New South Wales Exchange Teachers' League Event

On the weekend of June 10, we attended our first exchange league event, this one organized by the New South Wales group. We left Friday morning and took the inland route for a 4-hour drive through Stanthorpe, a wine and apple region, down through Casino and Lismore, and into Lennox Head. At Lennox Head, we stayed with a family, Peter and Maureen Clark, who had been on exchange to Ottawa about ten years ago. Unfortunately, Maureen was away doing some recruiting for netball, so we never had a chance to meet, but Peter and his two children, Amy and Simon, kept us entertained and informed for the long weekend. We especially enjoyed Peter's stories of how they left Ballina (near Byron Bay) in the height of summer and landed in our nation's capital in the midst of a typical winter with wind chilled temperatures making it minus fifty-some degrees. He said he learned to drink coffee there, and to this day friends send them Tim Horton's each year!

Lennox Head is a quaint town right on the water, lying just twenty minutes south of Byron Bay. It is decidedly laid back and influenced by Byron's hippie culture. We watched a bit of a girls' pro surf competition, though the weather wasn't cooperating. We saw our first rain in months and the waves weren't that big. We also made a stop at a local lake called Lake Ainsworth. What's special about this lake is that it is black, like a cup of tea without milk, because of all the tea trees surrounding it. The water is so pure because of the tea trees that you can drink it. When you swim in it, your hair also feels as though it's been conditioned, beautiful and soft. Tea tree is used quite extensively here for all its healing and healthful properties.

After Peter guided us around Lennox Head and Ballina, we met other exchangees for a BBQ lunch on the shores of Byron Bay. It was too cold and windy to swim or go out to Julian Rocks to snorkel, so we just played by the shore. Found out later that this area, too, has a rather dark yet colourful history with one of Oz's most feared creatures, the Great White. Apparently, there have been just three deaths off these waters, one of whom was a young man honeymooning with his wife. Off for a day of diving around Julian Rocks, they encountered a Great White immediately upon entering the water and, in an attempt to save his wife, he pushed her out of the way and the shark bit him in half! His surname was Ford. Strangely enough, the surname of the other two fatalities was Ford, also, prompting a local entrepreneur to create a t-shirt with a picture of a Great White with jaws open wide and a slogan, "Have you eaten a Ford lately?" Glad our surname is MacQuarrie, at least for those sharks that understand English, anyway!

It seems the finned creatures aren't the only ones to be wary of in this area, though, as in the two weeks prior to our arrival, two young children received dry bites from Common Browns, one of the country's most deadly snakes. Dry bites are when the snake bites but does not inject any venom. One bite, I later found out, was received on the sandy path we were taking down to the water's edge. Those kids must not have been named "Ford"! Peter, our host, told us another story of some friends who run a farm on the outskirts of Byron Bay and how many years ago their plumbing was outdoors. One afternoon, when their son was returning from the outhouse, he was chased all the way back by an angry brown snake. The father actually blasted a hole with a shotgun in the patio screen door while trying to kill the attacker that pursued the son right up to the house. They figure it must have had a nest nearby in order to have become so agitated. While picking up the pieces of snake and door, they investigated the son's rubber boots and found no less than twelve puncture marks. I tell you, this is a dangerously beautiful and rugged land!

Early the next morning, we were off to Ocean Shores to catch our bus for a day trip in the surrounding hinterlands. There were about 25 of us on the bus, mostly exchangees from Canada, and a couple from Scotland and England as well. We met wonderful people from Langley, Whistler, Tullameen, Fernie, and Ontario. Of course, there were a few Aussies in the crowd, too, including our hosts, Steve and Marlene Oliver and Lee, a principal from an inner-city school in Sydney. Hannah and the Oliver's nine-year-old daughter, Stephanie, became good buddies over this weekend.

Our first stop was in the mountainside overlooking Byron Bay, very lush and plenty of banana plantations hugging the steep hillsides. Too bad those bananas couldn't come across the border just an hour north into Queensland so we didn't have to pay $14.00 per kilo for bananas after Cyclone Larry ravaged most of the state's crop. Continuing on, we drove through some narrow, winding roads and lush countryside to get to the Channon markets. Picture West 4th some forty years ago and I think you'll get an idea of the look and feel of this place. It's right out of the hippie days! We perused the local wares for sale and ate a delicious lunch, chased down with chocolate-covered frozen mango pieces and strawberries on a skewer. Yum!

After the Channon markets we headed into a small community called Nimbin. Now, this place is perhaps the only place in the entire country where pot is openly used and sold. We thought it very amusing that there is a sign in town talking about how Nimbin is an alcohol-free, peace-loving zone, yet marijuana is regularly used by most townsfolk. We were propositioned almost within meters of disembarking, first for marijuana cookies and then for something to take along in a little bag. The town smells like pot and if you breathe too deeply, you'll be high within an hour of walking the streets. And colourful streets they are! The buildings are all painted in wild colours and designs, much like the hippie vans of yesteryear, and it's the first place we saw lots of older cars. People are dressed like stereotypical hippies and there's long-haired, guitar-playing, sandal-wearing blokes everywhere. We got a real kick out of one of the local stores called "Bringabong", a play on the huge Aussie surf company called "Billabong".


Leaving Nimbin much happier and hungrier than when we arrived (just kidding), we headed through Lismore, a town that has flood gates and markings on the telephone poles showing some of the highest flood levels throughout the town's history. The highest one was 14 meters, indicating most of the downtown area would have been submerged. From Lismore we went to Thursday Plantation and stopped at their tea tree factory. I picked up a few products before we headed into Byron Bay.


Byron Bay is a seaside hub that's a unique mix of hippie and contemporary lifestyles. Plenty of small shops and cafes and some of the most beautiful stretch of beaches we've seen yet. Atop the local hillside is a majestic lighthouse where you can take walks all along what is reputed to be Australia's most easterly point, though Peter told us that geographic location is actually closer to Lennox Head. We bought a few souvenirs and enjoyed a lazy afternoon while Hannah went to play at the Oliver's.


That evening, we had a BBQ at Marlene's school and enjoyed time talking with other exchangees, most of whom are on their second or third exchanges. It seems once you start it's hard to stop! The evening ended with the traditional Aussie dessert of pavlova and a group photo in the school gym.



Before departing on Monday morning, Peter and his two kids joined us for breakfast on the beach at a local seaside cafe, Shelly's On the Beach. What a fitting end to a great extra long weekend. We both remarked several times how we could easily live in one of these communities along the coast of northeastern New South Wales. The lifestyle is so laid back and the area a vast expanse of one "Wow!" after another.