camping with power, they now slug you with a $20 fee and a shower is $5 extra, so we snuck while the publican was out. The locals we usually meet at the pub have been banned but there were a few still standing, one was quite tipsy as she hopes in her car with her sun glasses on yelling and joking as she leaves, just as well she’s only a hop skip and a jump to her house, you can always count on the bottom Pub for some laughs.
24/04 We left heading to Waltcha, the town of sculptures but first Des needs some fuel so we stopped at the only petrol station and topped up the van. I looked outside when I noticed the price of his wood, Nooo, that couldn’t be right.
I had to look twice, this joker has got to kidden, $88.88 for a 15kg bag, I’d want the fire lit and maintained all night for that.
Get Me Out Of This Place
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