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Published: August 13th 2009
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Good Morning all..
Firstly, many sorrys for the gap between blogs. Travelling for a year means inevitably at some point a daily routine will return in a hope to save for the next adventure. I'm very much hoping i win this weeks lotto..until then i shall fill you in on my last adventure.
Having started my journey up the East Coast of Australia with Pippa in Brisbane and going North, finishing in Sydney and then coming up to the Central Coast and the Hunter Valley there was about 400km of coastline that i missed, the beautiful Gold Coast.
Brad and I decided to take a two week road trip up to Byron Bay and Surfers Paradise before we had to settle down to work. We packed up Brad's ute with a tent, fishing rods, golf clubs and an esky packed with snacks for the road and set off on our 9 hour drive North up the Pacific Highway to Byron Bay. On our way, we drove by Port Macquarie and through Coffs Harbour, famous for it's Big Banana. After leaving Singleton in the early hours of the morning, we eventually arrived in Byron Bay at around 7pm. It
was a dark evening so we had to leave it for the next morning to start exploring. Remembering that it was the middle of winter, to wake up to blue skies was an absolute treat, we headed down towards the beach and had breakfast in the beautiful sunshine. Byron Bay is home to the most easterly point of the Australian Mainland, the path down the cliff to the rocks starts at the lighthouse and it was England 'v' Australia in a race to the bottom...needless to say, England won despite what Brad may say..!
Our evenings in Byron were spent eating beautiful food and listening to some fantastic live bands in funky little pubs, filled with locals mingling amongst the tourists. There is a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere that lingers in throughout the bay and i can only imagine that the life expectancy here would be slightly higher than the rest of Australia perhaps if it wasn't for the copious amounts of 'wacky backy' that is smoked by men, women and children alike. The people of Byron are bonkers!
Nimbin is a small town that lies about an hours drive through the hills and forests West of Byron and
is famous for the blind eye the police turn to the entire population and the fact that they are constantly high as a kite. Brad and I decided to take a trip over to the town, not to pick up an ounce of Nimbin's finest of course, but to see for ourselves this bizarre hippy culture. Almost as soon as we arrived we'd seen all there was to see. One street, 4 shops, 2 cafes and shockingly enough a police station at one end. Needless to say, the scent of the town was a little too much for us and we didn't stay very long, and it was also time to make our way up the coast again to Surfers Paradise.
We packed up our tent and headed about an hour North over the State border into Queensland where we were met with the sky rises of the coastal resort of Surfers Paradise. My first thought was how much of a bigger impact this relatively small town had on me at first sight, than the Western Australian Capital City, Perth. Very different to the little shacks and huts of Byron Bay, and a lot more atmosphere even in the
winter season. The weather was still very fair and it was lovely to take long strolls along the beach, unfortunately there weren't any surfers unlike in Byron Bay but a few people were braving the water...including ourselves!
As we had brought the fishing rods with us, we were very keen for a spot of fishing, unfortunately nothing in the rivers surrounding Surfers would feed us for dinner but it would provide us with a few hours of fun. We found a fishing shop, some seriously stinky fishing tackle and a prime position down on the river. The sun was going down and we were starting to get very hungry by the time we had our first bite...lets just say, England were victorious again. Dani - 4, Brad - 1 (and that was an accident..he'd already cut the line which had gotten caught on something!)
Strolls along the beach, fishing and crazy golf satisfied our day times but the evenings called for beautiful dinners and a trip to the cash machine...and then a taxi to the famous Jupiters Casino! I was very excited as aside from the kiddies section of Ceasar's Palace in America i'd never been to a
casino! The Roulette table took my fancy first and it's very easy to see how addictive it could become...i was really good at it, turning 20 $5 chips into 50 $5 chips in all but 2 minutes! I had the little angel on one shoulder telling me that i should walk away with a good win, but the little devil on the other shoulder took me to the Blackjack table...! After cashing in some winnings we called it a night, unbeknown to us 3am had crept up on us and we were driving down to Tweed Heads on the State border the next day to meet up with two of our housemates Ricky and Deanne from London, Ivan who we used to work with in London and his girlfriend Patricia and Lucas and Jane who were flying up from Singleton.
We all met at Ricky's family's house in Tweed Heads and big hugs and kisses went flying around in the excitement of seeing each other. We cooked up a barbeque on the terrace overlooking the ocean and cracked open a few beers with Ricky's family. Later, us 'kids' headed out to the local RSL club for a few games
of pool. The next morning we headed down to the beach to try our hands at surfing! I'd never surfed before so this was really exciting! Brad and I received a quick lesson from Ricky, strapped our boards to our ankles and headed out into the surf. I can confidently say that surfing, is definitely, absolutely, most certainly not as easy as it looks! I think we spent at least 20mins trying to get ourselves, plus board, out past where the waves were breaking, an exhausting process in itself! After several failed attempts we thought we would leave it to the professionals and join everyone else on the beach for a game of beach cricket. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to spent the winter months on the beach.
Upon hearing what Brad and I had to say about our visit to the casino, we decided that on our last night we would all get dressed up, head on back up to Surfers to wax some hard earned cash! Going back with a big group was great, we all but took over each of the tables we sat at, and playing against each other was so much
fun. Another late night and we headed home, some quicker to offer up money for the taxi than others who hadn't done so well in the casino!
Unfortunately there had to come a time when would have to make our way back home to the Singleton. Having said that, going from one beautiful part of Australia to another isn't really as tough as i try and make out..
From relaxing on the beautiful Gold Coast, to working in the stunning surroundings of the vineyards in the Hunter Valley. Till the next time..
Lots of Love from Byron Bay, NSW
Danielle xx
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Aunty Emma
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Another great Blog
Hi Dani, Thanks for the update. Good to have the official report on everything! Having just come back from a weekend camping and feeling very inferior with our little tent it was nice to see someone with an even smaller tent! Sounds like you had fun on your road trip. Can't believe I've never been to a casino now. Not even the kiddies section anywhere. I'm still addicted to the shuffle slot machines. Blackjack sounds very grown up. Have equally never surfed, have always thought it was harder than it looked though, had worked that one out for myself. Probably wouldn't have the strength now. (very old and decrepit as I am) Have you any more exciting adventures planned or is it just work work work now. Missing you loads. Lots of Love and a big hug. Emma. Ps I want a plane like yours!