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Inland of Hope Island
Impressive Natural Bridge falls behind. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.” -Dr Seuss After the luxury of Noosa Springs and the McNamara homestead, it was time to once again embrace the charms of Brutey and the open road. This was day 35 of the 42-day sojourn and a creeping realisation dawned that this East Coast adventure was running down. The speedo recorded a journey distance of 3240kms as we set forth which was a stark reminder that it is never a straight line on a journey such as this. The GPS distance from Cairns to Sydney is 2413km so there was undoubted confirmation that the routing to date had not been a case of rushing from one point to the next. Gazing out frontwards got me thinking; just what is the coastline distance around Australia? Quite remarkable that this huge country has a total coastline length of 35,877km. Quick maths; with our Western Australia trip in 2009, we had to date covered in total roughly 5,740km of this total or about 16 percent. Nothing like a challenge thinking about some planning and travelling to do in the future.
Bangalow
A laid back and chilled little inland town. The McNamara’s had given us some useful tips on where to go as we ambled south and, an inland routing through stunning coastal mountains and forested farmlands, got us to the
Hinze Dam which supplies most of the water needs of the thirsty Gold Coast region. Impressive to say the least. Onward Brutey nudged, relishing being back on the open road. In superb mountainous countryside, we stopped off and took in a unique natural waterfall aptly named the
Natural Bridge. This was true back country and as we ventured further inland it became very obvious that we were off the main beaten track. A little town by name of
Chillingham was a good spot to stop alongside a small country farm stall and take refuge from a sudden torrential downpour. Rain tumbled from the heavens above for a good 20 minutes and once done and dusted, it was time to move on. Only problem, Brutey had other ideas and simply refused to start. GPS Sue dived for the vehicle manual and given our combined technical skills of about zero, Brutey remained resolute. Not going anywhere! This is where one’s choice of RV Hire vendor comes into play and to
Byron Bay
An impressive lighthouse stands tall. cut a long wait short, a guy a lot smarter than us arrived an hour later and got Brutey going again. He, Bruce, mumbled something about an alternator not doing what it’s supposed to do. Brutey was as relieved as we were and off we set. Drifted into a small farming town called
Murwillumbah, (tried pronouncing this a few times, but simply gave up), and then the heading turned eastwards to the coast and
Byron Bay. Byron Bay is a popular tourist town boasting good beaches and surfing but it is it’s laid back style which appeals. Loads of young backpackers spilling out onto the pavement sitting in coffee shops and pubs. If you ever needed surfing gear then this would be the place to shop. Quite frankly; way too busy for us and the RV Parks were crammed so a snap decision was then made to drift on to
Lennox Head, about 15km further south. Arrived at the RV Park in pouring rain which made checking in and setting up camp a little bit more challenging but this was soothed by the all-important sundowner moment. Interestingly, this was the first town encountered which did not have a walkway
Byron Bay
Impressive view from the lighthouse. along the beach but the 6km beach itself more than made up for this town planning lapse. Unseasonal rain battered the RV roof during the night.
On the first morning there, the rain had moved on and with the GPS set, an inland heading took us to a quaint little town called
Bangalow. The easiest way to check out any place is on foot and being a Saturday, the local market was in full swing. Also noticeable was the voting station at the local school as this was the day of Australia’s National Election. Both sides of this little towns main street were lined with small boutique shops selling very expensive women’s clothing, which was odd given its location away from a major city/town other than Byron Bay, which had a huge number of its own shops. On the way back to Lennox Head a stop was made at the Lighthouse in Byron Bay which has a magnificent location atop a high headland with superb views up and down the coast.
What was becoming increasingly noticeable on the roads was the number of caravans and RV’s heading north. Confirmation of the annual migration of grey nomads attracted by
Lennox Head
The Aussies have a fixation with signage. Have a close look. No car will EVER get there. the warmer climate up north.
Back in the RV Park, our Aussie neighbours invited us across to join them for sundowners. They hailed from Victoria and were part of the northerly migration as their region gets very cold in the winter months. Conversation drifted to the election underway and it was clear that they did not want the Labour Party to win. On hearing of our current trip and the one done in WA in 2009 (Perth to Darwin), they commented that we had probably seen more of Australia than most locals. Interacting with people in the RV Parks is often very pleasant and enlightening and what is particularly interesting is the fact that most Aussies have no real interest in South Africa. We probably are no longer that shining “Rainbow Nation”?
The heavens opened again on the second night there but on a crystal clear, sunny morning it was time to move on. A brief stop and walk put us onto the top of Lennox Head where the views up north and south were really good. The A1 had dropped the name “Bruce Highway” and was now the Pacific Highway which again is misleading as it is
Lennox Head
Beautiful view looking back to the small coastal village from the viewpoint. essentially a single lane roadway but undergoing huge reconstruction and modernisation from Ballina to Woolgoolga at a cost of $3.46 billion (that’s a pile of money). As a result, the national road on the East Coast has been reduced, over a distance of 195km, to a single lane roadway with speeds varying between 60km and 80km. Its going to be superb when finished but in the interim, extreme patience required.
The destination was
Yamba, another small coastal town 108km further south. This was in keeping with the mantra of avoiding the bigger towns and a superb RV Park had been identified on the banks of the mighty Clarence River. Speaking of rivers. This country is blessed with a huge numbers of rivers (or creeks) and many are big enough to support a small town and harbour/marina. The few we have visited and stayed close to are pristine and look to be in great shape. This also explains why just about every Aussie owns something that floats.
Having negotiated the major roadworks and, hopefully, avoided any speeding fines, we entered the
BIG4Sweetwater@Yamba RV Park. This was an important stopping point as Sue’s brother, Rory, and sister-in-law, Brenda, would be joining us in their hired RV for the rest of the trip back to Sydney, where they live with their families.
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MERT BLACK
non-member comment
GREAT TRAVEL BLOG !!
Hi Tim, just been up to JHB to spend the weekend with Brother-in-law Mike Keevy, visiting his 94 yr old Mom & his siblings. He told me about your blog and has emailed a few. For an old Nampak packaging guy (I'm a mate of Andrew Marshall), you're a seriously good travel blog writer & your added quotes maketh the prose to follow complete. We did a 2 week trip in a RV around South Island NZ before Graham & Barbs Alcock's daughter's wedding (Catherine) in Queenstown some 3 years back. Barbs is Philippa, my missus's, sister. No doubt you'll recall Barbs, Di, Philippa and then Robyn - all Borchers girls from Sheppie. We then followed that with another RV trip from Brisbane to Sydney. They were both just the best holidays, so I can imagine your enjoyment. We stayed with John Pretorius just outside Byron Bay and caught up with Big Pret as well. In September this year, the oldest Alcock boy, Dougie, finally acquires a wife and we'll all be there for the party in Byron Bay. You'll probably see the Alcocks and Keevys in Sydney I imagine. I've really enjoyed reading your blogs. I'm not on facebook, so is there anyway I could get onto your email list if you have one? Enjoy the rest of your trip. Cheers, Mert Black in CPT.