Day 94 – 104 Byron Bay to Newcastle

So, after a night’s rest with truckies on the side of a busy highway, we made it to Byron Bay. A laidback town on the coast with cute shops and heaps of cafes and restaurants. Here we found the relaxed atmosphere that was missing in Noosa. The weather and atmosphere was in fact so nice that we stayed 3 nights. We were also lucky enough to see our friend Amy, who happened to be on a work trip to Byron that same weekend (and no sad goodbyes as we knew we were gonna see her soon again in Newcaste).

Instead of travelling straight to Newcastle (to visit Amy and stay with her parents for a couple of nights) we took an inland detour. From Byron Bay we first did a quick stop in hippie town of Nimbin before taking the pretty and winding roads through the New England and Oxley Wild Rivers National Parks. An area with beautiful nature, heaps of walks, waterfalls and lookouts. We got our legs moving with a few decent walks over 3 days before driving the last kms to Newcastle.

Worth mentioning was our lunch stop in Grafton, where hundreds of purple jacaranda trees were in full blossom. Absolutely mesmerising (Anna thought, Henrik was a bit bored).

So, after a few days in the bush we made it to Newcastle. Amy and her parents gave us a warm welcome and an awesome 3 nights stay. They took us around Newcastle, a mining city with plenty of charm, situated on the coast and with Hunter River running through. This was also the first time in 3 months we got to sleep in a proper bed, gold worth! We had plenty of nice meals, many chats and a great time all in all.