Grafton sits on a large plain and your first waypoint, Shannon Creek Dam, is just inside the mountains at the western edge of that plain. Explore the Mann and Clarence Rivers to the north-west of Grafton.
Copmanhurst, population 300, is a popular camping and kayaking spot on the Clarence River.
Byron Bay was traditionally a sanctuary for 'Age of Aquarians', which peaked in the 1960s. Nowadays it remains a popular tourist resort and hosts an annual blues festival which looks back longingly to Woodstock and Australia's own Sunbury. Tweed Head (NSW) and Coolangatta (QLD) sit astride the N.S.W./Queensland border and are known as the "Twin Towns".
Mount Warning is a volcanic plug, with about half the crater walls remaining and forming a very distinctive landmark. It last erupted about 23 million years back so 'Bob's your uncle' as we say down under.
Casino is the 'Beef Capital of Australia' and has a population around the 12,000 mark. 12,000 people that is, the cattle population is much higher. It was originally named 'Cassino' after Monte Cassino in Italy, but a bureaucratic error led to the current spelling becoming official. C'est la vie.
The Jacaranda capital of Australia, Grafton lays astride the Clarence river and features Edwardian and Victorian architecture. Fly east of Grafton to the coast and then north to the coastal towns of Wooli, Minnie Water, Sandon, Brooms Head, Angourie Point and Yamba. Then return to Grafton via the Clarence River.