Bellingen: Live music and flying foxes

Friday 29th of November til Tuesday 3rd of December: Friday I arrived in Urunga in the afternoon. My lovely host Teresa picked me up to get me to Bellingen, which was good as a really heavy thunderstorm with very hard rain arrived with me. They seem to follow me around but with the bush fires that's not too bad. As it kept raining on Saturday I had a chilled day at my Airbnb, doing some washing and dealing with some spiders. There were some at my window at the head of my bed. With one of them, I was not sure if it might be poisonous. But it hid too well for me to catch or kill it, so I decided, we'll be roommates. But I did move my bed away from the window 😋. On Saturday evening I went out and enjoyed some live music. That was something I really liked about Bellingen: a lot of live music, almost every evening. Not bad for a little town of around 3000 inhabitants. The locals were a bit hard to make contact with but with some of the band members (Sunscreen, Flowertruck) I got chatting and had a nice evening. On Sunday I went for a little hike up to Bellingen Lookout. On Tuesday I visited Urunga and walked on the beautiful Broadwalk. It goes over the joining waters of the rivers Bellinger and Kalang, they then flow into the Tasman Sea. It creates a diverse ecosystem with salt marshes and mangroves. In the evening I enjoyed a glass of wine on the Bellinger River back in Bellingen, watching the flying foxes depart from their resting places at the river. A beautiful display. I was impressed with how quietly they fly. All I could hear of them was a short cry every now and then, even though there were hundreds of them in the sky. I was also amazed that I only got shat on once 😝. An old Aboriginal tale says it brings luck... OK no, I made that up. But I will just believe it does. On Tuesday morning I left for Byron Bay. Bellingen is beautiful, but if you go there, you should make sure of two things: 1. Have a Telstra SIM card. With Vodafone I had no internet connection at all. 2. Have a car. Sorry Aussies, but your public transport in rural areas suuuuuucks! Apart from these little bumps, I had a nice time in this beautiful little town.