Ballina, Byron Bay and Cabarita Beach - nearly in Brisbane

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Tuesday 28^th April 2015



We ummed & ahhed about which way to leave the campground, Rags not really wanting to backtrack through the town with the van in tow. The reason was that the bridge across the river was very narrow, had two sharp bends in it, and we would be crossing at a busy time of the day.

He needn’t have worried, the road out of the park to Casino, we were told by the man at the park, was an excellent road and by going this way we by-passed the city and the bridge with kinks in it that Rags didn't like.

Casino wasn’t the glitzy, glamorous place the name envisions it to be - another nice country town. We stopped there and had morning coffee, before continuing on. We bypassed Lismore, and on the way into Ballina we cut off a a young guy in a work ute at the roundabout, who certainly let us know!! They don't like giving caravans any space to move! We drove through Ballina, not seeing anywhere to stop, but as we continued on we crossed a bridge, passed through East Ballina and headed towards Byron Bay. We were both feeling a little frazzled after the car incident and the traffic, so when we saw a caravan park sign at the next left turn, we took it!

It was a Big 4 caravan park which are usually quite expensive but this one was reasonable so we grabbed it so we could park the van and just drive around in the Jeep! Very nice reception and when parking the van Rags was directed into the spot by a staff member with great accuracy. After setting up the van we were off to see the sights. Once we had set up and had lunch we drove back towards the lovely town of Ballina, this time having a better chance of seeing something. We renewed Rags’ prescriptions here, and walked through the town whilst they were being prepared. Lots of cafes, coffee shops, dress and other shops, catering for the tourist, which seemed to be the norm.

We stopped at Pat Morton Lookout at Lennox Head. This lookout is a long climb up the cliffs (used for hang-gliding on suitable days) overlooking a surf beach and the township. The vegetation on both sides of the track was so dense you would have no idea that the ocean was so close if you were just dropped in there.

Both of us were undecided on what we thought of Byron Bay. As a town it was lovely, with its three or four streets of shops on one side of a cliff, with parks and a few cafes at the top overlooking the bay with the lighthouse at the point. Driving up the steep winding road to the lighthouse was interesting, with views of the coastline on both sides. We discovered why so many people were walking up it, not because they wanted to be fit, but because the local council had a person up there charging $7 for parking. Judy took a couple of photos as we turned around and we had a coffee at one of the cafes by the beach. From here we rang our friend, Rod, answering a missed call. He was surprised with our response to what we thought of the place.

We drove around the town, looking for some of the up-market properties such as the one owned by Paul Hogan, but all we found were more holiday properties and several well- hidden places that could belong to a famous person.

Back at the caravan camp we agreed that staying where we were was much better than being in town, and tomorrow we would by-pass Byron Bay, going north.

As we were eating our dinner of prawns in tomato, garlic and chilli sauce on rice, the heavens opened. This was earlier than expected, rain being forecast for later in the week. Lets hope it doesn't set in. We had been going to stop overnight further up the coast but this made us think we might head toward our friend, Helen's place where we hope to be sheltered from the bad weather that is expected.



Wednesday 29^th April 2015



It rained steadily all night and into the early morning, easing up for only about 60 minutes, giving Rags an opportunity to hitch up the van and get it ready to go.

Luckily the rain did stop as we headed north and about 50kms along the Pacific Hwy Rags saw a road sign to Cabarita Beach. Remembering that was where his friend Ned and his wife, Cheryl, were holidaying, we detoured there. A phone call gave us the address and we met up with them for morning tea and later lunch. They were staying with friends they had made when their son, Travis, was on the Olympic Swimming Team. Nice people, living in a huge house on the banks of an island estate. We enjoyed a walk out along the beach to the headland whilst chatting to Ned and Cheryl.

We continued on to Murrumba Downs, a suburb of Brisbane, stopping only to refuel, and set up our van at David & Helen’s home. These are two people we met years ago on a Danube River cruise and have caught up with them since and stayed in touch. Neither were home but we had instructions on where/how to set up and we soon made ourselves at home.

We have the Jeep booked in for a service next Tuesday morning and will try to book the caravan in for early next week. Hopefully, tomorrow we will get the Thermomix repaired as well.

Dinner was fried spuds and onion with mullet fillets and broccoli. Doesn't sound marvelous but the fresh fish from Yamba, made the dish. The rest of the evening was spent talking over some “sticky” wine and cheese.

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Photos

Ballina
Another icon, this time placed in front of the Bunning"s carpark. Several other caravans had swung in as did several others whilst we were there, this probably not popular with the local shoppers.

Lennox Head
There were many surfers below the cliffs and signs showed that there would be hangliders there on suitable days.

Byron Bay
One of the many surf shops there.

Cabarita Beach
Looking a little older than when we met in kindergarten.