Leaving Queensland

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Hello everyone

We hope you are all well. We have now left Queensland after a fantastic month in Cairns and along the East coast. We arrived in New South Wales yesterday and we are staying in Lennox Head, just south of Byron Bay, but we got the bus into town this morning to have a bit of a look round, so we could both have a drink if the mood takes us...it is Friday after all!!

Sine we last updated the blog we have been quite busy again fitting in the rest of Queensland. We started off by travelling from the sunshine coast down to Brisbane...well that was the plan at least, but when we looked in our National Park guide, we realised that the campsite we were planning on was not viable with the van, so we changed our plans and went to Deception Bay instead. We had a quiet day wandering round the coast there before heading into Brisbane the next day (Sunday).

One slight problem was that we noticed water leaking from the van when we were on the sunshine coast, so we called roadside assistance who said that the best plan was to fill it up, and take it into the depot in Brisbane on Monday to get someone to look at it. Until then we were in the lap of the gods, hoping that we wouldn't break down on the way and that there was nothing seriously wrong with the van!!

But as there was nothing we could do about it until Monday, we drove into the centre of Brisbane and spent a bit of time exploring Fortitude Valley and Roma St Gardens. We found a nice campsite on the outskirts of Bris then headed back into the city in the morning with the intention of getting the van fixed and doing a walking tour of the city. As luck would have it the van was fixed by 11am, a loose clamp on a hose or something!! The restof the day was really great, we walked round the city, had lunch in the botanic gardens and had a paddle in the city beach. Helen had an hour to herself to do some (window)shopping (I sat in the pub and waited for her). We managed to catch the football highlights from the weekend, before heading back to the campsite. The one we had chosen this time was without doubt the worst campsite in the history of campsites!! We were very glad that we had decided to stay in the city until late, so we didn't have to go back and sit amongst the residents at the park.

In the morning we left quick smart and made our way to the Gold Coast. We had been advised that there was a nice tourist park at Palm Beach, about 15km south of Surfers, so we headed that way and were so happy with what we found, especially after the previous night!!

When we arrived we sorted ourselves out then walked into Burleigh Heads, primarily to find an internet cafe to sort out Zorbing. Burleigh was lovely though, a great surf beach, chilled feel to it and Helen found a cheap sweet shop that made her very happy! We booked Zorbing for Thursday morning, which meant that we would be able to fit it in on our way down to Byron.

We decided to hit surfers the next day to see what all the fuss was about. To be fair you can see why it has become so popular, a huge beach and beautiful weather. During the day we actually found it quite a nice place to wander round, have a look in the shops and have our lunch on the beach...but to be fair that's all there really is to the place...that and the wild parties of course. A day in Surfers is definitely enough though and we made our way back to Palm Beach mid afternoon. We decided to go for a couple of drinks in the evening and we found the local Surf Club, which was great. We felt very Home and Away as we sat looking out over the beach with a couple of drinks. Too far north to spot Alf Stewart as of yet, but we will be keeping an eye out for him!

Yesterday, our last in Queensland, started with a bang...well to be more accurately a wet splash around inside a 3m plastic ball as we were thrown down a hill!! Welcome to the world of Zorbing...so much fun, it kept us giggling all day. Basically they put you inside the ball with about 30 litres of water and through you down a hill. Then you get out, they take you to the top again and you start over! Awesome!!!

We then crossed the border to NSW and we are staying in Lennox Heads, which is a lovely little town, with a great beach, a few restaurants and a pub! We have spent the day in Byron, Helen is having a window shop as I do the blog. Byron is soooo nice, chilled to the max with an amazing beach. Might be able to persuade Helen that it's drink time just about now!

Not really sure where we go from here, other than we have 2 weeks to get to Sydney, so the next bit of the journey will be planned this evening I think. So until next time, we will sign off for now. I must apologise for the lack of photos, but I keep going to cafes that won't let me plug a USB in.

So that all for now folks

Rich & Helen

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