At first though, we had to struggle going through the traffic of Sydney but likely we didn't have to drive far away to find our first peaceful and beautiful stops, about 30km north, first in Palm Beach and then in the lush Lane Cove River National Park. Soon after, we followed the Pacific Highway but couldn't resist the call of the brown-tourist signs on the side of the road so, now and then, we found ourselves taking a right-hand turn in search of a secluded beach. We spared ourselves a bar-hopping night in Newcastle but not before having spent an afternoon strolling along its pretty waterfront and once again we were off searching our next detours.

Sugarloaf-Bay,Seal-Rocks

Nearby Nimbin is supposedly where all the real hippies had moved since the Aquarius Festival in 1973 but to welcome us was, not the expected very friendly approach, instead the hassle of the pot dealers along the short main street (by the way are they not supposed to "share the love"? ) My vision of the hippie-happy town soon vanished, though my eyes seems amazed to see passing by some "real" hippies, maybe too old to care anymore about sharing a smile with one of the too many tourists.

So far we seen it all, wildlife, tourist-trapped villages, untouched national parks, weirdoes but we still missed something, oh yes the warm tropical weather and the boarder to Queensland was now few miles away.