It was bright and sunny this morning and the sea looked beautiful. There were people walking the beach very early. We drove down to Ballina and had a look at the lighthouse there.
Outside of town we stopped at Thursday Plantation. While we waited for it to open, we tried our hand at the maze. It took a lot of wrong turns, but we finally found our way out. Inside we watched a film about the beginning of the plantation. The aborigines used crushed tea tree leaves on cuts and sores. Captain Cook made a tea from the leaves and named it tea tree. The plantation is now TP Health and it produces a number of essential oils and herbal remedies.
We drove up into the mountains, past beautiful views to Lismore. We went to a lookout that was in our guidebook, but it was a view of the town. The next town we came to was Casino. St Marks Church of England was a lovely old building with some new stained glass windows. The gentleman who let us in told us we should have been there last week because the town was celebrating Beef Week and the church was decorated with flowers and with tableaux of drovers at a campfire. The town had recently celebrated its bicentennial and had a mural painted depicting the old town.
After lunch we had a long drive on a winding and sometimes steep road to Tenterfield. The speech that led to Australian federation was made here. The bushranger, Captain Thunderbolt, spent his career stealing horses in this area. And the singer and songwriter, Peter Allen, was born here.
We headed north of town to Bald Rock National Park. The rock is the largest granite rock in Australia. We took the trail to look at it, but didn't take the long walk to the summit. It reminded us of Stone Mountain in Georgia. Just down the road was Boonoo Boonoo National Park. It was a 14 km dirt road to the car park. We almost turned back, but we stopped to ask about it and the man convinced us to go on. It was worth the trip. Walking down the trail we heard water rushing and saw cascades. We turned a corner and could see the waterfall as it plunged over the cliff. The water came from the New England tableland and dropped down the face of the escarpment.
On the way back to town we saw lots of kangaroos and wallabies. Most of the time they moved away from noise of the motorhome. But a couple of kangaroos jumped in front of us. Luckily Samson was able to avoid them.
Pictures - Lennox head, St Marks in Casino, Casino Community Centre and mural, Samson on Bald Rock, Boonoo Boonoo Upper Falls, Boonoo Boonoo Lower Falls
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