Brisbane to Byron Bay via Coolangatta

We arrived at our hotel in Brisbane at about 9pm local time which is an hour behind the time in New South Wales and Victoria so we are aback to 10 hours ahead of the UK. The hotel was very cheap at $85 a night with en-suite, aircon , tv and a small balcony. It is situated on Spring hill which is quite near the centre. We had to retrieve the key from a metal box with a combination to get into the hotel and room. We got up, checked in then out and called a taxi to get to our hire car which didn’t look too far away on the map but with all the bags and its now much warmer than Melbourne. I had printed out my confirmation of paying and a map showing where to pick up the car from. We arrived at “Juicy car hire” but were expecting “standby cars”, had to wait for an hour while one couple brought a car back and another rented one out. He took one look at the paperwork and said that we were at the wrong address. It was on the same street but we were at number nine and we should have been at number 435. A very long walk with the bags at temperature.

We filled in the usual paperwork and headed back down the coast again towards Sydney. The little car was also a bargain at $36 a day with aircon, automatic, radio and was quite new. We stopped of at Coolangatta for breakfast and lunch at the old surf club; what a pretty stretch of coast with lots of surfers and inland waterways as we went. The other bonus was that the sun had now come out. We arrived at Byron Bay at around 3.30pm, picked up an offering of wine and beer had a quick walk to the beach which was full. I think there were more people at Byron Bay than were in Sydney over Christmas. It has become one of the favourite backpackers hotspots.

We pulled up into the drive to find Mick in the garden, had hardly got out the car when Lynn came back from work; perfect timing and the satnav brought us right to the door. It’s a lovely traditional weather boarded house over 80 years old with gardens stretching back behind where Mick has obtained planning to build another house for their retirement that is more maintenance free. We had hardly opened one of the cold beers we had brought when another car pulled up with Geoff their son. Geoff played lead guitar with a big Australian band called “Parkway Drive”. He had a quick cool off shower which was hidden under the tree before joining us. The band is getting really successful and all four members of the band have recently bought houses in the area as an investment for the future. They are all level headed guys that only drink on New Years Eve and regularly tour the world.

We headed off down to the beach for a walk and to watch the surfers past the Byron Beach Café. It was a lovely part of the day with the tide right out but still plenty of surfers catching the last waves and rays of light. Dolphins were doing the same thing a little further out, loads of them but I never managed to catch a photo of them jumping and surfing. There is a great lookout rock with wooden steps built up that makes a fantastic viewing platform over that bay and the next one. We walked around to the next bay and stopped for quick refreshment which Lynn had brought in a cool bag. There were lizards and bush turkeys here and there and we could hear the occasional Kookaburra. By the time that we headed back to light the Barbie for our fillet steak and Lamb supper the sun was setting making a much more spectacular sunset than the photos could possibly show. What a perfect day and it is great to catch up with old friends again. I now see why Mick and Lynn have lived here since their 60’s hippy days and have no plans in ever moving anywhere else in the world other than for holidays.