Day 18 – Red Rock, Arrawarra Headland, Woolgoolga Lookout

The last day of our road trip and we were looking forward to blue skies and warm, sunny weather. You may not be surprised to hear this is not what we got. We clearly need to get new weather apps! It was cloudy and showery all day, getting quite cool by the afternoon. Oh well, at least it wasn’t windy.

Gaz and I decided to visit a few haunts from past trips – in particular we had always liked Red Rock and it was less than a 20 minute drive away. We weren’t disappointed. Some beautiful calm bay/beach areas as well as some lovely scenery.

It was then on to Arrawarra Headland, about 10 minutes’ drive back towards Woolgoolga. It also offered spectacular views and scenery as well as a lovely paved walk around the headland – Gaz made sure he kept well away from the edge. There was a lot of lovely native vegetation – very pretty.

All this viewing of nature’s majesty had worked up an appetite so we called in at a cute café back in Woolgoolga and shared a bacon & egg burger and apple pie, cream, and ice cream. It was to die for. Really nice food, all locally grown and home cooked – you could tell.

Before heading back to the cabin, we drove up to the Woolgoolga Lookout which also provided a lovely vista and paved walking tracks. It is apparently all part of a walking track – both paved and natural that goes all the way up the coast – very cool.

It was time for golf for Kev and Gaz, so they trotted off while I relaxed, reading my book and icing my ankle for the billionth time. Maz took Buddy for a walk along the beach but I decided to rest up the ankle. I got really cold and retreated under the blankets to read and fell asleep for 30 minutes. Must be all the action of the morning that tired me out … not. Gaz said he had a shocking round of golf, losing three balls on one hole by hitting the same shot each time. He said Kev played well though. Finally, there are photos that actually prove they played – including an interesting selfie. The rest of the afternoon was spent chilling out and starting to pack for our journey home tomorrow.

We have been waiting the whole trip to try the delights of White Salt, a fish and chip shop here in Woolgoolga, that was recommended by my cousin, Doug. Doug has now attained legendary status as it was a fabulous meal – the calamari and scallops in particular were scrumptious.

After that awesome meal, it was back to our cabin for the finale of the euchre tournament. You may recall that we were tied at four rubbers all and this was the decider. Kev and I took were quick out of the blocks and won the first game, though it was close with Maz and Gaz pressing us all the way. The second game was a whitewash with both Maz and Gaz going alone with a march, getting four points each along the way. When they won that game I think we only had two points. That set it up for an amazing finish. The deciding game was neck and neck and when Maz dealt what was to be the last hand, Kev and I were ‘all but’, needing only one point and Maz and Gaz needed two points to win. What happened? I ordered Maz up which meant it was all to turn on this hand as if we won it, we got the one point we needed and if they won, it was a euchre and they would get two points. Incidentally it was the first time in 9 nights of playing that I had ordered anyone up. I won’t leave you on tenterhooks any longer … Kev and I won and have claimed the title 2019 Road Trip Euchre Champions.

A great way to wrap up our holiday. It’s been fun. While the weather has been disappointing at times, everyone agreed Gaz had chosen great spots for us to stay and the company has been great. We started talking about where we might go for 2020 Road Trip … but that’s a story for another day.

(PS – A bit of trivia - I just looked and I have written over 10,000 words for the blog this trip … and this will be my 201st blog post of all time!)

Day 17 – Woolgoolga

A pretty chilled day with very little action. Beautiful weather – blue skies, light winds, temp in low 20s. Gaz and I took a stroll around the Woolgoolga township – checked out some shops and reminisced about our holidays here when our kids were little. Gaz had a coffee, I bought some stuff. In some ways the town has changed and grown, and in other ways it all seems very familiar. Gaz in particular reminisced about the TAB that is no longer there – he seemed to have fond memories…

(Outside our cabin this morning)

Kev and Maz were much more energetic, taking off on their bikes to explore the surrounds. They subsequently regaled us with tales of lookouts and other scenic wonders … enough to make me feel like a lie down! Buddy seemed to enjoy the ride and he definitely needed a lie down this afternoon. Such an adventure for him!

After a light lunch back at the cabin, Gaz and Kev took off for golf while Maz and I hit the beach with Buddy. (We are taking Gaz and Kev’s word for it that they played golf as they forgot to take any photos – and, as I say, if there are no photos how do we know it happened?) It was a lovely afternoon and I stayed a bit longer reading my book. I also grabbed a whole heap more rocks from the beach for painting – I will be set up for quite a while. While searching for rocks I came upon the remnants of a shipwreck – the Buster was washed up in a storm in 1893 and apparently it gets revealed from time to time depending on tides, storms and so on. Not much of it is showing at the moment.

Speaking of rocks, at lunchtime I dropped my last four rocks at the Lake Reserve next to the caravan park and noticed this afternoon that one of them had gone. It’s been a fun exercise – you don’t always hear if they get picked up but it’s always nice to wonder where they might end up. Over the last three weeks, (as far as I can remember), I have dropped rocks at Willow Tree, Narrabri, Moree, Lightning Ridge, Goondiwindi, Toowoomba, Dalby, Gympie, Coolum, Kingscliff, and now Woolgoolga!

While Gaz and Kev went to Woolies to gather supplies for tonight’s feast, Maz and I took a walk down a bush trail that runs beside the lake. All was going smoothly until we heard a cacophony in the trees above us. Looking up we saw hundreds, nay, thousands of bats all carrying on in a most agitated manner. Maz forged on ahead for a while but they seemed to be growing in number and I was, I must admit, starting to freak out. Alfred Hitchcock movies flashed in my mind – we were hemmed in by a, (I was going to say flock but googled it), colony, (or perhaps cloud google tells me), of bats on one side and a lake on the other. It was time to retreat and Maz did not seem to need too much persuasion. Our walk back was punctuated by tales of weird viruses transmitted by weird animals – I was happy to not put any of that to the test.

Dinner was once again a communal effort – I made the veggie fry up, Maz did the potatoes, and Kev and Gaz commandeered the BBQ. It was all very yummy. We decided to eat outside at the BBQ area … and play our tension filled, everything’s riding on this, game of euchre. It got a bit cold as the evening wore on. Gaz and Maz won the first game, Kev and I won the second, then in the third it was neck and neck. We knew if Kev and I won the third game, it was all over – no deciding rubber tomorrow night – we would be the 2019 Road Trip Champions. Alas, it was not to be and we will all gather again tomorrow night for the decider as it is four rubbers all. This is big. Kev and I have agreed to forgo any other activities tomorrow as we will need to practise and strategise … well, not really … we are so confident we don’t need to do that. Tomorrow is our last full day – looking forward to some relaxation.

Day 16 – Brunswick Heads to Woolgoolga

Blue skies! That’s what we awoke to this morning and what we enjoyed all day. No sign of rain anywhere – yay! Our customary packing up routine went without a hitch and found us motoring out of the caravan park at 10am. We enjoyed our time at Brunswick immensely and named it the best place so far. Well, that mantle lasted for only a few hours until we arrived at our destination – Woolgoolga Lakeside Holiday Park. We were blown away by the location and our cabin.

The park is set with a lake/river on one side and then the beach adjacent. We can see both lake and river from our balcony, with the lake a mere 20 metres from our front steps with only foliage between us and the water. Gaz and I sat on the balcony enjoying the view when we were joined by two very friendly (and tame) kookaburras. Gaz fed them so they hung around and around and around. I’m guessing they’ll be back too.

After we unpacked, Gaz and I took a walk through the (smallish) park and found Maz and Kev setting up their van about 10 metres from a short track to the beach. We took the track and found a beautiful quiet stretch of beach that goes on and on in both directions. The small township of Woolgoolga is about 1km down one way and it looks pretty quiet the other way.

There were quite a few rocks washed up on the beach so Gaz and I foraged for some prime specimens for me to take home and paint. We walked towards the lake – which looks like it might join up with the beach at high tide – and did a big loop back to the cabin. It was great.

I was checking my facebook and found something amazing. A lady from Canada was out in Oz holidaying and picked up one of my rocks. She put a photo of it on NSW Rocks asking who had painted it and saying finding it made her happy. I replied and we struck up a conversation. She said she didn’t know what to do with it so put it back – what a shame! Otherwise my rock would have been winging it to Niagara Falls, Canada. The weirdly coincidental thing was that the lady found the rock at Coolum so I assumed I had left it there … but it turned out I had left it at Narrabri back on Day 1, a lady had found it and subsequently dropped it at Coolum … and she is from East Maitland. What are the odds?

Had a bit of a rest this arvo and minded Buddy while Kev and Maz went to get supplies for dinner. What a dinner it was! Maz whipped up a yummy steak and mushroom dish with rice and veggies while I used some of the left over rice to make another rice custard. Then it was time for the Main Event. That’s right – euchre. It was close … so close … but Maz and Gaz came home with a wet sail so it is now 4 rubbers to 3 (to the good guys – Kev and me) with 2 nights to go. Stay tuned.

Day 15 – Minyon Falls, Rocky Creek Dam, Bangalow

More heavy rain overnight and a somewhat noisy nearby freeway kept me awake for an hour or so at 3am, so I was a bit slow out of the blocks this morning … but still managed to emerge before Gaz.

By 10:30am we were in Brunswick Heads looking for tourist info and sliced ham, (no luck with sliced ham in this hippy vegan hang out lol), when we chanced upon a TV/film shoot across the road from the pub. I had to have a look and sure enough it was the shooting of the comeback series of Sea Change. I got up close to Brooke Satchwell but she had to rush back to start filming again. Otherwise, I’m sure she would have been up for a chat. I met Gaz at the bakery and he was so jealous because apparently Brooke is his favourite actress … who knew?

After a detour to Ocean Shores (about 5 minutes) to procure some ham, we were back at the caravan park to pick up Kev and Maz to set off on the adventure I had plotted with the nice tourist info lady (TIL). In sparkling sunshine we set off for Mullumbimby, a lovely town not far off that we drove through, though we all agreed it would have been nice to stop. Our destination was Minyon Falls and the nice TIL had assured me that the road was good. She did fail to mention that it was winding, narrow, and on the edge of mountains with sheer drops of many hundreds of metres. Gaz was not impressed (he’s not good with heights), although I’m sure he totally trusted my driving. Anyway, he did well as the road deteriorated, though he did mention that he would have a word to the nice TIL to set her straight on what is a ‘good’ road. I must admit the last couple of kilometres were horrendous with massive potholes.

None the less we arrived at Minyon Falls in one piece and all agreed (even Gaz) that it was worth it. A short walk from the car park along a boardwalk led us to magnificent views of the Falls and the valley below. Gaz didn’t quite make it to the edge … but he can look at the photos. You could trek 4.5km down to the base of the falls but, on reflection (0.2 seconds) we decided not to.

We stayed there about 20 minutes and then it was off to our next destination, Rock Creek Dam, about 30 minutes away. Unfortunately we had to backtrack along the worst of the road (there was an alternate way on google maps and I allowed Gaz to choose – he said ‘better the devil you know’) but then wound our way through some pretty spectacular scenery to arrive at the beautiful picnic grounds, as described by the nice TIL who had picnicked there herself just yesterday. We found a lovely spot, spread out our picnic, and had the large area all to ourselves.

After lunch we packed up our food and took a short stroll to the spot that overlooks the dam itself. Maz and I proposed a walk down to the dam wall but Kev and Gaz cautioned us, pointing to dark looking clouds advancing across the dam. They decided to go back to the car while Maz, Buddy and I took the walk down the hill to the dam wall and then back up the stairs and across the children’s play area of the picnic grounds. We had just arrived at the (very conveniently located) toilets when the rain came down. And did it come down! It poured. We tried to wait it out but it seemed to get heavier so Gaz and Kev mounted a rescue mission where they brought the car closer so we would be less drowned. A quick dash to the car and we joined the boys who only said ‘I told you so’ once or twice.

The rain continued as we wound our way back down, this time heading towards the charming town of Bangalow where we stopped for a coffee and a stroll up and down the Main Street, occasionally checking out the shops. The house prices up here are through the roof – lots over a million dollars, and that’s without views or anything. All agreed that the nice TIL had done pretty well, all considered, and the scenic loop we had driven was fabulous. We were back at the cabin about 4pm and Gaz and I decided one last attempt to catch a fish was in order. Needless to say, there was no luck. We had a few nibbles but the only time we saw a fish was when Gaz threw the leftover bait in the river and he saw a monster fish jump out of the water to devour it. C’est la vie.

As planned we went to the famed Brunswick Heads Hotel for dinner where it was ‘Pasta Night’. Beautiful pub, beautiful food … but we ate too much! After such a big day it was decided to have an early night in anticipation of moving on tomorrow, so the euchre onslaught waits for another day.

Day 14 – Brunswick Heads

Bit of a sleep in and slow start to the day as I didn’t get into bed until 1am. Kev and Maz stayed  night until the election concession and victory speeches were made and we could go to bed safe in the knowledge of who would be running the country when we awoke the next morning. I got up a bit before 8 and could wait for Gaz no longer, cooking myself a big brekkie at about 9. It was so big I didn’t have lunch!

Kev and Maz were up and organised, cycling into town (Brunswick Heads, about 1.5km) to do a reccy.

We drove in a bit later and did the same, finding a bustling little town with lots of coffee and boutique type shops. There was quite a crowd wandering around and I could imagine it would be really packed in summer. Parking was at a premium. Even saw a celebrity – Steve Bisley – having coffee at a corner café. We checked out the beach, the river, the break-wall and thought it all looked wonderful. Astonishingly it didn’t rain, but clouds were ominously gathering and, although warmish, was not warm enough for a swim for me or Gaz.

We grabbed a yummy lemon meringue tart from the bakery, found some bait, and headed home. After a bit of grumbling and groaning, one fishing rod was primed (or whatever you call it) and we wandered the 30 metres or so to the river’s edge to wet a line. Gaz cast the line in twice and declared it was “running too fast” so that fishing trip was quickly aborted.

Just as well anyway as the Knights v Dragons game was coming up on TV (yay, we have Foxtel!) Kev came over and we watched a magnificent display from the Knights who smashed the Dragons 45-12. Excellent game and a much desired result! Spent the next couple of hours chilling and then headed into town for dinner.

We had decided to try the pub for dinner but when we got there it was packed and there was a band playing very loud music. Us oldies decided retreat was the better part of valour and we found a nice café round the corner called Hoopers where Gaz and I had fish & chips and Kev and Maz had burgers. Yum. We might try the pub tomorrow night when hopefully is will be somewhat more subdued.

After sitting outside to eat dinner, we drove back to the cabin and were hardly inside when it started pouring with rain. Luckily we had a dry and relatively calm day today after all the cold rain and wind we’ve had – I’m happy that it rains at night – send it down Hughie! Kev and Maz soon arrived for our nightly euchre game – undertaken with the A-League grand final in the background. Look at Kev’s hand below – yep we won again, now leading 4 rubbers to 2.

Day 13 – Coolum – Kingscliff – Brunswick Heads

Moving day and the sun was shining … isn’t it ironic? Well we packed up and left about 9:30am, travelling along a number of (sometimes congested) motorways until we arrived at Kingscliff, just across the border in NSW. This was the place we had originally thought to stay but, alas, could not find a caravan park that takes dogs. Still, a good spot for a rock drop or two…

We pulled up at a lovely park near a creek that joins the sea – there was a little break-wall, beautiful long beach, and crystal clear water in an estuary, all right next to a lovely grassy park with children’s play area and so on. Feasting on our usual fare of fresh bread, cold meat and salad with fruit to follow, we enjoyed the general ambience of the area. Although it had rained a bit on the way, the clouds had scattered and, although a bit cool in the shade and a tad windy, we had pretty good weather for our picnic.

Gaz, Maz and Kev needed coffee so walked the short distance to the shops while I wandered up to the end of the break-wall. There I met and chatted with a lovely couple from Cornwall UK who are out here on a holiday. We had a good old chin wag – he had lived in Wollongong for some time in the 80s and was out here for the rugby club’s 50th anniversary.

It was then time for the short half hour trip to our destination at Brunswick Heads. The caravan park is a short distance out of town on the river and is chockers with families and kids. Quite a few campers too. Our cabin is described as deluxe and didn’t disappoint – best so far – even a dishwasher! We are situated with a lovely river view and a large porch to take advantage of the view. We even have our own BBQ on the balcony which has got some use already.

We had a seafood feast – swordfish, tuna, salmon and prawns – exceptionally yummy, I think the best meal so far … and we’ve had some pretty good ones. After dinner, the cards made there way out … with the election coverage in the background… and I’m sad to say that Maz & Gaz have made a huge comeback (some would say in line with the federal coalition) and the count is now 2 to 3 rubbers with Kev and me still in the lead.

Later night than usual due to the election coverage which certainly threw up a few surprises!