ANZAC Day Long Weekend 2016

ANZAC Day long weekend looked like a great opportunity to grab the van and toddle down into the beautiful countryside in the NSW Northern Rivers area.

We chose a van park in South Ballina because we still have Bruce the Dog (our daughter's dog) and national parks and many other places are out of bounds.

Besides, national parks would be full and finding a good spot would be difficult.

So, on Friday arvo we headed south. Karen had an RDO and I had one lecture at unit in the morning and was able to defer my afternoon studies - nice to be so flexible. :)

We missed the worst of the traffic and arrived at the van park after less than two hours - this included the ferry ride that was necessary to get to South Ballina. Always a fun exercise.

The van park was expecting us and we had a decent sized spot available for us and set up quickly. Yep, we were enjoying a little drinkie as we watched all the other people arrive and set up.

I rigged up a bit of a run for BtD with his bed at one end of it - park rules (and don't you always have rules in NSW?) dictate that he be chained up at all times so this was the easiest way out of it.

Saturday was a fun day. We weren't able to take Bruce the Dog to the beach as the van park as it is park of a reserve area and pets are banned, but we were able to take a drive down to another beach (Patches Beach) and take BtD out for a run along a near deserted beach.

Yep, that one tired but very happy dog.

We followed the exercise up with a good brekky and then headed off to a small township called Wardell which is on the Richmond River and repaired to the pub there to look at the magnificent fig trees and the pub's view of the river.

It's a hard life eh?

Sunday and we went for a drive into Ballina as walking the dog around the van park on a leash was not deemed to be much fun. Still, the dive into town was pleasant and we picked up some veggies and free range eggs from a farm gate so we were happy about that.

Ballina itself is a pleasant town and a bit bigger than I expected. The boardwalk along the river is very nice indeed and it takes you straight to the RSL which we couldn't go into because we had the dog. so we settled for a coffee and tide Bruce to the winch hook on the 'jero.

I knew it would come in useful for something some day!

We headed home and went through a place called Empire Vale which had the smallest post office I have ever seen. Gorgeous sin't it?



As we drove home we headed on past the van park and out to the mouth of the Richmond River. A spectacular place, but the rain was heading our way as you can see from this photo.

Feeling lazy we had dinner at the van park restaurant where we were entertained by a couple of Golden Guitar winners. It was a very pleasant end to a fun day.

Monday we just took our time to pack up and go home. As you can see, BtD was looking happy about it.

The NSW Northern Rivers

August 2015 - Some friends of ours were on a bit of a trip down from Innisfail, through the western backblocks of QLD before crossing the border into no-mans land (also known as NSW) and continuing south along the coast.

We decided to catch up with them along the way and to spend a week or so recovering from the shock of returning to our home on the Gold Coast.

So, while Liz and Neil were eating bulldust and dodging 'roos out west we hooked up the 'van and headed south to Brunswick Heads where we stayed for a couple of nights.

Brunswick Heads is a beautiful place, just a few klms north of the much better known (but much more crowded and "managed" Byron Bay) and we found a spot in a local caravan park.

The whole of this Northern Rivers area in NSW is simply gorgeous, but like the rest of NSW it has rules and conditions and much of the freedoms you find in the western half of Australia is banned in this, the convict state. So almost no free camps to use aside from the odd overnight stop and van parks are the way to go.

It's not such a bad thing though as we found ourselves sitting in the local pub overlooking the river and enjoying a drink.

A short walk from the pub across the old footbridge (there is an even rickettier old road bridge) takes you to the beach where the Pacific wets the sands and the air is clean and clear.

This pic is of some gorgeous young thing that I found myself chatting to that day. Lucky bloke eh?

Of course, a trip to this area would never be complete without paying a visit to Byron Bay, so off we drove for the 20 minute cruise to Byron and found a spot in a crowded car park and paid our fees. It still comes as a nasty shock to have to pay for parking you know, and to have to find a spot in a car park and walk the rest of the way into town is just rude.

However, the Bay is simply breathtaking.

Yeah - that gorgeous young thing had to take a photo of this old fart, but at least he looks happy at the prospect of a beer in Strop's old pub overlooking the beach.

And here is the table we got to sit our beer and wine on while we enjoyed the atmosphere.

However, after two or three nights in Brunswick Heads it was time to cruise on further south. We were meeting Liz and Neil in Grafton so we headed on down to Brooms Head for another few nights.

This is a really quiet little place most of the time and the council run van park is right on the beach and only a short walk to the bar and restaurant in the bowls club.  We have been here a number of times before and always loved it and this time was no exception.

This is the view from under the van awning - we were perched right on top of the dunes at the back of the beach.

And this is the early morning view from our bed at the sun just risen over the ocean. Simply gorgeous.

But eventually we hooked up again and caught up with Liz and Neil. We were going to meet them in Grafton, but they were running late (some Toyota issue I suppose :) ) so we toddled off to Minnie Water and Wooli to check out the van parks and surrounds.

We decided that one of the van parks just outside Wooli (but with its own pub and restaurant - very important points!) was the best with its views out over the river and peaceful atmosphere.

We met up with the Wasses and their travelling companions and enjoyed a thoroughly pleasant few days and evenings with them before they continued south and we returned home.

Below are a few pics of the area, starting with a couple of atmospheric evenings shots over the river. These were taken on my phone as we sat there, sipping a drink and just relaxing and chatting.

Karen sitting on the breakwater wall.

Paddling time! 

Karen and Liz heading off for a walk on the beach and a paddle. Driving on the beach was something we considered, but the fact that there was nowhere really to go and the effort involved in dropping tyre pressure and pumping them back up again made it seem not worth the time.

This was the view from under our awning and out over the river.

And finally, one of the totally unspoilt beach. 

Bloody magic.