Thursday 13th March

The first action of the day was for Tom to go back to the towel shop and collect his credit card, while I finished the packing. These things completed and the bill paid (AU$150 for 2 nights), we backtracked slightly to the Butterfly House, about 10km south of Coffs Harbour. We had intended to go there yesterday, but didn’t make it. It was very warm in there, 29deg C, and humid but the butterflies were lovely. If you remember when we were in Sydney with Brian and Lorna, we saw some black and white butterflies. I described them to the guide and he told us they were Orchard Swallowtails, and Sydney is about as far south as you find them in Oz. Did you know that 70% of Australian butterflies live in the north, where the temperatures are higher, thus one of the reasons for having the House at such a high temp. Tom’s Note – Did you want to know? The 2 custodians were very helpful and we learnt a lot about these beautiful creatures – their breeding habits, habitat and life cycle, and saw the various stages of development. We even saw butterflies emerging from their chrysalises. All the butterflies that are in the House are bred there, so I suppose the keepers (if that’s the correct term) think of them as their charges.

That done, we drove back into Coffs Harbour and down to the marina and harbour – you can’t stay in a place with a name like that and NOT see the harbour! Well, after all that effort, it wasn’t particularly exciting, so we did a quick turnaround and got back on the Pacific Highway. A few kms further on, we stopped at the Big Banana where you can learn all about bananas, take a walk through a plantation, then buy lots of overpriced souvenirs! We decided not to do any of that, so had a look around the puzzle shop, which was packed full of just about any kind of puzzle you can think of. I took details of some that were of interest to us and you can order online anyway. (I keep thinking of the added baggage we’re collecting and how much it’ll cost us to get it all home!)

Back on the road again to Emerald Beach, where we intended to have our morning break. We’d seen a TV program which had praised the beach and surroundings – just don’t believe everything you see on the telly! Yes, the beach was very nice, quiet and with plenty of fine sand and nice long waves, Tom's Note - JABB

but the only place to eat was a very expensive café/restaurant which didn’t do coffee and cakes or even sandwiches – it was lunch or just a drink, which was more expensive on its own than our usual drink and sticky! So, back in the car and up the coast to Woolgoolga, which has the first Sikh temple to be built in Australia – some years ago now, and very pretty it is too – from the outside anyway; we didn’t venture in as we were desperate for the loo and then our drinks. I did have a very yummy piece of carrot cake with my iced coffee (and unfortunately, have suffered for it all day since – my first bad bout of indigestion for ages).

The time was now after 2.00pm and we had more than 200km to go to reach Ballina, our next stop, so we just drove without stopping – having had such a bitty and disappointing morning. The place names continue to amuse us. Today we passed signs for Halfway Creek (halfway to where?), Wooli and Minnie Water; BomBom and Tabbimoble; Bundjalung and Dungarubba. Note to Chris – you’re enshrined in Aussie infrastructure – the opening bridge at Harwood, just west of Yamba, which spans the mighty River Clarence. About 25km south of Ballina, we passed through Broadwater with the sign proclaiming “A Sweet Place to Stay” – it’s the sugar refining town in this area which has acres of sugar cane fields, and is also known as Sugartown.

We arrived at Ballina at 4.30pm and stopped at the Tourist Information, to check up on the location of the park. We think they also sell seafood!! After a short drive, we arrived at the Ballina Central Caravan Park, and checked in to our cabin, which is tiny but spotless, and only over the road from the Memorial Pool which is an Olympic sized swimming pool, built in memory of the servicemen who have died in the various wars. So much more sensible than a memorial which is ignored for most of the year. Guess where I’ll be tomorrow? Tom actually bared his body, well, parts of it that can be put on public display anyway, for half an hour once we’d unpacked. The sun was still hot and it’s very quiet here.

Then we went for a walk round the site, which is quite small but immaculate, had dinner then did a bit of shopping for tomorrow’s breakfast and here we are, lounging in our bijou residence, with the air con on, reading (Tom) and blogging (me) until it’s time for hand the laptop to Tom to sort out the pictures and publish the blog. Then to bed – very soon!

Goodnight all.