May 21st: Bye-byes and Byron Bay

Day 48 (Day 23 in Australia)

After using up all the eggs in Ailsa’s* kitchen for breakfast, we had a quick stroll around her fabulous retirement village after which the Famous Four packed their bags and headed out.

Sat on Ailsa’s balcony

View from Ailsa!s balcony

Looking back at the village

First stop was the Tarte Beach House at Currumbin (a suburb of Gold Coast) where we met up with Robin**, one of Carolyn’s old school friends for coffee. There were pelicans in the water but I forgot to photograph them!

Despite not being hungry, coffee turned into brunch. Phil and I shared a ridiculously large chicken salad sandwich before sharing a ridiculously large plate of crème brûlée pancakes. We didn’t leave any. I really hope while I’m away that the battery in our bathroom scales is flat and becomes obsolete!)

Soon it was time for us to leave. Robin agreed to drop Phil and Carolyn at the nearby airport and after all the goodbyes (we won’t see each other again until Saturday) we took their car and headed south on the Pacific Highway. We had altered our itinerary slightly to add a couple of extra stops on the long drive back to Melbourne. 

Next stop were the twin towns of Coolangata and Tweed Heads. The former is in Queensland while the latter in New South Wales. No big deal except that NSW puts its clocks forward an hour in the summer which means locals get to enjoy New Year’s Eve twice in an hour! The state boundary runs right down the middle of Main Street (actually Boundary Street).

We parked up and visited Snapper Rocks (great waves and lots of surfers), Green Frog Beach and Point Danger where there was a weird house that looked like a cross between the Teletubbies house and a set from a 1970s Yes stage show. Here are some photos from the many we took there…

Snapper Rocks




Green Frog Beach (no idea why it’s called that)


Gold Coast / Brisbane from Snapper Rocks

Yes this is someone’s house!

An easy 45 minute drive took us to our home for the night in Byron Bay. After checking in we drove a couple of miles to the lighthouse which stands at the eastern most point of Mainland Australia. We arrived just a couple of minutes before the sun dipped below the distant peaks of (?) the Great Dividing Range.



16:49

16:52

Back at the motel we enjoyed a microwave dinner of bangers & mash (I’m not making this up!), a couple of beers and watched our first TV since leaving England (Mrs Harris Goes To Paris***) on Netflix.

Port Macquarie tomorrow.

* Carolyn’s mum (keep up!)
** Might be “Robyn”. I didn’t ask.
*** Julie wanted to watch it last year when Phil & Carolyn were at our place but the streaming service wanted £15 for it. You don’t get to spend 8 weeks on the other side of the world by spending £15 on a movie.

Stop press: it is 22:50 and suddenly it is absolutely hammering down with rain. 22:55 it stopped!

Stop press 2: 23:30 spoke too soon. It’s belting down!!


Comments

  1. Jayne21 May 2024 at 08:10

    Super photos

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wayne21 May 2024 at 20:57

      They are but they still don’t do justice to the actual views.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

May 12th: Crossing into Queensland

Image
Day 39 (Day 14 in Australia) I didn’t sleep well last night. It was a bit hot in our room. I was up at 6:50 and went for an early morning walk. The streets of Gunnedah were deserted, even allowing for it being a Sunday morning (and Mother’s Day here). Not only quiet but pristine clean and SO wide. Parakeet Julie loves these gum(?) trees that seem to have been stripped of their bark and sandpapered to a polish Nice house in Gunnedah We set off on the second of our five leg journey to the outback fairly early but first we detoured to a local park full of gum trees. Gunnedah is sometimes known as the ‘koala capital’ of Australia. We spent 15/20 minutes looking for them  without luck. They don’t move much and are, apparently, hard to spot. We did, however, have fun watching some argumentative cockatoos squabbling over a perch. The 436km (272 mile) drive to St George was about 5 hrs (without stops). The sky, initially overcast and providing some spots of rain, gradually cleared and beca...
Read more

May 25th: Fun, Food and ‘Footie’

Image
Day 52 (Day 27 in Australia) A rare treat this morning - a proper breakfast in the hotel. Old fashioned too as a waitress took our order and it was cooked just for us rather than buffet style. It was good! The video below is the view from our room. I would have filmed it last night for the sunset but I couldn’t fine out how to unlock the door. Turns out it wasn’t locked! Milawa is a very sleepy little place but in a famous gourmet region. As well as wineries, there is a bakery, cheesery, olivery and a mustardry. (I may have just made up some of those terms but the establishments exist).  Milawa Mustard Shop Mr Milawa Main Mustard Maker is from Harrogate Our journey back to Phil & Carolyn’s in Melbourne was only 3 hours so we had plenty of time to enjoy it and arrive mid afternoon in time for this evening’s entertainment. First stop was for coffee at a random town just off the highway. Violet Town was picked because we liked the name. Charming little place that is clearly strugg...
Read more

May 14th: Glamping It Up!

Image
Day 41 (Day 16 in Australia) Our stop for tonight and tomorrow is 3km outside the town of Longreach, which is less than 2 hrs drive from our ultimate Outback destination of Winton. We’re at Mitchell Grass Retreat for a spot of ‘glamping’ with a definite emphasis on ‘glam’. Our ‘tent’ The view from the deck As the owner showed us around our ‘tent’ with its large double bed, separate bathroom with bath and  large shower, kitchen area with fridge/freezer (including a large bar of KitKat - dark chocolate Tasmanian mint flavour - you don’t get that back home!), deck with gas barbecue etc, she pointed to a decanter half full of port and said, “if you run out just let us know and we’ll restock it for you”!! She also said, “I’ve just cleaned your toilet again as there was a green frog in it. He likes it here so he might come back”!!! We like frogs so I’m hoping it is a green tree frog and does pay us a visit. Well done to Carolyn for booking this place! Mind you, the first thing I saw aft...
Read more