A night in gaol

Well almost, no need to send out the legal team just yet. Tonight we're camped in the grounds of the Trial Bay Gaol at Arakoon. After nearly seven months on the road, there's still new things to be had. We've camped at a drive-in cinema, at showgrounds, beside rivers, along the Nullabor but this is our first gaol.

A site with a fascinating history including convicts and WWI internees and spectacular coastal scenery that encompasses beaches and clifftop views for whale watching, it's a pretty special one to find. And apparently it's lucky that we found it in the middle of winter, because people book months ahead to camp here at other times of the year.

Lovely discoveries pretty much sums up what we've been doing for the last five days as we casually cruise down the north coast of NSW. I haven't been planning ahead as I've wanted us to be able to feel like we are still exploring and finding new things, even at the tail-end of our journey in a State that feels somewhat more familiar than other parts of the country.

We found a gorgeous lookout to warm ourselves in the winter sun at Lennox Head and the cutest lighthouse in Ballina, which Max decided was his because it was so small!

Maclean provided us with tartan-painted power poles which we possibly should have predicted after driving past the sign declaring we were entering "Australia's Scottish Town". And Yamba generously gave us a super-relaxed Sunday where we walked on the beach, browsed through vintage and surf shops, and enjoyed morning tea while reading books and magazines in an old house slash gallery.

Not to be outshone by the smaller towns, Coffs Harbour provided us with our first glimpse of whales from the top of Muttonbird Island and a cartoon gallery in an old WWII bunker. Oh yeah, and I'm sure not many people know about it (!), but we discovered an overly large piece of fruit left lying on the road. For the record it's trying to reinvent itself and, in our opinion, doing a better job than the big pineapple!

The Gondwana world heritage rainforests of Dorrigo National Park provided a stunning inland detour and a genuinely new discovery on the skywalk: a post that you attach your camera to, set the self-timer and it takes a perfect photo of you and the view, at just the right height - brilliant!













Yep, I think there's still a few more discoveries and a bit more adventuring left yet.