Feb 26: Southwest Rocks to Byron Bay

We awoke to a beautiful day to the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks, and to the sight of a kookaburra sitting on our chair!  

Then we swam in the ocean, showered, and headed into town and then up the coast.  The road from Melbourne to Sydney is freeway the whole way, but the road from Sydney to Brisbane is freeway only part of the way.  The main road here is studded with long sections of two lane roads, small towns, 25 mph school zones and tons of trucks.  They are working on extending the freeway in places but it will be years before it is completed.

Now by “freeway” this is what I mean:  It is limited access in places (off-ramps and on-ramps only) but for long stretches it is what I would call “divided highway” with turns across traffic and entrance roads from homes and ranches.

During one 30 km stretch we were warned to look out for all of the following on the highway: kangaroo, cattle, horses and koalas.  This is Australia!

The main way they try to prevent deaths in these hundreds of miles of ‘blood alley” is to use speed cameras which not only check your speed but measure your average speed from point to point.  Albeit annoying at times, it works and no one drives 15 kph (10 mph) over the limit.

We drove through beach towns and sugar cane fields

 and at Moenee Beach had the best fish and chips ever...hoki and barrimundi...

and then stopped for the night at the wonderful beach town of Byron Bay: think Santa Cruz or Huntington Beach with warm water, warm air, long sandy beaches, and shallow water….with warnings for snakes, sharks, and stinging jellyfish.

 We never did find out what this interesting tree was.

We celebrated our last evening of camping with a couple of pints near the beach and a wonderful dinner in the motorhome.

Tomorrow, we drive the two hours to Brisbane, turn in the motorhome, and head for the Marriott. Then off to dinner with our good friend Barb Gnatz Johnston’s brother Bob Gnatz, who lives in Brisbane.