Day 15 - SockGate

Day 15

6am alarm set so we could skype to those back home. It was good to catch up with everyone and even see Oscar! Deb went off for a shower and was going to collect the washing. She came back very unhappy our new trainer socks had been pinched from the washing line! We only bought them in Sydney so was not impressed! The total damage was two pairs of Scott’s and two pairs of Debs! Not happy at all....

We packed up and made our way to a local beach. We were aware that one of these local beaches had a nudist section so we were fully intent in avoiding this at all costs! As we walked on there was a family to the right and a lone male to the left. We decided to go right! We were highly suspicious of the male as he didn’t seem to be wearing anything at all. The curiosity got the better of Scott and under the explanation of needing to find a cache he went to investigate! Scott returned informing Deb that he wasn’t naked but had a black G that didn’t leave much to the imagination!

We left the beach at about midday as we had another long drive ahead. Deb took the wheel and headed towards a little hinterland town of Maclean. It has firm Scottish roots and takes its heritage seriously. Haggis available at the local hotels and tartan was enveloping the lampposts. We headed up the main lookout point for a spot of lunch which had commanding views over towards the ocean and inland to the sugar plantations. Scott took over for the next drive towards our camp at Ballina.

The site at Ballina was small compared to the last few we had been too. It was based on one of the main roots into the town so wasn’t quite as peaceful before. Looking back at the entire trip this was where the New South Wales Coast suddenly became commercialised after the nonstop empty beaches and towns of the south to Sydney. We decided to head out into the town for a walk and see what there was. Ballina is a pretty little town which appears to be quite ‘hip and trendy’ trying its best to compete with its much bigger brother at Byron Bay. As we were walking we discovered a ‘hotel’ and decided to buy our first schooner of the trip! It was very cold and very refreshing on the warm evening. We had a look around the shops and then went to the ‘drive-thru’ bottle shop to pick up a nice cold bottle of wine for dinner which was a Barbie again!

Day 14 - Marsupial Fun!

Day 14

The morning started bright and early and Deb decided to get some bacon cooking on the Barbie! A couple of sandwiches later and we were ready for a day of exploring. We first had a walk along the seafront. The main breakwall has many different drawings on made by locals and visitors. Everyone seems to choose a rock and paint/draw their own individual design. There were some very impressive ones! The walk continued towards the main surf beach where there were atleast 30 people surfing and it was only 8.30am!

After our walk we packed up the van ready for our journey to Coff’s Harbour. Our first stop on the way was at Billabong Koala Sanctuary which was about 20 minutes away. We arrived just in time to catch the end of the ‘koala patting’. This is where several koalas doing not very much sat in trees! It did allow you to give them a gentle stroke though. They are very docile and seemed to be either asleep or eating! Koalas sleep for the majority of the time as eucalypt leaves form the basis of their diet and they are low in protein and high in toxins and indigestible bits. They have a low metabolic rate to compensate so don’t really do much! They are cute and huggable though so it makes up for it! Although, the koala we had to pat seemed to have choose that moment to poo! The little brown bullets were flying out! A concerned child thought the koala had ‘dropped something’!

We continued a look around the park/zoo and met all types of native wildlife. Dingos, peacocks and snakes to name a few. Our favourite part had to be the opportunity to feed the kangaroos and wallabies. We purchased a cup of feed (basically dried corn) and entered their enclosure. They were all just relaxing on the floor and looking interested at who was entering. This enabled the chance to walk up to them and let them feed from your hand. Scott was like the kangaroo whisperer being surrounded by all these Marsupials!

From the zoo we headed towards Nambucca head and up to Captain Cook Lookout. It had beautiful views out towards the ocean. We had some lunch here and a stretch of the legs before continuing the drive up to Coff’s harbour.

We arrived at Coff’s harbour at about 4pm and set up camp. Decided to get some washing done as we were early and there would be some daylight left to try and get things dry. We went for a wander as the sun began to set. We found where the creek meets the ocean and watched the surfers. We got back and found the free WiFi so we arranged a skype call home! Dinner was meatballs on the Barbie washed down with a nice VB! Had more Skype to do early in the morning so went to bed early!