Grafton

I visited Grafton in 2006 and found it a splendid place to visit. The Jacaranda Festival celebrating the thousands of exquisite flowering jacaranda trees are an integral part of the image of Grafton, and their flowering is celebrated every year in one of Australias longest running flower festivals.In fact grafton is always looking green and lush with over 6500 trees planted in and around the town.
Grafton is rich in colonial history being first discovered by Richard Craig an enscaped convict.There are still many wonderous Colonial and Victorian public buildings and private residences and Historic homesteads in grafton standing today as a gentle reminder of the past and a large number of these are classified by the National Trust including the especially Notorious Grafton Jail. There are many galleries in the Grafton region and it also has a large number of art and craft groups, including fine arts, doll making quilting, woodwork, embroidery as well as speciality shops and studios. The first white settlers to the area came via the mighty clarence river and today you can hire house boats, enjoy all watersports, fishing, or laze about with a yummy picnic and there are dozens of small towns and islands along its banks to explore by boat. ( I want to do this on a houseboat soon.) Susan Island,is interesting to visit in the daytime with rainforests to explore and beautiful places to relax, but nighttime proves just as much if not more interesting because Susan Island houses the largest fruit bat colony in the southern hemisphere and if your game, dusk is the best time to see these curious animals as they leave the colony in search of food.There are many national parks including The Gilbraltar Range and Washpool which are both heritage listed.