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| Wooloomombi Falls are the highest falls in New South Wales. A little overcast and quite a distance from the easiest lookout. |
| Glenn's Journal 02-03-03 & 02-04-03 New South Wales Our task over the next two days was to drive to Brisbane, and more specifically, to our friends house just north of Brisbane by tomorrow (Tuesday) night. It is listed at over 1000 kilometers but we were also taking a longer route by going inland before returning back to the coast after seeing some of the "outback". Instead of driving along the Pacific Coast highway we opted to drive along the New England Highway. This would provide us with our first views of the "outback" and the Great Divide range. We were glad we went this way as it was a nice change from the coast. We also knew that we would be spending most of February along the beach and most of March for that matter. A few days in the mountains would not hurt a thing. The drive was very beautiful and probably woul dhave been greener if not for the lack of rain this year. We wanted to drive along the Waterfall highway which would provide for some beautiful nationl parks and, of course, some of the highest waterfalls in the country. Unfortunately the day was overcast and raining off and on. When we arrived at one of our destinations it was too late to hike to the waterfall and the haze didn't provide for a nice photo. We took one anyway but we will have to see how it looks on the computer. Oh well!!! We skipped a few other stops due to the rain and made our way to Grafton before stopping for the night.. Grafton only left us less than 400 kilometers to go tomorrow so we could spend some time at the beach in Byron Bay or Surfer's Paradise. After settling in to our cabin at the holiday park we found our way back into town at a restaurant/bar that the manager of the caravan park had recommended. Dinner was decent but since we did not arrive until almost 8:00 pm they were preparing to close by the time we received our meal. We departed around 9:00 pm hoping we would not get kicked out. We returned to our cabin where we spent the night watching television before retiring for the evening. 02-04-03 New South Wales We repacked the car this morning and headed out of Grafton after finding our way back to National highway 1. Our plans today were to drive along the Gold Coast and check out the beaches including Byron Bay and Surfer's Paradise. We had made it quite far yesterday so we only had 250 kilometers to reach Brisbane which made for a more relaxing drive day for us and allowing time to spend on the beach. The drive towards to coast was a wet one as the rains were intermittent from torential downpours to slight drizzles all the way to Byron Bay. Our first stop along the coast was Lennox Head where we took in the view of Seven Mile beach and the waves crashing on shore. We reached Byron Bay around noon and hoped to find a nice spot to stop for lunch. Since it was still raining we made our way to the lighthouse where we had lunch in a free parking spot just below. The view from the lighthouse would have been fantastic had it not been for the rain. You could still see off in the distance but a sunny day would have been much nicer. Of course, Australia is in much need for rain as most towns and cities we pass through are on water restrictions and fires in the south are a major problem. I will say the rain did not keep the surfers away as the swells were perfect for the die hard surfer. Byron Bay was covered in surfers numbering well over 50. After lunch and a few stops for photos we continued along highway 2 up the coast. We passed through Tweed Heads, Coolangatta, and Currumbin before finding our way to Surfer's Paradise. The wind was brutal at Surfer's Paradise as the sand was whipping around quite hard (as experienced by some Asian tourists walking along the beach). We checked out the beach from the comfort of our car and drove along the waterfront by the beach front shops and shopping areas. We may come back in March during our week long stay in Brisbane. Hopefully the weather will be nicer. It was midafternoon so we decided to finish the drive into Brisbane and to our friends Jo and Shane Walters, who live just north of Brisbane. The day maintained its wet feel to it as it rained the rest of the way north. We followed Jo's directions by-passing Brisbane and driving by Recliffe and Deception Bay before reaching the turnoff for Morayfield. We stopped at a grocery store before finally making our way to their house. They would be home around 5:00 pm and since we gained an hour as we drove into Queensland (No daylights saving here) it was 4:35 pm when we arrived. It wasn't more than 5 minuted before Shane and the girls (Emma and Cassie) arrived home. The girls came running out to greet us with big smiles. Shane welcomed us into their home and helped get us situated right away. It wasn't long before Jo came home and we all chatted while she prepared a lasagna dinner. We talked about our travels and learned about what Jo and Shane had been up to since the last time I saw them 10 years ago. Of course, having children now definitely has changed their life style. The kids were in bed by 8:00 pm which provided the adults time to ourselves. Erin and Jo are huge movie buffs and since Jo has DVD's Erin couldn't wait. She put in Miss Congeniality which all four of us ended up watching. (I snuck away for a few minutes to check e-mails, but not for long.) After the movie everyone quickly headed off to bed as Jo and Shane had to work in the morning. Erin and I retired to the bedroom where we read before falling asleep. |
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| The entrance way to Surfer's Paradise along the Sunshine Coast!! |