Leaving wacky Port Macquarie Hannah and I passed back through Wauchope (pronounced war-hope) and continued north and inland to the sleepy town of Bellingen. 2 of the girls we met in Newcastle and roomed with in port came out as well so we had some extra companions for a few days.
Bellingen was hit particularly hard by all the rain- they have had 3 major floods since April and farmers in the area have lost all their crops. The main industry here is dairy and there are lush verdant pastures everywhere. It all used to be rain forest and the main industry es timber, until they ran out of trees. Luckily the land is still gorgeous. The town is in a valley in the Great Dividing Range, the mountains that run north to south all along the coast. Our hostel has a great view of the mountains and the Bellinger river, along with some cows which are ubiquitous in the area.
Apparently the rain finally stopped the day we got in and it has been warm and sunny and clear since. Our first evening we went on a twilight kayaking trip down the Bellinger. It was very pretty but in the summer there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of bats in the area that are quite a site at dusk. We saw a couple dozen which was still pretty good.
Friday we took a day trip to Dorrigo National Park which is a world heritage listed subtropical rain forest
. It was the first time they were able to run the trip in 3 weeks and there are still sections of the road closed off. We saw some photos taken during the rain of a normally sedate waterfall that had swelled to cover the highway in rushing water. Crazy! Friday was really clear and we got some spectacular vistas of the valley. We saw another bower birds' bower, lots of 
interesting rain forest plants, the obligatory waterfalls (for supposedly being one of the driest places on earth, Australia seems to have more than its fair share of waterfalls!). Way more exciting was our sighting of a swamp wallaby who was watching us hike then bounded away with giant thudding hops, and also a family of pademelons, which are the smallest wallaby species. These let us get close enough for photos.
We also hiked down to Dangar Falls that people will jump off of in the summer. Crazy.
Other than those adventures we've been laying pretty low. Hannah and I both came down with colds Friday evening and are trying to recover. The town of Bellingen consists of one main street about 2 blocks long so we've been in and out of every shop a couple of times. Luckily For us there are lots of cute and funky places- vintage shops, home goods, trendy knick-knacks and clothing. The best part is you can't walk 5 feet without bumping into a cafe- which has meant regular coffee and cake! Australia doesn't do regular drip coffee- everything is espresso based. My coffee of choice is the flat white, which is like a cappuccino with steamed milk. Hannah normally gets a long black which is espresso with water (I guess that's like an Americano?). A short black is an espresso shot. They also have lattes and cappuccino and mochas, but my coffee knowledge is pretty limited so I really have never known how they all differ.
We've been enjoying the really laid back vibe of the town and the hostel which is full of really nice people- most of whom seem to be fairly permanent residents. Tomorrow we move on to Coffs Harbour and back to the beach!
Bellingen was hit particularly hard by all the rain- they have had 3 major floods since April and farmers in the area have lost all their crops. The main industry here is dairy and there are lush verdant pastures everywhere. It all used to be rain forest and the main industry es timber, until they ran out of trees. Luckily the land is still gorgeous. The town is in a valley in the Great Dividing Range, the mountains that run north to south all along the coast. Our hostel has a great view of the mountains and the Bellinger river, along with some cows which are ubiquitous in the area.
Apparently the rain finally stopped the day we got in and it has been warm and sunny and clear since. Our first evening we went on a twilight kayaking trip down the Bellinger. It was very pretty but in the summer there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of bats in the area that are quite a site at dusk. We saw a couple dozen which was still pretty good.
Friday we took a day trip to Dorrigo National Park which is a world heritage listed subtropical rain forest
. It was the first time they were able to run the trip in 3 weeks and there are still sections of the road closed off. We saw some photos taken during the rain of a normally sedate waterfall that had swelled to cover the highway in rushing water. Crazy! Friday was really clear and we got some spectacular vistas of the valley. We saw another bower birds' bower, lots of 
interesting rain forest plants, the obligatory waterfalls (for supposedly being one of the driest places on earth, Australia seems to have more than its fair share of waterfalls!). Way more exciting was our sighting of a swamp wallaby who was watching us hike then bounded away with giant thudding hops, and also a family of pademelons, which are the smallest wallaby species. These let us get close enough for photos.We also hiked down to Dangar Falls that people will jump off of in the summer. Crazy.
Other than those adventures we've been laying pretty low. Hannah and I both came down with colds Friday evening and are trying to recover. The town of Bellingen consists of one main street about 2 blocks long so we've been in and out of every shop a couple of times. Luckily For us there are lots of cute and funky places- vintage shops, home goods, trendy knick-knacks and clothing. The best part is you can't walk 5 feet without bumping into a cafe- which has meant regular coffee and cake! Australia doesn't do regular drip coffee- everything is espresso based. My coffee of choice is the flat white, which is like a cappuccino with steamed milk. Hannah normally gets a long black which is espresso with water (I guess that's like an Americano?). A short black is an espresso shot. They also have lattes and cappuccino and mochas, but my coffee knowledge is pretty limited so I really have never known how they all differ.
We've been enjoying the really laid back vibe of the town and the hostel which is full of really nice people- most of whom seem to be fairly permanent residents. Tomorrow we move on to Coffs Harbour and back to the beach!
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