Bellingen Part 2: The Shops and The River

But first HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Tom and I arrived back from the holiday house and right now we're between the two fire work shows. I made some videos of the show and I'm going to put them together then either put them on here or  youtube once I catch up with these posts. To tide you over till then here are a few snap shots.

I should mention Tom and I arrived back in Sydney in amazing time. Our train trip seemed to be much shorter than normal, we caught all other trains and bus with out having to wait. The only hitch was when our bus to his parents place kept stalling the whole ride home. Not to mention the line up down the street just to get into Balmain. It turns out that because of the various bays in Balmain and their amazing view of the harbour bridge it gets very very crowded on new years. People come and park their cars a day before so they can drive home after the fireworks. Others camp out all day just to get the best view. Mind you Tom and I were able to walk up nearly to the front for both shows. We stayed at his parents (while they went to the holiday house) and were able to hangout until the 20 minute firework warning went off and then we walked across the street to the park. It was pure luxury.  Anyways I wanted to go see all the people before it got dark, the park had at least a thousand people in it. Just hanging out waiting to see the show. It was pretty neat.

These are actually of the midnight show, this one is a photo but it was the only one that worked properly. 

This is a still from one of my many films. The bridge was a main feature of the show. They had symbol projected onto it and it served as a very dramatic prop. 

During the second half of the second show there was so much smoke it felt like we were watching something a little apocalyptic. But beautiful. I can't really describe well enough (I'll put up the video) but being able to see multiple show (in the other bays) that were synchronized just added to the whole effect. It was really breath taking.

The exodus. 

Back to Bellingen!

Day 2: We did a bit of looking around the shops in town, there are quite a few really great dress shops and furniture places. My most exciting find was in a fantastic shop, hidden behind some piles of cushions were these batik stamps. I got really excited (of course) and Tom told me to pick my favourite three and they'd be my Christmas present. There was definitely some evil laughter on my part as I went through them. muwahahahaha.

Here they are, I'm going to do some research and try using them.

Each one is beautifully made and has a handle on the back. They're amazing to touch and carved very nicely. 

After our morning of shopping we decided to go to the movies. To do that we had to drive to the next town. Tom and I saw Megamind (the others saw a different movie) which was fantastic then we all watched Tron in 3D. It was very very fun. Alice tried to get the optimum 3D experience.

Day 3: The plan for the day was to find a giant inner tube, inflate it and sail down the river. At breakfast I took in the local sites.

The drive up to get the inner tube was amazing. We drove up into the mountain on to a plateau area full of rolling hills and farms. It felt as though we were suddenly in the English country side. This is a look out area from which we could see the huge expanse of the mountain range.

We picked up a duvet cover to put over the inner tube so we could sit a little easier. Tom and Ben got the job of inflating it.

Very slowly it got bigger...

and bigger...

and BIGGER!

We strapped it to the top of the car and headed for the optimal spot on the river.

Tom admires his handy work.

The trip down the river was incredibly long and very beautiful, the banks were lush green and full of birds. At the end of the ride we tried to deflate it but couldn't really open the valve so we had to use a stick to let the air out. An hour and a half later Ben decided it was easier to punch a hole in it and patch it up later. * Side note: While Tom and I were sitting on the tube taking turns deflating it Tom looked up and noticed a lizard in the tree. I didn't have my camera since it wasn't safe during the ride. But it hung out for a while in the sun. Alice wasn't as impressed since she said it wasn't that big probably only "this long". With her arms she measured out a little over a meter. Right... it's so small....

Once we made a hole suddenly everything went much faster.

On the way home the moon was amazing. It's hard tell from this picture but it was huge! I could see so much detail on it. Really fantastic particularly with the colours of the sky.