Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Bits between Sydney and Brisbane
The travel guides would have you believe that this is all a fabulous area as it is where most Sydney dwellers (Sydneites?) go for their summer holidays. In reality the larger towns have been a bit of a disappointment but looking a bit harder has meant we've found some lovely places.
Almost all the holiday resort towns are built around the mouths of rivers. They have various beaches, boating opportunities and good fishing (Aussies are into fishing in a very big way) but there is nothing special or unique about each place. Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour and Ballina all merge into one in the memory in the same way that Colwyn Bay and Prestatyn and Rhyl do.
A bit further north of Ballina is Byron Bay, which is a relaxed seaside town with charm and character and the best beach we've found since Mullaloo in north Perth. On our first visit we wandered around the shops before driving to Byron Head lighthouse and the most easterly point on the Australia mainland. We saw a pod of about 30 dolphins in the water and a HUGE goanna (monitor lizard) in the bushes. We spent the afternoon on Watego beach which had clear, warm waters, strong waves and warm, soft and squeaky sand (continuing with the N Wales theme, a bit like Whistling Sands beach on Llyn Peninsula). Later we walked out to another, lower head land where Josh clambered on rocks and we saw more dolphins doing something that looked like surfing.
That evening at the campsite Anna noticed a few large fruit bats in the sky. A few quickly turned into thousands and we both watched amazed as they flew overhead from their roost (which we found the next day in trees by a river) to find food. It was stunning and Anna's favourite wildlife moment so far.
The next couple of days we spent further north visiting Brisbane and Australia Zoo, more of which in another blog.
On our way back south we stopped at Brunswick. This is a small town about 25kms north of Byron. It had a similar relaxed feel and charm as Byron and we easily passed a morning while Anna looked in shops and we both sat watching surfers from the breakwater. Later that day we again went to Byron Bay and back to Watego beach. It was Easter Monday and busier than previously but a country with only 23 million people in such a large space doesn't seem to know the meaning of a busy bank holiday, certainly not when judged against Castleton. We both enjoyed splashing in the water (although Anna less so because the waves kept threatening to steal her bikini) and basking on the beach.
The following day we went about 50km inland to a town called Nimbin. The town, in its current form, started in the 1970's after an alternative living / hippy festival was held there and not everyone left. It had lots of bearded old people, people wearing daft clothes and some wonderfully painted shops. It also had a really nice art gallery of local artist's work which was of a very high quality. It was rather like Glastonbury (the town). Josh doesn't understand why all alternative communities seem to dress the same, sell the same badly made (?) clothing and tat and be obsessed with legalising cannabis, isn't it all a bit clichéd and actually not very alternative?
We camped the night in Iluka, which is a small coastal town surrounded by rain forest. We bought snags (sausages) and steak and cooked them on a public BBQ by the river. We were then treated to a stunning sunset with distant lightening, a fabulous array of colours in the sky and dolphins swimming in the water in front of us. It was a beautiful end to the day.
We started the next day with a walk through the forest to a bluff. It was very green and verdant and there were lots of delightful bird song. We saw bright red mushrooms and quite a few really small, dark lizards but no snakes, much to Anna's relief. When we got to the bluff a sea eagle decided to take off from nearby and soar a bit which was quite obliging.
We ate lunch of rotisserie chicken (which we now refer to as Pam chook after her fondness for buying them) in the same place as we'd sat the previous night and the enjoyed watching the pelicans, they are incredibly graceful flyers.
Josh and Anna x
- comments
Sally Sounds lovely but I should point out that those old enough to visit festivals in the 70s are not now necessarily old or bearded! Have fun. X