Bad Times

James couldn't get Monica into gear unless we turned off the engine. Fortunately we weren't far from Ballina and James managed to drive us as far as a campsite. The owners were very friendly and looked over Monica, by this time she wouldn't get into gear at all. The owner guessed it would cost around $300 but we had to stay the night as it was Sunday evening.
The following morning we were ringing round the local mechanics and I nearly passed out when I was given the first quote of $900! Eventually we decided on the cheapest one and then had to pay out another $70 to be towed 3 minutes up the road! The owners of the garage seemed nice and got the job done within the day. It was an expensive clutch repair but we are back on the road just with a little less money to spare!

We took a detour from the highway to two towns called Yamba and Angourie. They are famous areas for awesome surf. We had a look and were suitably impressed the waves were huge and flowing in between two giant boulders. Angourie is where the founder/owner of the surf wear billabong lives. All the houses in the area are pretty big but you can still easily see which one he owns, it is huge!

We were pleasantly surprised with this un-touristy area as there were some nice walks around the coast and a few watering holes that the locals were using as jumping pools. We saw some young boys jumping from what can only be described as jumping from a cliff into a small pond. Obviously James had a go. He climbed up the cliff which actually looked the scariest part and then jumped in from the highest point. To top it off I put my feet in the water and it was freezing-no thanks!