Day 41

So after travelling up from the Blue Mountains and finding so many areas relatively quiet, it was a real lift to come into Byron Bay and find the place heaving with people.We quickly booked up to one of the two campsites just by town as they were filling up very quickly and chilled out for a while.We took a stroll into town when the weather cooled slightly, to investigate the diving (not great) and what's in and around the town, before heading for a quiet beer in a bar with some live music.

Day 42

Woke up to some great weather today, so there was only one thing to do - beach.We'd been chatting to some surfers that said the town was great but the surf wasn't so great but for us, that meant the sea was relatively calm (though it's never been really calm).Marie is loving the waves…The beach was good, busy but made for a good day.We went for a quick swim in the local public pool as well to get a few lengths in.Burger and chips for dinner (classy!!) to destroy any fitness work done in the pool and then out in the evening for a few beers, starting off at a place on the sea front before heading over to the Station Bar where a live band were giving it large on the stage.We were even given their latest free single…..

Day 43

A tough choice whether to stay or move on but with the weather set to turn to rain in the Byron Bay area, we decided to go to the Gold Coast and into Queensland.So with the new single blasting through the speakers (naturally about a surfer), we headed out of Byron Bay and up towards Brisbane with the sun.Having found a nice campsite towards Southport, we went for a drive along the coast, passing through Surfers Paradise.We checked out the local town that seemed to have the potential to be pretty lively before heading over to check out the diving.Seems that the Gold Coast is diving for Chinese people and they dive to the big depth of 5-6 metres (errr, heard of snorkelling) so binned that but with the unhappy knowledge that it meant we wouldn't be diving at all in Australia (can you believe it).New Zealand will have to make up for it.

Day 44

A blast from the past younger days for Martin - Wet n Wild.We just had to go.So we headed out, even though it was a Sunday and in anticipation of looking at the Aqua Loop, a slide the practically goes over in a loop.It was busy but we got it and found a spot to leave our stuff and headed straight to a two person rubber ring slide to warm up before Martin headed onto the Torpedo, a slide that just drops.Pretty good.By then it was time for lunch.Thankfully we bought our own as everything with sh!t food where you realise why so many Australians are big.Then we wandered over to the other side of the park where we hit some more slides including the Aqua Racer and some normal ones.And then there it was, the Aqua Loop.Martin decided he had to do it, though it looked pretty crazy.So after a weigh in to check you weren't too light (not an issue) or too heavy (seemed ok), it was time to queue.It was great to hear the announcements saying that there was a chance that you may not make the loop and if so, you will slide back and be able to get out.Thinking it would never happen was silly as we all tried to get a look when there were signals that this had happened.Was the person big, small - how does it happen…Nervous energy was all around and as you got to the top, you saw the reality.You get into a chamber, where they close the door before the floor below you drops away and you shoot vertically down into the tube at up to 60kmh before completing a loop and coming to a halt.OMG, scary but awesome. No amount of persuasion could get Marie onto it!That seemed to be a great way to finish the day, so we then headed off for a quiet evening.

Day 45

When we had been driving we'd seen another campsite closer to town, so we decided to move there as Main Beach was just across the road and there wasn't a beach at the other one.We checked in and then saw the headline on the local paper - 3 brown snakes seen on Main Beach.Though Martin didn't want to know, Marie did so she looked up on the web and found that 3 brown snakes had come out of the dunes the day before and had been slithering around the beach, through people (who quickly got out their way) and though a snake man was called, they didn't manage to catch them. They also noted that Main Beach was a popular hangout for the brown snake and last year they caught 6 in one hour. Lovely, the second most venomous snake in the world sunbathing with you on the beach.So the beach we moved for was out of bounds.

We decided to wander into town and have a proper look around before heading back for a swim to cool down.The weather was beautiful.

Day 46

With such good pathways along the whole of the Gold Coast we decided to rent out bikes for 2 days and went off for a bike ride with our swim stuff firmly in hand what with the boiling hot weather again.We rode for some kilometres before landing at the hunks beach.Maries jaw dropped and she nearly rode into a lamp post for staring before ending up at Nobbys Beach where we went into the water and got beaten by the waves.Then it was time for lunch.Oh where better to have it than back at hunks beach Marie says because the waves weren't as big (hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm).After tidying up from Marie's dribbling we headed back to town and did all things Australian and got a Starbucks.A proper swim in the pool when we got back cooled us down - riding in hot sun is hard work.

Later on, we decided to have a bottle of wine and found that bikes were of great use to deliver it.

Day 47

Today was shopping day.We went off into town to have a look around and may be buy a couple of bits.We were going to buy loads in Asia but it never really happened, as they want to really sell designer fakes which isn't really our thing and though we put in orders for June to bring to NZ, a few more bits wouldn't hurt if they were around.We spent a couple of hours in town, wandering round with Martin picking up a couple of pairs of shorts and Marie a dress before heading over to the shopping mall a few km's away where Marie picked up a skirt and a couple of tops.The bikes were perfect for it.Martin was well pleased to be able to finally get rid of 2 pairs of shorts, one pair which was nicknamed the sweat shorts.

Day 48

Our penultimate day with the van on our road trip.Tomorrow was Canberra, so it started out with the fund of washing all the clothes before starting to sort out the van for returning.We then took the bikes out to the local netted sea swimming area to have a swim, before Marie decided she couldn't swim with her head down in the salt water, so we went next door to the proper pool.We did a number of lengths in the 50 metre pool before grabbing some lunch and heading back to the camp site to drop off the bikes.The weather turned for the afternoon, so we decided to stay put, relax and finish getting the van ready to return and ourselves packed.Weird to be getting the back packs out again.

In the evening we realised that our lengths in the pool would have been better if we'd put on some sun tan lotion, as we both got red backs….