New South Wales (part 2)

Tuesday 6th May – We get up early and enjoy some interesting views of cloud filling the valleys as we drive out of Lismore and down to the coast at Byron Bay. This journey is quick and we arrive at a campground near the town soon after 9am... to get the first knockback we've received, they have no space. Moving a few km down the coast to Broken Head does the trick though and we are soon installed in a pleasant site with sea view.

We spend the afternoon walking along the seashore, over the rocks for which the area is named and over to another beautiful beach. We avoid the urge to remove our clothes (this is a clothing optional beach) and return home for a relaxing evening in perfect weather.

Wednesday 7th May – Another day to get the bikes out, this time for the easy 7km ride into town. First we head up to the lighthouse perched on the easternmost tip of the country from here there are great views up and down the coast. A little time spent watching the sea close by allows us to see turtles, a ray and a pod of dolphins playing close to shore and surfing on the waves. All we missed out on was any whales.

Next we looked round this pleasant touristy town investigating diving options and whether there were any massage possibilities for Tracy. She couldn't find a good massage place but opts to dive the next day while Tim plans to organize us with a big shopping spree. We ride home on the beach as the tide is low getting some great sunset views as we go and enjoy another relaxed evening sitting out in the warm breeze.

Thursday 8th May – As planned the day is devoted to shopping and diving, Tracy seeing a fine range of harmless Wobbegong Sharks, Bull Rays, fish and soft coral while Tim finds us supplies for the weekend in the bush and to stock us for a while ahead. We also do some souvenir shopping to get ideas for what we might take home.

Friday 9th May – A long ride ahead of us today back into the Great Dividing Range near the border with Queensland. We drive up to Lismore, collect a few items we forgot yesterday and continue on a pretty good road northwest. After a couple of hours we reach Urbenville, from where we have detailed directions to the campground... good thing too as it is not obvious. When we arrive however it is worth the journey, we are able to pull the camper into a nice pull-through site on the river bank with the falls a few metres to the side.

Some of the Lismore hashers are already there and have set a rope up for abseiling (rappelling); Tim takes great pleasure in being able to produce his own gear from the collection of random items you can carry in a big camper on the off chance they might come in handy. After that the multi-sport theme continues with a bike ride on the National Park tracks with excellent views of the steep and impressive volcanic outcrops in the area. As the night falls we meet the rest of the group around the camp fire and enjoy a fun evening sharing a few beers with them.

Saturday 10th May – While lazing around camp is a pleasant option we also spend some more time in the morning sliding down ropes before grouping for a run in the afternoon, again over the river. Once again we get some good views of outcrops and the mostly artificially planted environment before returning to camp where Tracy and many others dared the chill of the deep pool above the falls. Tonight's pot-luck dinner is excellent and plentiful but most of the group crash early after yesterday's late night.

Sunday 11th May – Most of the camp disappear fairly early but we decide to make the most of our excellent situation for another night. Quite a few people come up for the day to look at the falls or take trail bikes and 4wd's over the river but by sundown there is only us and a couple of other campers and we enjoy a very peaceful campfire while reading in the evening.

Monday 12th May – The good news this morning is meeting a couple camping next door who have a copy of the book we've not yet managed to find that lists free and low cost camping spots around the country. With that duly noted we hit the road for a nearby dump as we volunteered to drop the rubbish from the weekend... but it is closed Monday so we have 4 bags of trash in the pickup for a couple of days.

The road over into Queensland is pretty steep and windy but with excellent views of the impressive Mt Stewart en route. At one point as we steer slowly around a hairpin we are flagged down by a delivery driver who thinks he is on the wrong road, luckily we paid attention to the street names in the village we passed through and can give him exact directions.

Once in Queensland we have a easy ride to Brisbane where we are going to park up behind the home of a couple of Northside hashers for their run tonight, the same people with the bar out back who hosted the party on the 25th April. The run is good and we return for a couple more of Peri's excellent homebrews (and a view of the local possums) before bed.