Brooms Head

From Nashua we called into Brunswick Heads for a great coffee at Yami, on Park St, a favourite when we pass, then went to the storage shed in the Tweed Valley and picked up the caravan. Lucky it was not raining and the van looked OK even though during the storage period there was a lot of rain in the area (a couple of days with around 200mm).

Brooms Head

It wasn't far to Tweed Heads Shopping Centre to stock up of food then checked into Tweed Holiday Park.  Our site was right next to our friends Ray and Carol from Burnett Heads who were on their way home after picking up a new caravan. It was great catch up during our week stay.  Also great to spend time with the kids - Briony calling in for a coffee and chat from time to time.  Had a good night out at the Tugun Surf Lifesaving Club to say goodbye to our great niece who was leaving home to live in Adelaide.  During our stay the weather was humid and unfortunately Helen was attacked by midges and was covered in bites - with the wet weather the council was unable to spray and the midges were in abundance.  She stayed in the van for the next few days until we packed up to travel down to NSW to stay with friends.

Nasty little bites

From Tweed Heads we headed south towards Yamba then onto Mike and Chris' home at Gulmarrad for a couple of days.  The drive down was good and you could see the changes with the new freeway being constructed since we travelled along here previously. Unfortunately it hadn't been fully completed but certainly making good progress.  The bridge over the Clarence River near Yamba had been completed and wow you certainly are high up when you cross the river!

Mike and Chris have a lovely place at Gulmarrad, which we hadn't seen for about 18 months so noticed how much the trees had grown around the property giving them more privacy and the garden was looking good.  The traditional game of darts was enjoyed by all with the Hautops coming out winners. The following day we went for a drive around the area, having a look at the new developments.  A new boutique brewery (Sanctus Brewin Co) had opened in the industrial area so dropped in for lunch. I sampled a few of their beers including Strawberry Beer! (not a favourite of mine).

The garden is coming along and trees looking good.

Winners, say no more!!

Beers and Lunch at Sanctus Brewing Co.

One morning I decided to get up early and go to Brooms Head for the sunrise, the sun did come up but wasn't as spectacular as I had hoped. Never the less the morning was nice and clear so was able to get the drone out and take some shots of Brooms Head and beaches towards Sandon River.

Just made it to see the sun come up, not as spectacular as I would have liked!!

Brooms Head from the lookout looking along Main Beach north towards Red Cliff Beach

From the lookout along the beach south towards Sandon River

Brooms Head lookout

Nashua

Friday was wet when we packed up taking what we needed from the caravan for the house sit and putting the caravan in storage at Tweed Valley.  It wasn't the easiest packing as we had to contend with the rain and had many damp things which we would have preferred to leave stored in the caravan but had to take with us to dry out. To add to the planning Byron Bay had 250 mm of rain over night which had flooded some of the roads and bridges which we where to take to get to our house sit at Nashua.

We had planned to take the direct route from Bangalow only 10 min to the house but Sue had contacted us and the Nashua road bridge was under about 600 mm of water so we were given alternative directions via Newrybar towards Fernleigh and along the Booyong road to Nashua which took us at least a half an hour longer and we still had to drive through about 100 meters of water about 200 mm deep. Just as well we decided to store van as would have been interesting to say the least to tow van along these badly pot holed roads.

On arrival we quickly unpacked and Sue started to go through the requirements needed to look after the dogs, Henry and Jess. The next morning I wanted to get an item from Aldi in Byron Bay so I set off early and could take the road over the previously flooded bridge into Byron, and it still continued to rain.

A down poor in Byron which was flooding the parking ticket meters.

Henry & Jess were great dogs to look after, they both enjoyed their morning and evening walks, although at times we thought Jess had a bit of attitude and looked as though she was not enjoying it. We had a couple of different directions to walk all with various scenery and very pleasant. Henry and Jess had three meals a day which needed some preparation - toast and egg for breakfast, a bone before dinner of rice, vegetables (which Helen cooked) and a protein of either meat or fish.  We felt they ate better than us at times!

On our evening walks we would pass by some horses in the next paddock

The morning walk would take me up onto the range which looked west towards Lismore.

We spent a lot of time sitting out on the screened deck observing the rain forest.

Byron council is known for the potholes in their roads.

We took a drive into Lismore for shopping one day and the sky opened up when we arrived at the shops. That afternoon many of Lismore roads were closed due to flooding so we were lucky to finish our shopping and get back to Nashua. Heard on the news that the rain had put all the NSW bushfires out so that was good news although we were a bit over having rain every day!

Helen thought this was for her!!!

Lunch at the Bangalow Hotel, just happened to be Valentine Day, how good was I !!

Main street of Bangalow, check out the rainbow pants on the left.

Saturday morning farmers market behind the hotel at Bangalow

Border Ranges / Pottsville

After leaving Kooralbyn, Qld we decided to go back via the Border Ranges to Kyogle, NSW and stay at the show grounds. Travelled on Mt Lindesay Highway through Rathdowney, Mt Lindesay State Forest then turned onto Summerland Way through Grevillia, Rukenvale to Kyogle. Set up at the Show grounds around lunch time then I suggested we take a drive out to the Border Ranges, in particular I wanted to get to Pinnacle Lookout which we had observed from our house sit at Cawongla.  I thought it would be a spectacular view on a clear day, and today was sunny and looking good. Unfortunately I didn't look at the map close enough so we took the scenic route (or in Helen's words got lost!) via some lovely villages, Horseshoe Creek, Collins Creek and then through Lynchs Creek and up onto the range. This was a nice drive past Sheepstation Creek camp area and up to Pinnacle Lookout, unfortunately as we got closer to the top the sun disappeared and the lookout had cloud cover and even a light shower of rain.

From Kyogle you travel north and turn of into the Border Ranges to the Pinnacle Lookout

An easy walk from the car park to the lookout.

Unfortunately the cloud covered the view, could only see a few houses way down in the valley.

The next morning we packed up and went into Kyogle for a coffee at The Sugarbowl Cafe, a great coffee. Leaving Kyogle we first passed by John and Julies to pick up a temperature sensor I had left behind after the house sit, then proceeded down the range through Kunghur, Uki cutting across to Stokers, Burringbar, Mooball.  Turned onto Tweed Valley Way to Pottsville North Tourist Park where we had booked into for a week.  Was a nice drive down the range and with weather still humid I headed for the pool while Helen did washing.

Great Coffee at The Sugarbowl Cafe, Kyogle.

The first few days were great, we had some nice weather so I was able to get the bike out and go for a morning ride to Hastings Point to the north and towards Wooyung to the south. We drove to Currumbin Waters where we had breakfast cooked by Briony and on the Monday I went to Todd's and made some repairs to an old cruiser bike which needed some TLC. It was that hot I had to stop and go for a refreshing swim.  On the Tuesday the weather changed and the rain started, the humidity had gone and it was more comfortable but now we had to dodge the rain.

Briony had prepared and cooked a wonderful breakfast.

Curlew sheltering from the rain under our awning

Just rain and water everywhere

Todd checking out the rejuvenated cruiser bike

We managed to do a couple of drives and look around Pottsville before we started to prepare to put the caravan in storage and go to our house sit in the hinterland out from Byron Bay. Experienced torrential rain which didn't help when trying to pack things into the car in readiness for the housesit plus having to wind up a soaked awning.