New South Wales (Northern NSW)
Lismore
Between the rainforest and the sea, the thriving University city of Lismore is the nucleus of a district renown for its beauty, frontier spirit and cultural riches. Local attractions include Nimbin, weekend markets, macadamia nuts plantations, rainforests, nature reserves, waterfalls, historic river cruises, tea houses and craft shops, and villages such as The Channon and Clunes, steeped in history.

Located on the Bruxner Highway 65km inland from Ballina, it is the principal town of northeast New South Wales and the commercial focus of the fertile Richmond River valley, surrounded by prosperous dairy and farming country. This is one of the most densely populated rural areas in Australia, and has been since the early days of the colony. 
In the nineteenth century Lismore was an important river port for the timber trade, as lumberjacks cut their way through the dense forest of the valley – the so-called Big Scrub – before moving up to the steep slopes of the McPherson Ranges near the Queensland border. Local red cedar, especially, was much sought after. There’s still a fair amount of forestry in the region, but these days the economic mainstay is dairy farming and cattle breeding, along with a rapidly growing tropical agriculture sector: bananas, sugar cane, avocados, tropical fruit and macadamia nuts.

For all the intense agriculture, however, this is not your typical Ocker backwater; the city of 46,000 even has its own Southern Cross University, which includes a Koala Hospital on its grounds. Since the alternative-lifestyle seekers discovered the northeast in the 1970s, cultural life has flourished and jewellers, potters, painters, graphic artists, sculptors and other arts-and-crafts people who have settled here have established a whole network of shops and galleries where they can sell their work. Every weekend they all come together for Lismore’s Art and Craft Expo; at other times the Regional Art Gallery, 131 Molesworth St (Tues–Sat 10am–5pm; free), is the best place to get an overview, displaying a mixture of travelling exhibitions on the downstairs level with a selection of local works of art for sale upstairs. Though recent works are normally on show, from time to time the gallery displays its permanent collection of Australian art from the 1950s and 1960s. The Historical Museum, on the same street (Mon–Fri 10am–4pm), houses an interesting, if somewhat motley, collection of pioneer relics and photographic records of the region’s history. An annual Folk Festival with the best of the local and national bands takes place over the October long weekend.

Around Lismore
To explore the country around Lismore you really need your own vehicle, though tours do depart from Byron Bay. Most Sundays there’s a market in at least one of the villages, providing a taste of the area’s colourful alternative lifestyle – the big ones are in the hilltop village of The Channon on the second Sunday of the month, and in Nimbin on the last. The halls in the various towns have dances and live music, and you may be lucky enough to be invited to a legendary hill party involving live bands, fire-eaters and drumming and dancing till dawn – there’s usually one happening somewhere every weekend.

CASINO, around 30km southwest of Lismore, is a small country town on the Richmond River from where route 91 follows the rail lines south towards Grafton, or north through KYOGLE, with its Buddhist temple and retreat, into Queensland. One of the most scenic drives in New South Wales is the short round-trip over the mountainous, winding country roads north and northeast of Lismore to Nimbin, The Channon, and Clunes, and then via Eltham and Bexhill, with superb views from the ridges and hilltops. Accessible via Nimbin, with the peak of Mount Nardi (800m) visible 12km beyond the town, is Nightcap Range National Park, a World Heritage-listed park with several walking trails from the summit.

Practicalities
Lismore is the home base of Kirklands buses, whose service is the only one to stop here on the Sydney–Brisbane route; their terminal is on Molesworth Street (tel 02/6621 9299). Lismore is also on a branch line of the Sydney–Murwillumbah train route; trains from Brisbane call in at Casino, 31km southwest, from where there’s a connecting bus. You can fly from Sydney with Hazelton (tel 02/6622 3113); if you’ve booked accommodation, you’ll normally be picked up from the airport; there are car rental desks here, as well as several agencies on Dawson Street, including Lismore Rent-a-Car at no. 100 (tel 02/6621 4118). For details of what’s going on locally, head for the Lismore Visitor and Heritage Centre, at the corner of Molesworth and Ballina streets (daily 9am–4.30pm; tel 02/6622 0122), where there’s also an indoor rainforest display, a cultural gallery with the works of 100 artists and craftspersons and a history exhibit; ask here about river cruises to Ballina.

There’s a wide range of accommodation choices in the Lismore region, including hostels, hotels, motels, B&Bs and caravan parks. A couple of kilometres south of town, the Lismore Lake Caravan Park, Bruxner Highway, has inexpensive campsites, a pool, barbecue, children’s playground and small shop.

Lismore isn’t a bad place to eat, and has a couple of excellent cafés and cosmopolitan restaurants. The favoured haunt of artists is Caddies Coffee Company, at 20–24 Carrington St, which has excellent bagels, panini, salads and coffee. The Fundamental Food Bar nearby focuses on healthy organic fodder. If pasta’s more tempting, there are a number of fine Italian establishments, including Paupiettes on Ballina Street (tel 02/6621 6135) for à la carte dining, Café Giardino on Keen St (tel 02/6622 4664) or Giovanni’s on Molesworth Street (tel 02/6621 6566) overlooking the Wilson’s River.

The presence of students means there’s some nightlife in Lismore. Maggie Moore’s, 29 Molesworth St, is a pub that hosts bands Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Most of the pubs feature live bands throughout the week, and the area is developing a bit of a reputation for its local musical talent. There are also a couple of nightclubs: the best music is played at the Powerhouse on Molesworth Street, and there’s the more mainstream but very popular Legends at the Oakes Hotel, 55 Keen St. For other diversions, there’s a four-screen cinema in town, on the corner of Keen and Zadoc streets (tel 02/6622 4350).