The other day, as I was crossing the Ballina Street Bridge in Lismore, I stopped to take a photograph.

“You should take some photographs from the southside”, a bloke crossing the bridge stopped to say to me. “You get to see some great views of the rowing club”, he added.

And so that’s what I did today.

But it wasn’t easy to decide where and how I should take these photographs, as the southside of the river doesn’t have the same level of access as the town side.

Traditionally, the southside has been dominated by the railway lines and factories, and so it’s quite hard to know exactly where the best views would be obtained, or even accessed. Being a little unsure, I headed down Union Street, and turned right into NORCO Lane, where I discovered both the “Men’s Shed” and a demolition company with a sign firmly declaring it private property.

Thanks to Google Maps, I eventually figured the best view could be afforded much further down Union Street, closer to Coleman’s Bridge (known locally as “The Double Bridges”), where you can get much closer to the river itself.

It was a terrific adventure to embark upon, and it took me to some of the backroads of South Lismore I’ve never previously visited.

While I was in the area, I took a closer look at the old railway bridge that connected North and South Lismore.

The last time I crossed the bridge was about 10 years ago, and I came close to plummeting into the river below, as much of the timber structure is deteriorating.

It’s nice to see they’ve erected fences to stop idiots such as myself from attempting to cross.