Cruising the Northern Rivers in a Jaguar XJS Cabriolet

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Here’s one random thing you probably didn’t know about me: I grew up around old cars.

A LOT of old cars.

My Dad’s side of the family have been involved with the vintage car club in our region since it’s inception, and so I grew up sitting in the backseat of old Chevy’s and Plymouths.

When I was a child we would spend weekends on car rallies in the car my parents had at the time, a 1929 Chevrolet.

I remember bouncing up and down along bumpy old roads on the weathered leather seats (no seatbelts in these old cars, of course), and the struggle it is was to put the windows in or out – no up or down, no winding down the windows in these old cars, no, the panes were carefully removed from the latches if you wanted some air, and would have to be securely lodged back in if you changed your mind.

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Cleaning up after a natural disaster

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After the Northern Rivers was hit by the floods caused by ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie (See my blog from last week if you need to catch up on this), my community has begun the long and tough process of putting the pieces back together.

Thousands of people have been affected – whether their home was flooded and belongings destroyed, or their business inundated with water and forced to close for the time being.

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When a natural disaster hit our region

If you’ve seen the news over the last week, you may have heard something about “Lismore” and “flood”.

See, last Thursday (Only the day after I filmed that beautiful blue sky down in Ballina) constant rain hit the Northern Rivers, thanks to ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie, which had earlier hit northern Queensland.

In one day, we received so much rainfall that evacuation orders began being put into place. It was clear we were going to flood. Badly.

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A perfect beach day at Ballina

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Ballina is, without a doubt, one of the best spots along the east coast of Australia.

And no, I’m not just biased because I grew up on the Northern Rivers.

Well, maybe a little, but hear me out.

My opinion of this gorgeous, coastside town must have some weight to it, as every year people come from all over to holiday here, while seniors in their thousands have set up permanent camp here in their retirement.

It’s a pretty nice place, let’s just say that.

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The serenity of Nimbin and Protesters Falls

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Having my English boyfriend fly over and surprise me for New Years and my birthday gave me a good chance to explore my own region, while giving him the grand tour of the Northern Rivers.

That’s how we ended up walking the streets of Nimbin and making the rainforest trek to Protesters Falls one rainy day – and how you are now reading Part 2 of my Northern Rivers series!

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Eat the Street food festival, Lismore

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This is the first post in my series on the Northern Rivers, my home region.

One the best things about Lismore, the regional centre of the area I live in, is probably it’s wide range of food on offer.

From Japanese, to Mexican, Indian, Thai, Italian, Chinese, Mediterranean, fine dining, or a good old pub meal – you can find it all in Lismore

The small city is overflowing with restaurants, and has an epic cafe culture which leaves you with an overwhelming amount of choice for your Sunday morning brunch.

That’s why it’s only appropriate that one of the biggest events of the year in Lismore is the Eat the Street festival.

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