The brochure in the tourist information advertised Ballina as a stunning, quiet, upmarket, family resort so we thought we'd just make a visit to hang with the rich and waste 2 nights before we go onto Sydney.

The place wasn't much like advertised (other than quiet and stunning in places) which wasn't such a bad thing as it meant we could save a little for our Sydney trip next.

On the first day we made a short trip south and walked for about half an hour to the camp site. It was really friendly had everything we needed including storage for our bags over night. Once the tent was pitched we walked back to town to find pretty much everything closed as it was after five. As a result the evening was spent planning New Zealand!

The following day we returned to town to buy a camp stove, we've avoided buying one so far but it will give us more flexibility in New Zealand, and ate fish and chips on the sea side. Later we tried our best to finish the box of wine we'd carried from Byron Bay sat on a bench looking over the lagoon in true Aussie fashion.

All in all we didn't do much in Ballina but it was nice to do just that, although we're ready for a bed tomorrow night, just one more night roughing it first though, the night bus to Sydney.

The day was spent hanging around for the 7.25 pm bus, we had a BBQ on the seaside, with hassle from all directions from the drunks surrounding us in the park (they don't tell you that in the brochures).

The night bus went relatively well and we both managed to get a few hours sleep but you can't really expect any better when your bed is the coach seat for the night.