Byron's Bay

If you want to find somewhere really special on the east coast of Oz, Byron's Bay is it. What a gorgeous setting, superb beaches and spectacular views. Climbed to the top of the lighthouse which is set on the most easterly point of mainland Oz, saw whales frolicking in the water but couldn't get them on camera 'cos we don't have a tele lens, nearly stepped on a snake-long enough but fairly slim, greyish with green underside-spotted a scaley breasted lorikeet and watched the surfers doing their thing in the sun, on the sand. Overall, a delicious day. Off to Maroochydore tomorrow. Here is a taste of what we saw.

Mt Tambourine

On Saturday we had a lovely day exploring the 'hinterland' and found ourselves at Mt Tambourine after a climb like the sidlings. They had horse and cart rides and a whole village set up there a bit like Kuranda near Cairns. Great atmosphere.

On the way down the mountain we found a whole bunch of guys jumping off the side using gliders and parachutes, riding the thermals. We sat and watched them for a while, enjoying the view from there as well. Too bad if you trip when you are running off the edge and jumping into space!

Surfer's Paradise

Surfer's in the background. Didn't take any pictures of the bikini clad ambassadors. This will have to do!

Looking back towards Coolangatta where we stayed.

Did the Burleigh Heads national park walk today and checked out Surfer's. Beautiful, warm and picturesque.

Tweed Heads/ Coolangatta

Coolangatta/ Tweed heads

We took off from Coffs Harbour and the Lorikeet Park on Tuesday and felt confident enough to drive without GPS. We had checked out Grafton on Monday and knew the general layout of the area pretty well by then. Grafton was fun-a relaxed town with wide streets and plenty of services, the sun shone warm and there was plenty of parking. OK, so how do you know when Bert is relaxed? He comes shopping without grumbling and doesn’t have to buy the first thing he tries on! Found him some nice shirts to cater for the warmer conditions and I got some shoes for the same reason. They will be handy for next season.

The floods last year came through Grafton with a vengeance. We couldn’t believe how high they must have been when we saw the bridge that was in all the pictures. The river valley is wide and the bridge so high, it would have been petrifying to live nearby, not knowing how high the water might come. That bridge is freaky to drive over too. It has a BEND in the middle and cars are warned to give way to trucks on it. You literally have to stop in the middle, on the crest , and give way if you spy a truck coming up the other side! Another example of how many of these towns have grown too fast and nothing was properly planned.

So we were heading for Ballina thinking we would stay there but when we turned on the GPS for directions, it was BLANK. Switch it off, try again-still nothing. Not happy Jane! Further efforts were to no avail but by then it was time for a rest stop and coffee from the thermos. We spotted a Yellow breasted Robin and marked him off in the book and then got talking to an old couple who were also on the way. Ofcourse enquiries are made about destinations and lots of free recommendations are made. Ross and Coralie were headed for Kirra beach at Coolangatta and since we were free wheeling, we thought we might follow them in. Which we did and were very glad to have a free guide, even though they weren’t aware of it. Turns out they had spent the night at Lorikeet Park too.

Coolangatta/ Tweed Heads are called the Twin Cities. The border between Queensland and NSW runs right through the middle of them-one minute you are in Nsw and on the other side of the road you are in Q’land. It’s all about food, shopping and gaming around here but the night temperatures are around 13 degrees so far and the park is lovely so we might stay a while. A trip into Cooly as the locals call it, found us first at Dick Smith for help, then ‘Laptop2Go’ so we could get the laptop fixed because it wasn’t connecting to the internet. We discovered it was the virus scanner blocking it and thence toHArvey Norman to get the GPS doctored. 30 mins of downloading and ploading and so on restored it and now we are all connected once again. Maybe we should do without all the gadgets and we’d be better off?

We will drive to Surfers Paradise tomorrow (30km) and have a look around. Enjoying sitting in the sun and really holidaying.

Cheers!

You should see us now!

Coffs Harbour welcomed us with beautiful weather and a gorgeous caravan park at the Arrawarra beach. They had suffered lots of damage from the storms so we couldn't get a powered site. To our dismay (not) they gave us a free upgrade to an ensuite site-talk about luxury. You don't have to put a coat on to go to the loo and you can go on bare feet too. You can also leave your things in the bathroom! At the moment we are inside without coats, jumpers or heaters on, hard to believe. Today we explored our surroundings and hopefully we can add some more photos of Port MAc showing the view from the church tower there. St Thomas' church is the fifth oldest church in Aus, convict built with those wierd convict boxes to hide them from the wealthy parishioners and is still used every Sunday. The view from there was as good as from the Sydney Eye-they could charge $25 too and rake the money in.

Port Macquarrie and Coffs Harbour

Touring at Port Macquarrie on an old chinese junk. Lunch was the freshest ocean perch you ever tasted!

Who's the big---- then?

We saw thomas and friends at the Clog Barn, Levi.

Bert posing harbour bridge in the back ground , note the wellrounded appearance

just a quick one for today, had a brilliant day and lots of fun .
Saw a lot and had plenty to marvel at .
Cheers Bert and Irene

Sydney opera house ,we had a brilliant guide
and the sun shone. Fascinating building, fascinating history

Batemans Bay

Relaxing @ Batemans Bay

Waiting for trains and mono rail.

Hello every one again , here we are in Sydney than and you have guest it Rain Rain Rain- we are over it, that is the weather of course, having a great time otherwise.
Arrived here Saturday lunch time, the journey from wollongong [ bulli ] was supposed to have taken about one hour but after a challenging time with Jane [the voice on our GPS] we limped in, mentally exhausted
but blown away that a GPS can send you on sight seeing tours through Sydney with a caravan in tow, doing blokkies in Redfern of all places then on through Sydney CBD and then over The Habour Bridge.
After that it was of course a sinch but I can assure you we were the only idiots out there , it helps ofcourse that we have Tassie number plates- most locals being verry accommodating.
Stocked up for the weekend at a shopping centre in Epping somewhere near McQuarrie university.
 Spent Sunday Morning worshipping with some Presbyterians also in Epping.
Today [Monday] explored Sydney, you know doing all the touristy things eg
Taking the trains to Darling habour ,The mono rail around the CBD, Paddy's market, Powerhouse museum, a Jazz concert also at darling habour, and all !!!! to stay out of the RAIN.
But it was not all bad , managed to spend a truck load in one of the locals and sampled some of the local brew to warm up again.
Staying put till wednesday- the weather is supposed to clear then , hoping to be off to Coffs Harbour.
The fun continues, that's it for now. will try to include some pics.

Bate mans bay

Hi guys what a beautiful place this is and guess what.... sunshine!!!.
Did some sight seeing today  and sat on the beach for a few hours after having been to a zoo
where they specialised in exotic animals eg White lions and other threatened species .
Will enclose some more photos.
Off tomorrow to Wollongong to a place called Bulli , from there we hope to move on to Sydney.

Irene on Surf beach Batemans Bay

Master chef at work

PS-Eden Harbour/ Bermagui photos

This was the view from the Wharfside Restaurant in Eden- except for the sunshine!

                                                           Bermagui Coast line
Photos stolen off internet!! Heehee

Eden and Bermagui

After a dismal 24 hours cooped up in the caravan we were very glad to see the sun this morning. An aborted attempt to post a blog last night due to technical issues did not help matters. However, the Killer Whale Museum at Eden was great and we had an outstanding meal of freshly caught sea food on the wharf there too. Highly recommend Wharfside Cafe and Restaurant. Iheir Bailey's Chai Latte was to die for! Providentially, we had escaped Lakes Entrance on time because the weather reports from there deteriorated raidly after we left. The surf was enormous ofcourse after those storms and it was impressive at Bermagui too. We watched the 8 metre swells rolling in from the ocean and had an interesting chat with a local. The coast line is stunning around there but the road was more winding and steep than we expected. Bega-did some cheese tasting and went back in time in the cheese factory. The milking equipment on display was the same brand as he used in training in Holland 35 years ago-that's when you feel old! Now we have parked in Bateman's Bay which on first sight is a pretty and friendly coastal town.

Lakes Entrance

Boy  was it cold the first night in the caravan! Luckily we had electric blankets. We headed off and made our first stop at Bairnsdale where there is a world famous church which I am sure you have ALL heard about. St Mary's Church has frescoes painted all over the ceiling and top part of the walls. They were done by an Italian immigrant who wanted a change from pea picking 80 years ago. It's a bit of a shock when you walk in-paintings on every square centimeter. The main one over the altar depicts heaven, hell and purgatory and there are scenes showing Jesus' walk to Golgotha. While we were there a group of Asians came in, genuflected and knelt in solemn prayer. The idolatory was pretty confronting and makes you feel uneasy for sure.

Paynesville was gorgeous, a real boatie's paradise.Just the place for a group of friends to bring their boats for the summer and have the families relaxing on shore and at sea! How about it guys? On to Lakes Entrance and some nice scenery but more business like and serious marining. The caravan park had a pool, spa and sauna which we made the most of and heat pumps in the amenities block. Delicious! especially since it rained ALL day. We enjoyed a sermon on Timothy and Paul's advice to promote sound doctrine and plan to head for Eden tomorrow.

St Mary's Church, Bairnsdale

Bert is happy. He found Lakes Entrance!

breakfast somewhere along the Monash Highway

The adventure began with coffee at ETC-caffiene fix to calm the driver's nerves. Boarding the Spirit went smoothly and we enkoyed a good meal on board. We wanted to upgrade to a cabin and were told to come back after take off. Engines started-we went back. Sorry-too early. Left the dock-went back. Sorry-too early, we have to do the safety speech first. Third time lucky! Got a cabin and slept VERY well. The packet of Kwells says they can make you drowsy-maybe that's what it was. GPSguided us very nicely to our first caravan park at Sale by 11.00am. Settled in, had a break and did some grocery shopping. Cooked lamd cutlets for tea, just like on our honeymoon!! Yum Yum.Tomorrow, we are off to Lake's Entrance.