Well we have just completed the very first circumnavigation of Australia - on land (Highway 1 to be precise). We'd visited Nambucca Heads as our first trial run last January and have pulled into the same caravan park - Foreshore - right on the river. Lovely but sad to see this all ending. However, many many more exciting things to see and do in the next year or so.

One thing we had been looking forward to before returning to Sydney was a good hike (or trek as they call it here).Unfortunately a visit to most of the inland national parks would have added too many kilometers to the clock, even if we had had the time.From our last time in this area ten years ago we remembered the dominant and instantly recognisable feature of MountWarning, which lies just inside the NSW border.We decided that a climb to the summit was just what was needed.Our drive south to Murwillumbah took us through the Gold Coast with its famous Surfers Paradise (which didn't impress us at all, it was too busy and built up - a little like Benidorm).While driving through Surfers Paradise, we wondered what these strange buildings were at the side of the road and what's with all the tyre marks?But suddenly it twigged - this had been the site the previous weekend of one of Australia's most famous motor races, a bit like a Grand Prix.As we neared the border at Tweed Heads the scenery improved and indeed became very attractive the further we headed inland towards the hills.This, combined with beautiful hot, sunny weather made us look forward even more to our hike. Sunday morning, up bright and early - or so we thought!No-one had warned us that the clocks in NSW go forward at the end of October (with the UK time change on the same day we were now eleven hours ahead). So it was a mad dash to get ready and be off site by 10am.Then, as we were ready to roll we found we had a flat rear tyre.Blast and other expletives were used!!!Thank goodness for double rear tyres, we were able to drive to the nearest filling station where we put air in the tyre.This being Sunday no-one was available to check the tyre and because changing a rear tyre ourselves would be a difficult process, we couldn't risk a drive up the mountain and further away from help if the tyre continued to be troubleseome. We therefore decided to abort the climb up Mt Warning and drive instead the 50kms south to ByronBay where help would be readily available the following day. On a positive note we decided we would return to do the walk when we hire a car in Sydney. Ten years after our first visit to ByronBay, it hadn't changed much except it now had a more upmarket feel.The sea was a bit cooler and the lively surf still ripped off your swimmers though. Jings!!The weather deterioirated rapidly with thunderstorms and rain for nearly all day and night but luckily BB has a picture house where we saw A Mighty Heart - a very good and moving film. Next day it cleared up - although it was a bit more humid than we remembered - so we took a walk from town to CapeByron and the lighthouse - the most Easterly point in mainland Australia. We've visited the most Southerly, Westerly and Easterly but didn't manage to get to Cape York, the most Northerly. The walk was wonderful - the coastline is much more attractive than we remembered - and we were treated to some wildlife displays. We saw humpback whales on their migration south; a pair of Sea Eagles duelling with a pair of Brahminy Kites; a Sea Eagle diving into the surf to catch its dinner (he flew past us so closely we could actually see water on his wings); an Eastern Water Dragon posing for photographs on the footpath; and what we are certain was a perentie (second largest lizard in the world) lumbering through the undergrowth. See photos of some of these events on the ByronBay photo album.M had recalled passing McPhillips Creek (McPhillips is her own surname) when we drove this way 10 years ago. She was therefore thrilled to see a sign on the highway announcing a McPhillips Rest Area and naturally we stopped there for coffee and a toilet stop - such was the excitement!Weather at Nambucca Heads was unkind - thundery and wet but we did enjoy the riverside once again and our last couple of nights camping in Annie.

We also managed a very enjoyable round of golf - at $10 for as much as you can manage not a bad deal. But the golf was pretty patchy and to give you a hint of the standard, E lost a lot of balls: at one hole 4 were driven straight into the water!!!!!!! But he also had some cracking shots including pitching from a bunker right into the hole. Also forgot to say that mysteriously we had no further problems with the tyre - spooky!?!