We Are Further Down The Coast

We had an amusing breakfast at the RACV Resort on the Gold Coast watching the staff squirt cheeky Magpies and Ibis with water in repeated attempts to keep them from the poolside dining tables

The early stages of our drive were different and frustrating. Rural scenery was replaced by high rise towers as we drove along the Gold Coast. It was frustrating because a new tramline was being constructed all the way down to Burleigh Heads so we had long kilometres of 40 kmh speed and many traffic lights to contend with.

Eventually, we reached the Pacific Highway and we were able to drive at a decent speed before turning off to Byron Bay

Byron Bay is a lovely town and has become a popular place for backpackers and holidaymakers on the way up the New South Wales coast. In the 1970s the town slowly evolved into a rather upmarket hippie retreat in northern New South Wales.

It became a “classy” alternative to the more brash coastal holiday resorts on the Queensland Gold Coast. Wealthy city dwellers from Sydney and Melbourne, not wanting to mix with the working classes, bought a lot of land in the Byron hinterland. In the 1970s and 1980s the region acquired a reputation as the residence of the rich and famous. Today Byron Bay is a holiday destination catering for a very diverse range of visitors. 

Byron’s most popular attraction is the Byron Bay lighthouse although, with a car parking fee of $10.00, it is rated as the most expensive lighthouse experience in New South Wales and possibly in Australia. It is on the eastern most point of mainland Australia.

The lighthouse uses an 8 ton optical lens made in France. It was originally lit by a six wick burner which was replaced in 1922 by kerosene and in 1956 by electricity. It was officially handed over to National Parks and Wildlife Service in 1998.

We coiuld even see a few whales far out in the ocean. They were difficult to see but I coiuld pick them up when they blew.

For a long way south of Byron, the  highway travels inland so we took a coastal tourist road for some kilometers down to Ballina. It gave as a good view of some of the long surf beaches on the east coast.

There was once a plan for a series of “big” things all the way from Melbourne to Brisbane up the Hume and Pacific Highways. Ballina has the Big Prawn.It is 20 metres high, 4.5 metres wide and 27 metres long. After being moved to several locations, it is now situated in the car park of the huge Bunnings hardware store. I read that many of the local towns people were concerned that it would make Ballina the “raw prawn capital of the world”, but no one really cares about this rather dated Big Thing anymore.

Back on the highway, we found large areas of Golden Wattle, Australia’s National flower.

At Tyndall, we took a detour along the Big River Way through a liitle town called Ulmurra to Grafton. It showed us, once again, the the byways are much moe interesting that than the highways..

Ulmarra is an historic port on the Clarence River which has been been frozen in time. Historic buildings, a (discontinued) river ferry and an antique charm show how the river was once a vital transport route in the district. The appeal of the town lies just one block to the west of the main road. The buildings in River Street create a stunning image of the town’s past as a 19th-century river port.  I took half a dozen photos of various buildings and realised that I had photgraphed the entire town.

There was once a ferry across the river but it was discontinued just a year ago. It was only a small ferry and unable to carry caravans or coaches. It operated every day from 6.00 am to 11.00 pm

The BIg River Way ended in Grafton. We drove around the city streets and found the law courts. Just as I raised my camers, five people walked out of the court and looked a bit perturbed that I had photographed them. I went back a few minutes later to take the building withoout any people in the scene.

Our day ended when we reached Coffs Harbour and found our motel. Coffs Harbour was informally named Korff’s Harbour by John Korff, a naval architect and shipbuilder who took shelter in the bay during a gale in 1847. The name was changed from Korff to Coff in 1864.

This is one of the few large towns that is not yet bypassd and the highway through it is extremely busy. We found ourselves in a continous flow of trucks, B-Doubles, Semitrailers cars, vans and caravans. I think that there is a new tunnel that is soon to be opened that will send this traffic around the town rather than through it. 

Right next to our motel was a full sized windmill which serves as a restaurant. We were the only customers and had a long talk with the owners. The chef was a Filipino and cooked traditional Filipino food. We enjoyed that meal more than many others that we have had on this trip. Of course, it was a litle incongruous having a Filipino meal in a Dutch Windmill in an Australian town.

After checking out on the next morning, we did a little tour of the town. Jill wanted to see the Big Banana which she rembered from her young days and it still there, a lttle north of the town, on the highway. It seems to have developed over the years into now being a theme park.

Our visit to the port showed us the long breakwater and harbour with a number of fishing boats.

I noticed a plane doing a series of circuits over the port. It was an RAAF Wedgetail that provides Australia with one of the most advanced airspace battle management capabilities in the world. I read that it has the ability to coordinate a joint air, sea and land battle in real time significantly increases the effectiveness of the Australian Defence Force. They are operated by No. 2 Squadron and based at RAAF Base Williamtown, near Newcastle.

The Wedgetail  is based on the Boeing 737-700and can perform simultaneous tracking of airborne and maritime targets. I believe that it is packed withj electronics and manned by a crew of ten.

During a standard mission, the E-7A Wedgetail can cover more than four million square kilometres, an area the size of Western Australia or the Northern Territory. It is capable of unlimited long-rang e deployment with in-flight refuelling. They recently saw service in Ukraine.

Just south of Coffs Harbour, we stopped at a fruit stall that was selling local produce. The good news was, after explaining that we stopped to see if fresh bananas tasted different to those we buy at the supermarket, the lady gave us two to taste for free. The bad news is that while we expected to find a vastly different falvour, we couldn’t tell any taste difference at all. So, next time we shop at the supermarket we know that we are buying ‘real’ fruit.

Like the previous day, we deviated off the main highwayand  down the old coast raod coming across some interesting little places. On was Mylestom on the Bellinger River. A picnic table by the river provided us with a nice place for a coffee.

Continuing our deviation, we followed a minor road into Hungry Head for another view along the coast. I think that I might have been there before as I could remember looking along a beach with a seat in the foreground. Maybe it was just one of many similar places in this area.

Our main stopping place for lunch was at Nambucca Heads. Our guide told us that the local authorities had encouraged local people to use the rocks on the breakwater wall as a gallery on which to paint pictures, graffiti and write poems.  Some have obviously put them to good use.

We had a delightful place for a picnic lunch under a casuarina tree on the foreshore. It was a warm day with no wind and we really enjoyed the peace and calm while we made and ate our lunch.

There were a couple of lookouts on a nearby headland that gave us a nice view of the beach.

It was only a short drive to our desination at Port Macquarie so we drove on, reaching our hotel at Rydges by mid afternoon.