As briefly mentioned in our last post we journeyed from Grafton to our current location on Saturday morning after casting our votes in the NSW election. Don't know how O'Farrell and his team are going to do but I think; I like a lot of people figure they can't do any worse than Labour has been doing.We are located approximately 15km south of Ballina at the Sandalwood Van & Leisure Park. It is a beautiful location with full facilites and a very reasonable $22/night. The sites are mostly drive through with beautifully landscaped grounds. Each site is separated by garden and trees on either side. I will attach some pictures. The park appears to be owner operated and their service is wonderful and the park reflects their pride in their business. Would highly recommend! The Park is located on map at: http://fms.ws/4UKfe/\-28.94035/153.47214
Saturday we arrived shortly after lunch and had a relaxing afternoon with Sandra testing out the Laundry facilities. We followed a huge truck with a massive piece of concrete for a bridge for much of the way from Grafton. Luckily it wasn't moving to slow except for going through windy towns and we were not in any hurry. It was quite a hot day and we enjoyed a swim in the Park pool later in the afternoon.
Sunday saw us get an early start as we journeyed North up the coast to the Queensland border. The day was windy and overcast to begin with but cleared up nicely for the afternoon. We did hit heavy rain as we returned to the park. One of the Park owners had thoughtfully adjusted our awning as it had been collecting water in the heavy rain. Another lesson learned on how to leave the caravan while away for the day. We drove through Ballina and took the scenic route to Byron Bay through Lennox Head. Saw some good surfing at Lennox head and tried to get a couple of pictures. Lennox Head and Byron Bay are definitely Surf locations and both were busy although it was a Sunday.
We drove up to the Lighthouse at Byron Bay but were dissappointed with the setup. If you want to park at the lighthouse it costs $7 and even then there was limited spots. Further down the hill they have free parking but only about 5 spots. We though $7 was a bit steep and took a picture out the car window as we drove through. Might be OK during the week but not recommended by this tour guide. From Byron Bay we rejoined the Pacific Highway and travelled to Tweed Heads. The road is mostly new and excellent.In Tweed Heads Sandra and I enjoyed a Barramundi and Chip lunch at the Tweed Marina. Very nice and they grilled the fish for Sandra so was Gluten Free.
We visited the Captain Cook Memorial at the border after eating and took a few pictures. Got a good hazy view of Surfers Paradise through the rocks at the memorial. Tweed Heads has changed significantly since Sandra and/or I last saw it although that would be over 25 years ago. Very busy and quite big and modern. We then did some grocery shopping before stopping to see Sandra's Uncle Merv and Aunt Maree at Banora Point. We enjoyed a nice afteroon Tea and visit with them. Sandra had not seen Maree for over 30 years and I had never met her so was a bit to catch up on. We showed them a bunch of photo's of our kids etc on my laptop and will send Merv some via email shortly. We travelled back to our Caravan via Freeway and arrived home just in time to start dinner. We enjoyed Salmon done on the Barbecue. Excellent and enough left over for lunch the following day.
On Monday we got away around 10am and travelled South along the coast. We took scenic route from Broadwater to Evan's Head and back to Woodburn. We went up to the Razorback Lookout at Evans Head. Good view! Find it located on map at: http://fms.ws/4UM7k/\-29.11552/153.43965 From there we travelled through Woodburn down the Pacific Highway to Maclean again. We had a picnic lunch by the Clarence River and spent a couple of hours walking though the downtown area and went up to the Pinnacle Lookout. A great view of the Clarence Valley and you can see many of the coastal towns (Yamba, Iluka, etc). Maclean is a beautiful little town and very tidy. We will return again some day.
From there we drove out to Yamba.This is a busy little coastal town. We found our way down to a rock point park area. The rock formations here were incredible and we got some good pictures of them and the pounding surf on them. Would be a very dangerous place if you got to close to the edge. I got soaked by one big wave as Sandra took a picture of me. I could have spent hours at this point studying the rock formations and the incredible patterns in them. The Lighthouse shown here is free with lots of parking and I dare say a sight better looking than the one shown previously from Byron Bay.
From here we journeyed back to the Pacific Highway and returned to our Caravan around 4pm. We had found a place at Broadwater that served Gluten free Pies so picked a couple in the morning which we reheated for dinner. Sandra said it was OK. Not something she would eat that often but was good for a quick meal and a change.
Tuesday finds us enjoying a lazy (for me at least) catch up day. Slept in till after 8 this morning and Sandra is busy catching up on her cleaning and laundry prior to moving on to Tenterfield tomorrow. I am taking the opportunity to catch up the Blog etc. We will try and pack up a fair bit this afternoon so we can get a fairly early start tomorrow. We have been warned by a few people that the Bruxner Highway between Casino and Tenterfield is a windy, bumpy, hilly road. Apparently it is as good or better than any that traverse the dividing range but we need to allow quite a bit of extra time for the journey. Not exactly looking forward to the trip but will most likely be fine as long as we take our time and drive according to the conditions allowed. I will update this with photos and post this afternoon. Talk to you all again from Tenterfield.
No comments:
Post a Comment