Caravan Trip 2015 week 6

We had lots of rain overnight. Wayne and Sue left for Tweed heads and we packed up and drove up the road to Byron Bay. We had checked in and set up by 10.30am. We took the dogs  for a walk down the track to the beach. It was lovely and they had a good run...

 



Storm clouds looming

We went for a short drive to a little town called Bangalow and had a wander around the streets and then checked out a few sights around Byron Bay. The rain set in again late afternoon and continued all night.



Our camp sheltered by a unit

 Next morning we went to the markets but got there way too late but got some organic apples...

 

As the lighthouse is situated in National Park we had to leave the dogs in the car and literally run up the hill to look at the views and the lighthouse...



More storms and rain rolling in

 We quickly walked the walkways to the most easterly point of the Australian mainland...

 

 

I wanted to do a yoga class in Byron Bay so we checked out the centre which funnily enough is operated out of the Masonic Lodge Centre... 

 Later in the afternoon we drove out to another little town called Mullumbimbi. There wasn't much to see and do on a wet day so we settled into the Poinciana Café for afternoon tea...

 Then took the dogs for a walk along the pathway back in Byron Bay and yes we got wet and muddy again!...

We had a very windy and wet night and were lucky to be parked right next to a unit which sheltered us a bit. We decided to take the dogs for a quick walk down the beach.  Big big mistake!! A big storm blew in so fast and along with a few other people we got caught in it. Lucy was frightened and took off up the beach and we got covered in sand and soaked. We had to try and clean the dogs but with the force of the wind and their very curly fur the sand was well and truly embedded. Lucy was half yellow from the sand. We spent ages cleaning us and the dogs up and with the rain we couldn't hang anything out to dry. Fun times and not how I imagined my stay in Byron Bay to be!... 

 

A trip back to The Roadhouse and a nice warm Golden Mylk drink was a nice reward for all the cleaning up... 

 

Also had a quick wander around a few shops ~ I love all the health shops and vibe in Byron Bay...



Beautiful light shop

Next we headed to "The Farm" on the edge of town. This is actually a farm growing all organic produce and flowers and serving the food in a beautiful restaurant called "Three Blue Ducks".

 

 



We went for a walk around first...

Then decided to have a quick bite to eat. We would have loved to have stayed for a long lunch but having the dogs restricted us. Instead we orderd from their beautiful bakery and sat outside. Then it happened again! A big storm blew up very quickly and everyone got rushed inside as the staff tried to shut everything down outside. It was very cosy with everyone sharing tables!...

We looked through their organic shop and I wanted to buy everything. Even the restrooms had a great rustic farm feel about them...

 

Peter dropped me in town and I had a few hours shopping by myself while he took the dogs back to the van for a rest. He then took me to the yoga retreat centre and I took a class...

I really enjoyed it and it wasn't long before the effects were being felt everywhere!

The rain kept coming down and we couldn't even get the dogs out for a walk. It actually got so heavy we could hardly hear each other talk with the sound on the roof of the van. Then we had lots of fun as our poor old girl started leaking. Peter was very entertained siphoning water out of the window sill into a cup via a straw. We learnt the next day that over 90mls had fallen in just a few hours and there was lots of flash flooding in the regions and hinterlands and 6 people had actually drowned.

Next morning we took the dogs for a walk along the beach path as we were sick of trying to clean them up and all the towels were wet anyway...

I had a quick look down the beach and it was very misty and eerie after all the storms and rain although lots of people were out walking their dogs...

It was time to move on and we packed all our wet soggy stuff up and moved up the road to join Wayne and Sue at Tweed Heads. We unpacked all our wet stuff and thankfully the sun was shining again and we could wash and dry out.  We went for a drive to Tweed Heads beaches and looked at the mess the storms had made. The water was all brown...

And so much surge and sea foam everywhere...

We watched in horror as this family got sucked into the surge and lost their dog. I ran to the sea rescue people to help and thankfully later we saw them all together and their dog had survived...

 

Gold coast in the distance

These 3 idiots thought it would be fun to play in the dangerous conditions...

 

Next morning Wayne and Peter went out in Wayne's boat. It wasn't the best time to go fishing as the water was very stirred up and all sorts of debris floating in it washed down from the hinterland... 

 

But Peter caught a little fishie... 

 

We went for a little drive a few kms up the road to the border and into Queensland. This is the border line and here I am with one foot in each state... 

We took the dogs for a walk along Kirra Beach. Koala sculptures are also scattered around the area...

It was a lovely view over to the Gold Coast at dusk...

One thing we had wanted to do in Byron Bay was watch a sunrise over the ocean but with all the rain and no sun at all it wasn't possible. We had reached our last morning on the east coast of Australia so we headed to the beach very early hoping to see the sunrise. Fortunately there was just enough gap in the cloud to get our east coast sunrise over the ocean...

We had a wander around and watched the early morning surfers and fitness fanatics. The view across to the Gold coast was pretty...

 

The spot where all the sea foam from the storms had been was all clean and the pathways visible again... 

We went with Wayne and Sue to get some photos of us on the borders and had a bit of fun with the self timer...

We then went for a drive to the Gold Coast stopping along the way at Burleigh Heads and Broad Beach...

We parked at Surfers Paradise and had a look around. It was a stunning day...

We sat by the famous sign and had takeaway lunch and watched the world go by...

 

Christmas Koala

That evening we walked the dogs along the river near our caravan park and watched a stunning sunset...

 

The day had come to say our goodbyes to Wayne and Sue until November. We thought we would only catch up with them once on our trip and their trip around Australia but we met up 5 times and had some great times together. We packed up and went a bit further north to just below Brisbane on the Pacific motorway (which made peter very nervous) and turned west.  We saw all these toll signs and warnings and got stressed about how we pay etc as we don't have any such things in Western Australia!  After a while we calmed down and decided we would pay on the internet and hoped all would be good!...



Even the motorway on the GPS looked bad

Finally off the big roads we were back in the country and feeling much better. Our next test was a very steep hill climb (5 to 10kms) into Toowoomba. It was quite scary and our poor car was not happy and kept trying to change gears. I was sure we were going to roll backwards down the hill. It was a great relief to reach the top and pass another car and caravan on the top being serviced by a mobile mechanic!...

After a stress rest and some lunch we visited the "State Rose Garden". Toowoomba is known as the garden city but we couldn't visit many with the dogs. It was the end of the season for the rose garden but they were still trying to nurture them until Mothers Day in a week or so...

 

We continued on travelling for the rest of the afternoon until we reach our next camp spot Goondiwindi.