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Published: June 26th 2015
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Buladehlah Golf course at day break
Uninvited wallabies preparing to "tee off" Hi Folks,
Well, we eventually departed Wangi Wangi around 3pm Sunday 21st, not exactly your early start but at least a start nonetheless, hence to adhere to our rules to be off the road and set up before drinks time, we only had about one and a half hours travel time. Pulled into the "Lion's Club" park at Bulahdelah only to find all the designated self contained vehicle parking awash with mud and cordoned off. Heading north Doug remembered seeing motorhomes parked in the golf club's parking lot, so we gave it a try - success!!! The staff said we were more than welcome and the BAR was open, who can refuse an invitation like that. Too late and dark to cook so a toasted sandwich for dinner.
Dawn brought a clear, sunny, frigid 8.5 degree morning with a mob of uninvited wallaby guests but a much earlier start for the day. Although we have passed many times, we called into the Memorial Gardens at Clybucca (Kempsey), commemorating the collision of two buses in 1989 in which 35 people died, a police highway patrol car pulled up just in front of us, the officer walked in taking photos on
Clybucca Memorial Gardens entrance
When this accident occurred the annual NSW road toll was in excess of 1000 now it's less than half - somebody is getting it right his mobile phone, he must have been new to the area as he said it was the first time he had stopped, but more emphatically, "26 years later the road is still the same, what the hell are the government's priorities"???
On to Southwest Rocks and Trial Bay Gaol with its fabulous view of the northward migrating whales. Then it was time to visit the Swiss Toy Maker at Valla, he made a lot of the wooden toys Brook had as a toddler, so he could add William's name to them.
Camped the night between the Bellingen River and the Urunga Golf Club. So close to the river Megan was heard to mutter "how high does high tide get"?
Tuesday dawned much warmer at 11.5 degrees with the sun streaming into the motor home so the inside temperature quickly rose - much more acceptable. Haven't been able to get any TV reception since we left home, or the last trip for that matter, so called into a RV centre at Port Macquarie to see what they could do, two hours later and and a much lighter bank balance, we departed with not only a new aerial but
Idyllic freecamp
Between the river and golf course a new TV as well. Undaunted, we pressed on to Wooli, a sleepy tourist destination, no high-rise there but an intricate breakwater with a dangerous looking bar to access the Pacific Ocean. Fishing appears to be the main attraction but there is a long ocean beach for surfing and safer river beaches for the unadventurous. Wednesday morning we walked about 4 kms of the beach and only saw 3 other people - talk about solitude, although there were about 6-7 people fishing off the breakwater.
After our exercise we headed in the direction of Murwillumbah, detouring to the nearby hamlet of Minnie Waters, a waste of time and effort considering the ugly short beach and one general store, but while that close we had to look. Ever northward, turning off the main freeway near Byron Bay stopping at a village called Mooball, whose claim to notoriety is the Jersey cow, all the telegraph poles, signage and some of the buildings are painted in black and white cow hide patterns, sounds awful but is really quaintly appealing. From past visits we recalled the joys of a Mooball Cafe hamburger, couldn't resist - still delicious.
Approaching Murwillumbah, we checked out
View from TRG
Mount Warning from the balcony of TRG the Tweed Regional Gallery then continued about 10 minutes north to Stotts Island (free) camping area where we spent a very wet night, Megan not even setting foot outside as the ground was gigantic puddles and mud. In brilliant sunshine next morning the views from the gallery of the Tweed River, undulating paddocks and mountain ranges culminating in Mount Warning were spectacular, alone worth the effort in getting there. The gallery itself has been constructed in three stages on land donated by Margot and Doug Anthony, a former leader of the National Party and Deputy Prime Minister. Margaret Olley was a resident of the area in her early life and a frequent visitor, with other artists in her later life, hence her bequest to TRG. Margaret Olley also presided over the opening of stage two of the gallery. One would think that the re-creation of her Paddington studio/home would be a simple matter until you realise that she said "its a studio first and a home second" - props and set ups for her paintings were still there years later, one to mention - pomegranates painted in 1964 still there, dried out and blackened. The re-creation must have been a
Margaret Olley
Closing scene from a video in the re-created studio monumental task with over 21,000 items catalogued, cleaned, packed and transported, including window panes with cracked glass, others with glass glued together, the kitchen sink and stove now cleaned and pristine. Photos probably don't do it justice, you have to see it to take in all the detail. The re-creation was completed in 2014, the publicity created has made TRG one of the most visited in Australia. Megan was in "art heaven" for the several hours it took us to view it all, even the paintings in stage one and two were also interesting especially an exhibition by Scott McDougall.
Thursday night a caravan park at Palm Beach on the Gold Coast for a long hot soaking shower, hair washing and recharge batteries.
That's about it for the moment, for some reason, any alterations I made to the text have been constantly lost, apologies if there are any remaining.
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Helen
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Happy travels
Great to see you are "on the road again". Sounds like a great trip. What a character Margaret Olley was. A real treasure. Enjoy the next adventure.