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.
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