Nellibell In Bellingen

Back in Bello and taking a Good Look around.

Bellingen is a small town (pop 2, 721) on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Bellingen Shire. It is approximately halfway between the major Australian cities of Sydney and Brisbane. The Bellingen area is a mixture of valley, plateau and coastal environments.
Bellingen is known by some citizens around the area as "Bello". Bellingen township lies on the not-quite-spelled-the-same Bellinger River; this different spelling is most likely the result of a misinterpretation of some poor handwriting. The name Bellingen was first mentioned by Clement Hodgkinson as the native name for the area, and is believed to come from "Baalijin", the Gumbaynggir name for the Quoll (Native Cat). He refers to the river as the "Bellingen River" in his 1845 book, "Australia From Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay".
Bellingen was one of the filming locations for the 2003 comedy film Danny Deckchair, written and directed by Jeff Balsmeyer. Bellingen was also the notional setting of the book Oscar and Lucinda written by Booker Prize winning author Peter Carey. The film version of the novel Eucalyptus was set to be filmed in Bellingen as well before it fell through.
Bellingen has a strong affinity with the arts and is home to four festivals: the popular Global Carnival (often known simply as " The Global"), the Jazz and Blues Festival, Stamping Ground Dance Festival and Camp Creative.
The first and original festival, an annual event, was the Azalea Festival, which included a procession of floats, the local brass band and pipeband, and various community organisations marching down Hyde Street to the cheers and applause of the spectators. from wiki.


A Day at Bellingen
I come rowing back on the mauve creek, and there’s a
daylight moon
among the shabby trees,
above the scratchy swamp oaks
and through the wrecked houses of the paperbarks;
a half moon
drifting up beside me like a jelly fish.
Now the reflected water becomes, momentarily, white—
magnesium burning.
My oars
have paused, held in their hailing
stance—
are melting;
and the long water is a dove-grey rippled sand.
A dark bird hurries
low in a straight line silently overhead.
The navy-blue air, with faint underlighting;
Has gauze veil hung up within it, or a moist fresh
Smoke.
I land in the bottom of an empty paddock,
at a dark palisade
of saplings…
(Gray 1998, 126)