Day 64 Tuesday 27th Sawtell Beach Holiday Park, Stunning day in Sawtell

We awoke to a warm, beautiful day. We are so happy that we booked into this amazing village on the coast, just 15 minutes south of the busier, Coffs Harbour. Sawtell Beach has many scenic attractions without the hustle, bustle and traffic of the nearby Coffs. Two beautiful rocky headlands, magnificent surf beaches, two creeks emptying into the sea, plenty of fishing spots, tidal rock pools and whale watching areas all make this such a lovely place. Rob decided to play golf today at the Bonville Golf Resort. After he headed to golf, I decided to go for a walk to a nearby headland. It was an easy uphill climb and well worth it with stunning views of the beaches, rocky headlands and rock pools. The town has built a tidal swimming pool for people to use as well. I enjoyed my walk and returned via the main street in Sawtell. The street had an abundance of cafes, boutique clothes shops, restaurants, a large RSL club and a pub. I enjoyed strolling the street before heading back to the caravan for lunch. Once Rob had returned from his golfing escapades, he took me to the nearby boat ramp where the creek which runs behind the caravan park and helped me launch the kayak. I had a beautiful kayak along the creek and towards its mouth. Meanwhile, Rob had decide to check out the headland walk I’d been on and was able to see me kayaking near the mouth. As the sun began to set I headed back to the launching area and met up with Rob.

Day 63 Monday 26th Sawtell Beach Holiday Park, Another Crossing of the Great Dividing Range

I think I have lost count of the number of times we have crossed the Great Dividing Range this trip. Of course it’s been pretty easy for me as I’ve just been able to enjoy the scenery while Rob’s done the driving! Leaving Stanthorpe we thought we might see some wildlife, in particular snakes near or on the road after the huge evening burn-off last night in the fields opposite the park but none were to be seen. We enjoyed the scenery, while traversing the mountains, crossing into NSW and stopping at Casino for fuel and coffee. Rob was pretty happy as there just happened to be a bakery next to the service station with the cheapest fuel. It was meant to be! We enjoyed travelling through the rivers area of NSW. Today and the coming week, records will be broken in the area, for the maximum winter temperatures. At one stage the temperature was 32. We stopped for lunch at a lovely spot on the Clarence River, before making our way to Sawtell Beach. Our park is magnificent. Nestled on the beach, between two rivers it is in a stunning location. It is probably the biggest park we have ever stayed in and the facilities and amenities are amazing. After settling in, we went for a walk down to the creek/beach area followed by a drive and walk to a nearby lookout. The sun was setting and the view from the lookout over the nearby beaches and creeks was beautiful.

Day 62 Sunday 25th Stanthorpe Holiday Park, A Busy day on the Road, No Floods just Fires

Today we were to have a rather longer drive than we’ve been completing each day, in the past few weeks. This meant we were up and ready to leave Rainbow Beach before 8am. Our drive took us through some very busy highways and motorways including those of the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and the Gold Coast hinterland. Our route took us through central Brisbane and we travelled on the road tunnel which goes under the Brisbane River, for over 5 kilometres.  Our route also took us back through the magnificent Scenic Rim and up the windy mountains. Once we’d completed this part of our journey we had reached an area known as the Granite Belt. We stopped for a lunch before continuing on. We noticed signs warning of smoke ahead. Sure enough we were soon in the thick of it. In fact it appeared that the road-side “controlled” burn-off had got completely out of hand! It was nearly impossible to see a metre in front of the car. On the opposite side of the road, there had been a rear-end car crash, where a vehicle had crashed into the rear of the car in front due to not slowing down enough and not being able to see the car. All occupants of the cars were fine but there was a bit of a mess to add to the drama. Later, we saw a Country Fire Services truck racing to the out of control fire, followed by a water-truck. Anyway after this excitement we arrived at Stanthorpe in the mid-afternoon. This will just be an overnight stop for us but it does look an inviting place to explore. Its claim to fame, is that it is the coldest place in Queensland. Well, today the temperature rose to nearly 30 but was around 23 in Stanthorpe so we weren’t worried. (Apparently it has actually snowed here!) We thought the fact that the other attractions in the town and nearby region of wineries, breweries, distilleries, dairies with cheesemakers, apple orchards, berry farms etc. made it a good place to check out in the future. Just to complete the day, as the sun was setting, the authorities started to do a controlled burn-off of the field across the road from the caravan park. It was quite spectacular and very interesting to watch. With no wind and the sun setting, the smoke rose straight up into the sky. The people that do this, certainly know what they’re doing (most of the time). The owners of the caravan park were out watching along with many of the tourists from the park and said that the burn-off we had driven through had “jumped the road” and that was how it became out of control.

 

Day 61 Saturday 24^th Breeze Holiday Park Rainbow Beach, Fun in the Sun We had a slow start to the morning, wandering back to the main street of Rainbow Beach to check all the shops out and have a coffee break. As it was a beautiful, warm sunny day the main street was very busy and clearly the place to be. Tourists, young people, families were all out and about and every eatery was full of people enjoying, breakfasts, bunches and coffees. We wandered down to the beach and again this was certainly a popular place. Many people were set up at different spots on the beach and a few were in swimming and surfing. We returned to the caravan and by now the tide was coming in to its peak which was the best time to put the kayak in the water. The bay area was quite sheltered and I enjoyed a long kayak around a nearby island. At one stage I was a little concerned as although the island was clearly marked on google maps, the large area of mangroves was not.  At one stage I thought I may not have found a channel through the mangroves and that I may have had to back-track rather than circumnavigate the island but luckily I found a channel and made it back to the shore of the caravan park. I was out on the water for over 2 and ½ hours once again. I saw many large skates and rays, as they tend to like the shallow, sandy waters surrounding the mangroves. Later in the afternoon we drove to Tin Can Bay, a larger town which is located across the bay from where we are staying at the moment. The town looked very inviting and had the added attraction of a very good golf course. I had tried to book into Tin Can Bay but all of the parks there were booked out for the dates we wanted and hence we ended up at Rainbow Beach. We might try to visit Tin Can Bay in the future, on another trip.