We set out Saturday morning in our little Corolla hatchback and drove do the Surfers’ Paradise. The beaches were amazing and the streets were crowded with people. We had a nice breakfast, took some snapshots and walked down the street lined with shops and restaurants. Surfer’s Paradise is not too far from Brisbane and we hear the hotel rates are very reasonable, we’ll definitely be going back.
From there we drove to Byron Bay and decided to take the scenic route. When I say scenic, I mean unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. It was so beautiful! We ran into some traffic in Coolangota so we made Greg get out of the car and take some pictures of the beach.
There was some sort of event going on that resembled a cross between the Crawfish Festival and a swap meet. There were bikes, roadsters and moon eye tee-shirts everywhere, not to mention loud music and packed bars. We tried to stop but there was nowhere to park and we didn’t want to trek up some of the hills in this small town, however, another place we’ll definitely visit again.
We finally arrived in Byron Bay and drove through the town center, up the mountain to the lighthouse. This is the most easterly point of the Australia mainland. The views were simply amazing. We took hundreds of pictures of the lighthouse, the coastal beaches and the water clashing against the rocks hundreds of feet below.
We saw groups of dolphins and although it’s whale watching season, no such luck spotting one. ( This is definitely on my bucket list however.) After an hour or so we went back down to the town center and walked through some of the cute little shops. Of course we had to see the beach and some of the hippies this town is known for. There were tons of people enjoying the beautiful day on the beach, in the grassy park and the restaurant overlooking the two. After snacking and relaxing for a bit, we were on the road again to Coffs Harbor.
It gets dark really early here, which we are having a hard time adjusting to, so most of the stretch to Coffs Harbor was dark. We arrived, checked into our hotel and walked about 50 meters to a nice Italian restaurant. We enjoyed good food, good wine and of course great company.
Sunday morning we got up and got on the road. We had breakfast outside a small bistro cafe where we could watch all of the people walking past on the small strip of stores and restaurants. After breakfast we drove about an hour along Waterfall Way. This was an adventure as I was the one driving up the mountain with narrow, winding roads. I felt like I was playing Mario Cart but knew the road would be a little less forgiving than it is in the video games. The views were simply magnificent! Thank goodness for a rest area, one, to give my white knuckles a break and two, we were able to take in the most amazing view of mountains and valleys and a beautiful waterfall.
Finally, we arrived at Dorrigo National Park which is actually a rainforest with a sky view ledge to walk out and see the top of the trees, the valleys and more mountains. There’s also trails that lead down the mountain, through the rainforest, to an amazing waterfall. It’s about an hour down and an hour back. It took us almost the whole hour to get down because of all the photo ops and 36 minutes to get back up. Some of the trees in the forest are massive but the only wildlife we saw were turkeys. These aren’t your typical Thanksgiving turkeys, they’re smaller, but really neat to see.
Needless to say, when we finally reached the waterfall, it was truly breathtaking. Here we are, standing in the middle of a rainforest in Australia, taking pictures of a waterfall, wow, amazing. The hike back up was not so easy but it was definitely worth it to be able to see it all.
On the way back to Coffs harbor we stopped at an old butter factory which is now small shops and a cafe. Reminded me of the Gristmill from the road but was not comparable. Still neat none-the-less.
We spend another night in Coffs Harbor but it was raining when we got back so we ate dinner and came back to the apartment/hotel and watched movies and I worked a bit.
Before our 5.5 hour drive back to Brisbane, we had breakfast in a small cafe on the jetty with a spectacular view of the beach and the mountains.
During our three day road trip, we saw so many cool things, from the white beaches in each coastal town to the privileged cows with personal ducks, Nat on a licence plate, rain clouds over the mountains and water crashing on the coastline, words cannot describe the trip we experienced but I’ve definitely tried. Hope the pictures help some too.
This week will definitely be a busy one as we have a ton of positions to fill and the CEO comes to town for our quarterly meeting. Next weekend we’ll have to play catch up considering we still haven’t fully unpacked, (hence why there are no pics of our apt yet) and we’ve yet to go on a bike ride. Brissie to the Bay is two weeks away and we’re still fund raising for MS. :) Thanks Grandma and Mom for donating! Our Recruitment Coordinator, Ali has planned a breakfast for us to raise money for our Swift team. If you'd like to donate, please see go to http://www.brissietothebay.com.au/. We definitely appreciate the support and look forward to the ride.
We hope that everyone has a safe and wonderful week, we miss you all back home so much! Let us know how you’re doing as well and we’ll talk to you soon!
Much love,
Nat and Greg
