We had already booked our beds for this night in a hostel in Bellingen.
This is actually the hostel where Lulu and Karsten met four and a half years ago.
We took the smaller roads there but didn't have many stops along the way, so we arrived quite early (I think around 2pm) and checked in.
After a short walk to explore the small village with a very obvious Hippie Atmosphere about it we found our self at a little restaurant which served veggie burger fish burger and chicken burger. There were no beef burgers on the menu - the closest thing was a buffalo burger.
My theory about this is that in Hippie circles (just as with Hindus) the cow is a holy animal. So I chose the buffalo burger from local produce (the menu actually stated the farmers names of potatoes lettuce and and tomatoes.
The burger was fantastic but tastewise even overshadowed by the handmade chips. The may have been the best chips I ever ate.
We asked them for their secret and apparently they fry them twice or something. Will have to give that a try back home.
Anyway, all this Hippieness didn't come cheap, just like the other boutique shops in this village. All in all it was a very posh and fancy hippie town.
I appreciate the way they promote organic and local produce and all this but the fanciness of the hippies around was a bit annoying.
Otherwise the town was nice, cozy and laid back.
After this big feast we all had a rest in our rooms and gathered some strength for the long night ahead.
Around 6ish I woke up again it was time to get the party started.
We had bought plenty of beer and started off with the first one (we had a good selection of IPAs and pale ale craft beers waiting for us this night).
The hostel had filled up a bit now. Some were the fancy hippie type, some were rough locals. It was hard to find any sympatic people in the place in the beginning.
We stayed on our own for the beginning and had our pasta on the balcony overlooking a wide flood plane of the Bellingen River.
On dusk thousands of large bats came flying into town out of the surrounding forests.
I am not surprised these animals have the stories around them that they have. It was quite spooky, all of them flying into the same direction as if they were also on their way to a party - maybe "The Dance of the Vampires".
A couple minutes before midnight we turned on the little TV and watched the countdown to the new year around Sydney's Harbour Bridge with anticipation.
This time I was one of the first people in the world to be in the new year. We were 10 hours ahead of Germany and 11 hours ahead of Ireland.
Everyone cheered to each other and the spirit lifted.
After a round of hugs and good wishes, one of the guys, Alex, started playing the guitar and we were all singing "Waltzin' Matilda"...
The good mood went on for a couple of hours until the room cleared up and silence took over for the first time of they year.
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