Noosa to Grafton

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A great nights sleep, we packed up by 0830hrs and ventured to Noosa Heads, Hastings Street for a look. Tom deciding that 14 degrees Celsius and overcast wasn't too cold for a swim, taking his Go Pro to the surf for some wave photography. Meanwhile, Billy and the girls ventured for a walk along the beach, admiring the swimmers and surfers. Noosa's main attractions are the beaches, a major surfing location. After the walk on the beach we back-tracked our way along the popular boutique Hastings Street shopping village where we caught up with Tom and Peter and indulged in cake, hot chocolate and coffee. Noosa Heads is a town and suburb of the Shire of Noosa on the Sunshine Coast approximately 136 kilometres from Brisbane, a great holiday destination.

Travelling the scenic route along the Sunshine Coast, (overcast and not so sunny) we had our first stop 1154hrs, odometer 97399, a Caltex service station at Caboolture South on the M1 Sunshine Coast Motorway. Fuel 124.9 cents per litre. Pushing on we travelled down the M7 and M3 passing underneath Brisbane. using the new tunnel system. Brisbane is the capital of Queensland situated on the Brisbane River. the third most populated city in Australia. One of the oldest cities in Australia it was founded upon the ancient homelands of the indigenous Turrbal and Jagera peoples. The subtropical temperatures making the city of Brisbane a popular city to live. Famous for is art and outdoor adventure attractions.

Sadly the commitment of work and school prevented us taking in Brisbane and visiting friends here. In planning our holiday we had agreed to spend more time in the West than the East, but I don't think we had anticipated how quick we had to travel the East.

On down the Motorway we admired the theme parks, Dream World, Water World, Wet 'n' Wild, Movie World and Sea World on the entrance to the Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise. We had been to all the theme parks in the past couple of years and everyone reminisced on the rides and adventures we had here. At Surfers Paradise we ate lunch on grass on the foreshore near Cavill Avenue. Here we marvelled at the sky scraper apartments and the beach. We witness the setup of a musical festival along the foreshore also.

The establishment of the hotel Surfers Paradise in the 1920's commenced the Gold Coast region population and the boom in the 1980's created the leading tourist destination that exists today. In 2018 the Gold Coast will host the Commonwealth Games.

The Gold Coast is a popular family holiday destination for us and time not permitting, we moved on. At Tweed Heads we stopped and the boys took photos of the monument that divides Queensland and New South Wales.

A deviation off the Motorway at 1715hrs and a refuel at 1755hrs, fuel 1.219cents per litre, we travelled into Byron Bay, driving to Cape Byron and taking the 400metre walk to the most Easterly Point of Australia.

We have now travelled from the Most Westerly to the Most Easterly points in Australia.

Byron Bay is a beachside town on the far-north eastern corner of the state of New South Wales. A popular destination with popular surf beaches and green coast line. The Cape Byron lighthouse looks out over the Cape Byron Marine Park. From our Easterly point we took in the marine park spying a couple of Whales and their caves in the distance.

The decision to move on from Byron Bay was one of contention as Tom wished to surf and others of us wanted to rest for the evening. The original day's plan was to make it to Armadale in New South Wales to visit Peter's brother Tim and family, but because of poor timing would not eventuate.

Again we pushed on to Ballina where we purchased Pizza and had dinner with our Cox Cousin's Janine, Col, Madeline and Riley. A great couple of hours spent catching up.

With little quiet free camp sites, to the south we travelled on to Grafton where we camped in the Park across from the McDonalds for the night, no toilets, arriving around 2300hrs. A big day of travel and a lot of scenery covered.

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