Erik Skye Travel Blog

4 Jan 2012

Here’s the map: Google Maps – Wizard of Oz

Car’s trip odometer: 2450 clicks (km)

Dusk had approached and a wall of ominous, boiling, dark clouds had amassed to the west. Occasionally I glimpsed flashes of yellow light (or the jagged run of the lightning itself) out of the corner of my eye. A sliver of red setting sun shone through on one side of the wall and rays of brilliant white light illuminated sheets of cloud and sky over the top. Soon, silhouettes of palm trees and eucalypts were moving mutely between me and the great event, and then total darkness engulfed it all – except for the occasional, silent orange flash pulsing from deep within the hidden storm. I knew the wicked witch was in there.

I made a run to the north today, almost reaching the Queensland border. There are now banana plantations, mangroves, and pelicans in the scenery. The air is becoming sultry and the cicadas roar in the trees. I crossed large estuaries along the way – places that were once river valleys but are now under sea level, and where the ocean and the river call truce. They're ecosystems in their own right and appear to receive a lot of use from fishermen and boaters. I stopped for the night in the river mouth town of Ballina and walked among fishermen on a jetty before retiring.

As if Australia didn’t have enough of the deadliest things (i.e. spiders, snakes, jelly fish, sharks), here’s another: mushrooms! Yes, now I can add another category. I kept hearing them talk on the radio about three people who had eaten one of the world’s most poisonous mushrooms, the Death Cap. They were all hospitalized, and two later died. They said that an adult who eats one mushroom has a 25 to 50% chance of dying, and those who do survive typically need liver transplants. Yikes! Good thing I haven’t been walking around popping mushrooms in my mouth on those nature walks.

Finally a hottish day today; 33C (91F).

I stopped in the town of Forster, which lies between a lake and the ocean (another estuary) and just north of Booti Booti National Park. The Tassie (Tasmanian) scallops and chips where incredible and the scenery was fantastic. Pelicans on old wharf pilings, fields of oyster farm rafts, sand bars, wading people, sun umbrellas, fishermen casting, kayaks, walk paths, picnic areas, etc. It was lovely and the place is one of my top picks for sure.

Song of the day (click this hyperlink, let the website load briefly, and then click on the orange “play” next to the title): Australia’s Shannon Noll – Switch Me On

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