We arrived in Tweed Heads not knowing what to expect. We hadn't planned on staying there, but decided to spend a week there before hitting the theme parks.

The first thing I realised when we set up the van was that we had booked an ensuite site!! That's right folks, we had our very own bathroom that we didn't have to share with anyone! Bliss! We had to stay on an ensuite site because we had a dog. The park itself was pretty small with lots of permanent residents. I didn't realise so many people lived in caravan parks! They had their vans with added on rooms and bathrooms, front porches and garages! Some of them are actually really big and have been done up quite nicely. We met Michael and Claire, permanent residents that have been living there for 11 years. They were nice and Michael always came over to say hello to Charli and give us tips of what to do around Tweed Heads. We were his new best friends...until we didn't go to the Friday avo gathering at the camp kitchen. Michael sings there every Friday and Andy dobbed me in saying that I could sing. Michael said that he would get me up to sing harmonies to songs I don't know. yeah right! So we didn't go (I know, we probably should have) and Michael didn't speak to us for the rest of our time there!

We went to the information centre in Tweed and found some good places to go. Out of all the different activities there were around there, we decided on Tropical Fruit World and Whale Watching.

The next day we popped Charli into the boarding kennels and headed off to TROPICAL FRUIT WORLD! What is it exactly? Well, it is a world...of Tropical Fruit. We paid our $44 each and made our way down the "Magical Fruit Path" to our tasting session. We sat in a room and we were the youngest by about 40 years. That didn't matter though, because we were at Tropical Fruit World! The lady that was running the tasting showed us lots of different types of fruit, where they came from and what they do for our bodies. Then it was time for tasting. We lined up and filled our plates with lots of different fruits from around the world, some of which we new (banana, star fruit, kiwi) and many we didn't. Did you know that the kiki fruit didn't actually originate in New Zealand but China? We learnt a lot, but I've forgotten. I felt like I should have been taking notes! We tried this one fruit that tasted like sherbert and one that was pitch black. It didn't taste like anything on its own, but when we mixed it with ice-cream, it tasted like chocolate pudding! Crazy!

After the tasting, we jumped on a carriage that was towed by a tractor and went for a tour of the orchards. Lots of different trees that grew all the different fruit we tasted (and more). We stopped and saw a tree that grew its flowers and fruit on the trunk and thick branches. We then moved to the macadamia nut tree and cracked the macadamia nuts out of their hard shells. They were delicious!

The tractor dropped us off at the animal section of the tour (I didn't know animals were fruits!! ;) ) and we said hello to them. We jumped on a little river boat and took a little ride to Treasure Island. Andy thought the little train that we met when we got off the boat was going to take us to the next place, so we jumped on quickly to get the first ride! It just took us around the island and back to where we got on. haha!

The tractor took us back to the beginning and our time at Tropical Fruit World was complete. I don't know if it was worth $44 each, but it was interesting to see all the different plants and fruits.

After TFW, we drove 30 mins to Byron Bay! We had lunch at the Beach Hotel and went for a wander through shops. Andy bought some nice boardies. We sat on the grass overlooking the beach for a while and just chilled. It was a lovely day!

The next day we got up early and headed off for Whale Watching! The person I spoke on the phone to said to take sea sickness tablets and I was a bit worried because I don't really like being on boats when it's really rough. When we got down to the boat though, it was really calm. The organises said it was going to be a good day. We set off at about 9am and after about 20 mins we saw our first whales! They were pretty far away and we both thought that we wouldn't see any others closer. However, as the minutes passed, the lady with the microphone, who was our guide, was pointing out whales all around us. She said that there were about 6 pods of whales around us at that time, but they weren't very active. Suddenly, one whale who we'd seen at the very beginning came very close to us. We knew it was him as he had a very hooked dorsal fin. He and his friend came closer and closer to the boat and began 'mugging' us. This means that he went around and around the boat, popping his head out of the water to see us, diving, coming back up and slapping his fins and tail on the water. It was just fabulous!!

There were many other whales out further that were breaching (jumping out of the water and landing on their backs). Apparently they swim down about 50m and begin swimming up to the surface, getting faster and faster. Finally, they do one last huge kick and fly out of the water, turning and landing on their backs. There are many reasons they do this. Scientists pick up the skin that comes off the whale after they breach to determine what sex it is. Another interesting thing we learnt was that the bottom of the whale's tail (the white part) is different on each of them, like human's finger prints. Scientists use this information to work out the different whales! So cool!

After our amazing day on the boat, we relaxed and then went out to sushi train for dinner followed by 2 games of bowling!! It was the best date day ever!!!

They were the main things we did in Tweed Heads. We also went for some drives to see the area. We had lunch just north of Surfers Paradise which was a lovely area and we also ate a few times in Coolangatta, which is across the road from Tweed Heads (literally). One minute we were in NSW and as we crossed the street we were in QLD! The temperature seemed to rised as we entered QLD! :)

We wouldn't stay in Tweed Heads again but we would go back to Coolangatta or even a bit further north. It's funny how a few suburbs changes the whole feel of things! Off to Helensvale next, which is across the road from Movie World and Wet and Wild. yay!! xo