Nothing speaks road trip louder, than a VW kombi van. My friend Jack and myself had been planning the trip from Melbourne to Byron Bay for sometime. The moment of my last exam was where my adventure was about to begin, three weeks return, three other friends, an open road and I couldn’t have been more amped!
After driving for over 17 hours, we arrived in Kiama around mid night and had no idea what it looked like around us. When we woke up we where rewarded with the best sunrise I've seen to date. It was surreal, I didn't even realise till after that my feet were all cut up from the sharp rocks, from getting up so quick and not wearing any shoes.
It was time to leave Kiama and head further up the coast on ward to Sydney. We planned to hang out at the Northern beaches, charge our gears and stock up on food, before heading up to Newcastle.
Stockton was like nothing I had seen before, it was the week of stormy weather and lighting was striking all around us. The winds where that strong, it looked as if the dunes where flowing like a river as the sand rushed over them.
We kept on making our way up the coast and stopped in little surf towns along the way. Our trip was kept flexible and we were never sure what was hidden around the next corner. We bumped into this amazing waterfall near Bellingen and it was the perfect example, of how our mindset, of exploring and not planning, paid off. We had the falls all to ourself and even for November there was a large volume of water flowing from the week of thunderstorms. Its hard to beat the feeling of encountering unplanned gems such as those falls.
We travelled for a total of three weeks, covered over 4,000km’s and I had the time of my life. What I got out of the whole trip is, that its not just about the destination, its about the journey. The driving to and from Byron was arguably as good, if not better than our time in Byron. It pays off to take your time and appreciate taking the longer route, there is no rush, enjoy it.
Images and Text by Matt Cherubino