Bellingen

While in Murwillumbah, Tassie took us all to see a jazz show in Coolangatta, the south point of the Gold Coast. My original plan was to head north, stay in Surfer's Paradise for couple of days, then meet up with a friend in Brisbane. From Coolangatta however, I could see across the bay to Surfer's Paradise. One look at the endless skyscrapers forced me to head south instead to the tiny town of Bellingen.

People say that there is a weird force that pulls certain people to Bellingen, and I do believe this to an extent, but that may be a product of spending so much time with eccentric new age types. Bellingen is quite odd though. Even though it has a population of merely 2,500 people, many backpackers are drawn to the hostel here to enjoy the quiet mountain community.

I learned of it through word of mouth from other travellers. There are many with whom I can tolerate enough to spend a night of company. All those though that I really liked though have mention Bellingen as a must see. I have to say that I agree.

First off, ti is a small town with a hostel. Cities quickly get old, so small towns are refreshing. Plus, not many 2,500 population towns even have hostels. Despite its size, the town is just plain cool. It is a mecca for artists in Australia who tire of the city life. The population is young and hip, with more artists and musicians per capita than any town I've ever seen. There is live music every night. This is the home of David Helfgott, inspiration for the film Shine starring Geoffrey Rush. It is surrounded by copious rainforest and mountains, with a beautiful clear river bisecting the town. Nearly every one of the five days I spent there included an innertube float down the river.

I was fortunate enough to spend some time with the locals. To overcome my shyness, I just approached a group in true Aussie fashion and had a chat. They were quite impressed; many backpackers don't talk to the locals. I even got the phone number and a date, but the silly woman stood me up! Oh well, she missed out. I don't blame her though, dates with people who will leave in a couple of days anyway aren't too purposeful.

The hostel was comfortable and relaxing. It had free billiards, many tours to the nearby parks, and an ability to attract cool people. This is where I met Donna from Coff's Harbour, who took me in for a couple of days. I also befriended Simon, a sixteen year old gay kid whose parents kicked him upon his coming out. He had been living in the hostel, looking for a job nearby. The upstairs wall was covered (I mean literally covered) with hundreds of tasteful nude photos of various people who've stayed there over the years. Each had a creative way of covering the "naughty bits".

Bellingen doesn't just attract backpackers and artists, but also flying foxes. A small "island" near the hostel for whatever reason is the home of these large, red, fruit bats. A few of us embarked on a hike into their loud forest home on my last day in town. Every tree had copious bats hanging from the limbs. The trail ended after about 500 meters, but we followed an ambiguous trail further into the rainforest. Eventually, we came to nearly impassable bush; this deterred us not. We fought our way through and eventually made our way to the road.

That evening, we sat around and sipped red wine. At sunset, the sky came to life as the 50,000 bats took to the sky for their evening meal. Photos could not capture the wonder of this sight. I only have my pleasant memories now.