This morning we woke to sunny skys and warm temperatures. This is our day to get to Brisbane but we only have about 400 km to travel.
We headed down to the beach again for a morning picture. We look at the view and wish that we had time to just lay around and enjoy the ocean. We say that but neither of us are the type to lay on the beach but it is a nice thought.
Off we head down the highway following Karen’s instructions. We were talking to a couple of Australians last night and learned that they are very strict about speed limits here and use photo radar. Now we are a bit concerned since driving the van without cruise control it is easy to slip above the posted speed at times. We are sure we have never been more than a few km over and in Canada would not be concerned. However here maybe we should be concerned. What is sad is that we will not know for several weeks after the fact. The other concern of course is to know how accurate the speedo is in the van. Oh well, what will be will be as they say. It does cause us enough concern to drive a bit under today just to be on the safe side.
As we travelled along Karen told us to turn off the main highway we are on and we debated doing this. The main highway will take us to Brisbane we are positive – but to keep Karen happy we decided to follow her instructions. We had a wonderful drive through the country side and enjoyed the views. Now Karen works on the best route by distance but I suspect that this ‘shortcut’ may have been shorter by distance but with the slower roads unlikely an advantage for time. No matter we enjoyed the route.
One of the things that surprised me was to see sugar cane fields. We even drove by a Sugar Cane processing mill. It was interesting to see some fields of sugar cane burned through as this is not a common practise anymore (although it was before).
One of the places on the ‘must see’ list is Byron Bay. This was a short drive off the main highway out to the coast. Byron Bay is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of the state of New South Wales in Australia. Cape Byron, a headland adjacent to the town, is the easternmost point of mainland Australia. On the Cape is a lighthouse. The views from the Cape are breathtaking. In all directions there is something to look at. With such a nice day it is not surprising to see lots of surfers and swimmers on the beach that seems to go on for miles on both sides of the Cape.
We wanted to see the Bay and Beachs from the Cape so we drove up the lower parking lot with the idea we would walk to the lighthouse. (Parking is free on the lower lot but costs $7 at the lighthouse). The lower parking lot was full and so we decided to spend the money and park in the upper lot – except it also was full. We thought we would not be able to stop and have a walk around until we found a parking spot on the way back down so all was well. The temperature at 1 was very hot but not a problem.
As you likely know, I do not mind talking to people and we met and chatted with several different couples on the walk up and around. What we noted was the majority of them are from Germany, so we wonder if anyone is left in Germany or are they all touring Australia?
When we got to Brisbane we had picked a campsite with city bus access by the front gate. However when we went to check in we learned that they charge $41 (after our discount) per night and they do not have a camp kitchen. We decided to pay this high price but when they also said we needed to put down a $50 deposit on the gate key I decided that was too much. Oh and if we wanted to use the outdoor BBQ’s it costs $1 (or more if it takes more time than the timer permits). The deposit would be returned when we left but really to require a $50 deposit for a $2 key? I surprised Wes I think when I said, the price is too high and it does not have what we want so lets go find another place. We drove across the street to a different campground and paid $30. It has free BBQ’s but still no camp kitchen. I am thinking that as we travel north we will find this more often.
Tonight when I was talking to a young couple staying in one of the cabins here I learned that the cabins cost $50 per night and they have a kitchen in them but no amenities. (no bathrooms) If we get stuck we can always rent a cabin with a kitchen but our camper has a stove so we are not stuck.
When we got settled in the campsite, it was only 3:30 and we both had decided not to take the bus into town tonight. We felt we needed to have a break and take some rest. So we went to the pool for a wonderful relaxing swim. We met a couple there that live here full time. He works for the company actually and spent an hour just talking about things. We finally headed back to the camper a bit concerned that we had not put on sunscreen and was in the water so long but all is fine. We have a good base tan and it was late afternoon sun.
Tomorrow we will take the day to explore Brisbane but I do not know yet that that means. Tell you tomorrow night.
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