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Published: October 15th 2008
Amerous Snakes
These two came crashing through the undergrowth madly entwined!!Hello! Thought we were off air? Well, we had a spell for a month on the Gold Coast and now we are back on the road headed for home. Should arrive around mid November. We will be travelling around the coast with mainly four night stays. For the numerates, we have now done over 10,000 klm at 14 litres per hundred . Some #@!!*??!! has taken duco off the front and just driven off! I was paying for petrol at the time. Oh well ... it takes all types!
TALLEBUDGERA (Palm Beach)
Because we stayed in one area for so long, we didn't want to bore you with our every move. The drive down from the Sunshine Coast to the Gold Coast on the 16th September was less than two hours. On the 17th we flew back to Melbourne for a week to visit our Mums and sort out a few things. Bill and Marg Russell had arrived at Tallebudgera by then and so they picked us up at the airport. Jetstar were late on both flights!
Being close to the ocean and the Tallebudgera Creek , we have done lots of
Iluka
Looking out along the Spit with ocean on the left and mouth of the Clarence River on the right walking. Burleigh Heads is about 3-4 klm via a national park so the coffee and lunch pattern was addressed. Like most, we know the Gold Coast very well as we have been here so often. It offers so much for families and entertainment but the people ......it's bedlam! Especially during school holidays when the caravan park was jam packed. So we did a few trips.
Lamington National Park (O'Reillys) About 70 klm from the coast, and the last section a winding mountain climb. O'Reillys is a tourist resort set in beautiful rainforest. The walks, including the treetop walk, are really nice. There are tropical birds along the trails and we even witnessed two snakes making love !! If you ever get the chance make sure you do go and see for yourself. The walks are not difficult.
Tambourine Mountain (Glow Worms) In co-operation with the government, Cedar Creek Vineyard on the mountain established a man made cave and introduced glow worms from the local area. What an intriguing little animal! After adjusting to near darkness it is amazing to see the light emanating from thousands of
Rhonda and entwined rock
Found this on the track at O'Reillys them. In three years they have done so well that they will soon be able to release thousands into their local native habitat. The half hour tour is very interesting and you can have a nice lunch before/after you do it.
Byron Bay Cape Byron is of course the eastern most point of this country. The sandy beaches and stunning rock faces are incredible. I have been here by foot before. Yes, by foot! Six of us walked from Surfers Paradise to Ballina over eight days in November 1981 carrying backpacks. A great adventure. Since that time the town has grown into a tourist haven with lots of accommodation, shops and restaurants. A popular destination for young and old alike. We really enjoyed the visit.
YAMBA
Yesterday Rhonda and I made an early exit from Palm Beach and did a 180 klm trip into the northern NSW river country to Yamba. What a surprise! With the mouth to the Clarence River and spectacular ocean beach and scenery we have made another great stopover. We will be here for four nights and then move down to Port Macquarie. We didn't expect such
Regent Bower bird
Brilliant colour! a large town in so remote a location. Make sure you come and see it if you haven't done so.
Maclean Just down the road on the banks of the Clarence River we found a pleasant inland town called Maclean. As its name suggests, it has a strong Scottish heritage. A feature was that a different scottish tartan was painted onto the bottom section of the light poles in the town. Very effective! The shopping strip was worth a stroll. We had a barbie with David and Carol Small last night and David thought he could live there. But then again he was born in Scotland!
Iluka After leaving Maclean, we drove back to the coast on the northern side of the Clarence to Iluka. A smaller version of Yamba. In fact you look across the spit at Yamba just half a kilometre away! We think we prefer Yamba though as Iluka is a little small and the beaches not as accessible from the caravan parks that mainly face the river. Well worth a visit though!
Tomorrow we plan to visit Grafton so will include that in the next blog.
What Iluka spying on Yamba!
Looking across the Clarence mouth towards the Spit on the Yamba side. are you doing?
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