Wet, Wetter, Wettest!

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What better way of spending a long weekend than to book accomodation for a relaxing break to experience fresh sea air, explore a new area and get out of the city. What a good idea and so we thought but we had not anticipated the 100mms of torrenetial rain that was to fall over the three days we had chosen to get away!!!

We drove down Saturday morning via Mullumbimby, the town that claims to be the Biggest Littlest Town in Australia! Well we were not sure about that but it was a sleepy little place with some rather unusal buildings that were certainly stuck in a time warp, there was however a delightful art gallery which was well worth a visit.

The drive to Minyon Falls was along a winding road that took us up into the Whian Whian State Forest, in the Nightcap National Park past huge Poinsettia Bushes far too big for any pot plant holder and small farms growing citrus fruits. Minyon Falls was set amidst the clouds and the water could be heard falling from a distance, so with waterproof coats and sturdy shoes we went in search of the base camp of the falls. Unfortunately due to poor signage we missed the path that lead to the falls and ended up taking the long 6.5 kms grassy wood walk and not a view of the falls in sight. So after 45 minutes we turned around and headed back for the car and settled for a view through the trees. We had also read about The Channon and Protestors Falls that was accesible further along the Lismore Road but with the rain falling and the light failing we headed for our accomodation near Broken Head, South of Byron.

Despite continual rain falling all through the night we decided to head for Lennox Head and hoped to manage a coastal walk in between the rain......with that scuppered we drove down to Ballina in the hope of finding somewhere dry to explore but to no avail but we did manage to watch some dolphins swim and jump through the surf at Ballina Head, they were not bothered with the rain at all! Weary and wet we decided to head back to our cabin and turned the heater up and watched a DVD and listened to the rain fall for the next twelve hours, it was relentless.

Monday was even worse the roads were awash with surface water and the nearby fields were completely swamped. Unpeturbed we drove up to Broken head and walked onto the beach and watched surfers enjoy 2m swell waves, not for the faint hearted! Then for some reason we decided to try and find a deserted cove we had discovered on one of our first trips to Byronshire along an unsealed road and up a very steep hill. The rain was falling down in torrents carving huge grooves in the road as the water poured down the hill we were glad to be in the Land Cruiser! We found Whites Beach and Seven Mile Beach but by this time the rain was falling so hard we could not see further than half a mile up the beach!

By now the weather had got the better of us and so we headed back to Brisbane via Bangalow a delightful town west of Byron where we had lunch and explored the quaint shops and galleries. We shall just have to return another day when the sunshine is forecast.

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