Australia - Day Two!

Jane and I started out the day touring around the city of Lismore. One thing I noticed was the houses are all built on stilts and this is because Lismore is located in a flood plane. They really seemed quite high though! Then we went to a local organic market in the same city and watched the locals buy their produce for the week. As we ventured further out into the country (yes, lots of gravel roads!) I soon found out that the Macadamia nut is native to this part of Australia and the Hawaiians actually took the nut back with them and were the first to grow it commercially.

While we hiked around the Rocky Dam (Lismore's water supply), I shot photos of the interesting plant life there. To me, this area seems very tropical and apparently it is this time of yeas as it's been raining for the entire time so far! This hasn't stopped Jane and I from getting out and about however!

As we were driving along another country road we stopped at a shack that seemed to be selling something. I got out of the car to find no one actually guarding their supply of "paw paw", herbs, and lemons. Read the sign... I thought this was interesting! I also bought one of the "paw paws" and Jane and I will eat it with out breakfast in the morning. I think it's actually a papaya, but Jane won't tell me :)



After cracking up about our "paw paw" we decided to head to the next town of Nimbin. All of Jane's roommates have asked "are you going to Nimbin?"- so we took the venture there. Apparently it's one of the areas where people can buy weed and it seems to be a very normal and legal thing to do there. The town is comprised of shops along the street that sell marijuana and other goods. It's not legal here, but this town seems to be the exception!

Although Nimbin has character we didn't spend much time there and decided to head to a park to eat lunch. Jane pulls into a parking area near a park and we scarf down our pre-made sandwiches before we hiked to the waterfall. From the photos you will be able to see the splash left behind after we jumped off the cliff into the water! It was freezing! But as Jane continually repeated to me "We are so close, might as well jump" - so i did! It wasn't very high :)

On our way back to town, we saw some Wallabies hanging out in a grassy field area. They really reminded me of rodents or large rabbits. There were so many of them just lying around. I think they could actually be compared to deer in South Dakota, there are a bunch of them everywhere (same is true of kangaroos).

We finished off the evening with a dinner with one of the Rotary Clubs in Lismore. Jane received a Rotarian Ambassador Scholarship to come to Australia, so part of her "opportunity" (as she puts it) is to present some information about her self, South Dakota and her experiences in Australia. It was really a great time to be able to chat with local Aussie's about everything from pythons getting in their roofs to eat rats, to spiders, macadamia nuts, to wheat farming! Really a unique experience for me, and I'm grateful for that!