Phew what a scorcher. It's sure hot in these parts; as in Ballina on the Richmond river, just on the edge of NSW before you jump over into Queensland. Even the pelicans have decided to take it nice and easy; just floating by, looking cool. I've been warming (figuratively-speaking) to the local jelly fish which are surprisingly pretty: all bluey-green. The sun must be playing tricks on me.

Ballina's an understated sort of place with a great community-art gallery serving one of the best lemon tarts I've had so far in Oz - and I've munched my way through quite a few.  But there's art too, not just munchies, so give the gallery a whirl.

It waas all pretty quiet on the riverbank; except for some Karawongs. These crow-like black and white birds have been hanging around in the trees being rather annoying - i.e very vocal - with a repertoire extending from birdie wolf-whistles, to wowwwwwwwwwwws. I wonder what's going through their little brains?  Stone the flippin' crows if I know the answer to that one.

I caught the bus to Byron Bay, the hippie capital of NSW - if not Australia. There's lots of arty, crafty, 'we're-ever-so-eco-friendly-here' stuff to browse around. On the beach, hordes of  schoolies were letting their hair, and pretty much everything else, down, now school's out. My timing could have been better, but I picked up some tips on the art of having fun while still sober-ish.  

If Byron's too full on, consider Lennox Head, roughtly halfway along the coast between Ballina and Byron. Or just buy a freedom pass ($12) and hop on and off the bus wherever you fancy.

www.riversideballina.com