March 2018 Trip

Tues 13 March – This will be a short 1 month trip. Our plan is to cruise down the east coast thru the Gold Coast, Byron Bay, Coffs Harbour and turn inland around Port Macquarie and follow some nice inland roads back up to Lowood (near Ipswich) where we will store “Andy” again. Our alarm went off at 3:30am for our flight to Brisbane. Easy to see why these early morning flights are the cheapest!! Our transfer to Lowood where the camper (Andy) was stored all went to plan and Keith, the storage guy, had Andy washed and waiting for us. We were setup on site at the Lowood Showgrounds by lunch time. After packing everything away we relaxed for the rest of the day. The evenings are cool, so sleeping was no problem.

Wed 14 March -  A great night’s sleep! We drove to a local RV service centre where we had pre-booked to get a vent installed for the fridge and were on the road to Brisbane by 11:30am. After a shopup at Browns Plains Mall we continued to Gary and Carolyn’s (my niece) home where we will stay for two nights. We were first there and enjoyed a swim in their lovely pool. Jessica and Hannah (their daughters) have lots of things on, so we barbequed burgers when everyone was home. It was a beautiful warm evening outside.

Thurs 15 March – We had not visited the CBD of Brisbane for 30 odd years so we caught the local bus for the 45 minute ride into the city. The bus trip was very interesting as the largest part is on a bus only road. Fascinating watching the cars crawl along the motorway while the bus belts along at 80kms. We arrived in the Queen St Mall and wandered it’s length. The buildings are beautiful and we walked to the Cathedral set amongst the sky scrapers.

 We hired pre-booked “City Cycles” and rode along the river and thru the botanical gardens. These bikes are free but you must change bikes every half hour. The bikes lock into special stands with a key pad system. Plenty of places to swap them over.

 We crossed the Brisbane river onto the South Bank eventually trading in our bikes and had lunch overlooking the beach area. Lots of office workers enjoying a lunchtime swim.

Back across the Victoria bridge to the Queen St Mall and an ice-cream before our bus ride home. A stand was offering free ice-cream (our price). The catch was that it was the food of the future. Val had Scarry Berry (fruit ice-cream laced with ants) I had Choc Hopper (chocolate full of grass hoppers). Both were very nice although mine was very crunchy! Back home we had another swim and a relaxing chatty meal outside. You have got to love this climate.

Friday 16 March –

On the road for our trip south past the new sky scrapers of Surfers Paradise and some of the venues for the Commonwealth Games. We stopped at Tallebudgera Creek camp and got a nice shady site near the river.

After lunch we swam at the river beach and read in the sun and shade. Before dinner we rode our new bikes on a path to the river mouth. The sea is very rough due to a cyclone off the coast. We cooked dinner on our new barbeque setup. All very successful. We watched some of the Broncos v Cowboys game on TV. (when in Rome!)

Sat 17 March – The camp has filled up for the weekend with lots of new flash caravans and young families. On our bikes for a ride along the beaches ending up at the other major river at Currumbin. None of this ride was on the road. Lots of surfers making the most of the wild sea. Back at camp we had a swim to cool off before lunch. The temperatures are perfect around 30C. More swimming/sunbathing/reading in the afternoon with dinner outside.

Sun 18 March – A short drive down the coast thru Currumbin and Tugun to Tweed Heads. Crossed into NSW and lost an hour. (no daylight saving in Qld). We have discovered that we have left the charging cable for the camera at home to we went to a Jaycars in Tweed Heads but no luck. We camped at a caravan park in Tweed Heads on the river but there was no swimming except in the camp pool which was very nice. Lazed on the loungers until they became too hard on the backside and along with the screaming kids drove us back to “Andy” and our comfy chairs. Inside after dinner as there were lots of mossies.

Mon 19 March – Drove to a specialist camera shop and bought the charging cable for the camera. Great!! We walked on the beach at Coolangatta before following the coastal road thru the various beaches and resorts to Byron Bay and our camp at Suffolk Park about 8kms south of the main town. The camp was very small with great shade.

 In the afternoon we went to the beach and had a couple of swims. The surf was great, around 25C with a strong sideways tow. Unfortunately there was no shade at the beach and we have not bought a sun umbrella yet, so we came back to “Andy” and the shade. Dinner outside cooked on the barbeque on a picnic table supplied at our site. Val managed to book a camp site at Port Macquarie for Easter.

Tues 20 March – We set off on our bikes the 8km ride along cycleways to Byron Bay. We walked around the shops. This resort town is very much set up for the younger surfie set. Back on our bikes for a ride to Clarks Beach and then a walk along the coast passed Watego Beach and then a climb up to the Eastern Most point of Australia and the lighthouse. A hot sweaty walk. Back via another track to our bikes and the return ride to Suffolk Park. We stopped at the local pub for a well-earned beer and toasted sandwich. 16 kms biking and 8 kms walking! Into the surf for a cool off! A great day!