I’ve always wanted to visit beautiful, sunny Queensland. After more than six months in our caravan, here we are! Suddenly it feels all official, we are headed north! There is so much of Australia still to see. But now we are one step closer.
First stop, the Gold Coast! Of course. We could get away with not visiting the theme parks if our kids were younger. But they have this inconvenient awareness of these things. ;)
While we were staying in Hastings Point we drove down to Byron Bay to visit the most eastern point on the Australian mainland. It’s at the Cape Byron lighthouse, which is a state conservation area and a really popular spot, especially on the weekend! We drove up to the top only to find it too crowded to park. We were lucky to find a spot not too far down the drive so we were able to easily walk up to the lighthouse and nearby trail.
The view of the beach is stunning. See the kite surfers? (Is that what they’re called? I’ve no idea.)
Look at this! So beautiful! Definitely one of the most beautiful lighthouse locations I’ve ever visited. This was an ideal spot for whale watching, and we saw people doing just that. We didn’t spot any while we were there, though we did see some dolphins.
See that spot on the ground that looks like something has been removed? We wondered what used to be here and later found a sign with a picture showing that this is where the original flagstaff was.
‘National’ parks in Australia are managed by the states. Which means each state charges its own fees, so the pass we got in Tasmania (for example) doesn’t work in New South Wales. Nice. Many national parks are free to get into. At this conservation area there would have been a fee to park at the top by the lighthouse. Since it was full and we ended up walking in and we didn’t have to pay.
[Sidenote: Weeks after we left NSW my kids remembered that the lyrebird was on the NSW parks sign. How do they remember these things?]
What a view. Those swirly patterns in the water were amazing.
Here it is! The most easterly point of the Australian mainland! A very photographed sign.
Poor TurboBug was so upset as we were trying to take this picture. He kept saying ‘Up!’ but when we tried to pick him up he made it known that that was not what he wanted. After several minutes we finally figured out he wanted his hood up. All his siblings had theirs up at that point (it was windy!) and he wanted his up just like them. He was much happier after that.
That view again.
And the lighthouse. It’s amazing I got pictures with very few or no people in them, given the number of people there that afternoon!
Yep, it was built in 1901. How’d you guess?
Isn’t it gorgeous? So well maintained.
In the old lighthouse keeper’s office is a museum and gallery. Heaps of information, lots to peruse. There’s even art for sale. See the flagstaff in the picture below?
Some nearby rocks have a really cool name. ;) (It’s a family name. Nope, not our JitterBug.)
The area is part of the Arakwal National Park, and there’s a cultural resource room featuring information the history of the Arakwal people.
Another reference to Captain Cook…
There was information about the symbolism of this painting and it was lovely. Of course I don’t remember the details.
That view, one more time!
We didn’t spend any time in the town of Byron Bay, but just driving through it has a lovely beach town feel to it even in the winter. It was the weekend, so it was crowded. Can’t imagine it in the summer!
After Coffs Harbour we went a bit north to a small town called Hastings Point. We stayed at a lovely caravan park there, complete with a waterpark, indoor play place, and kids’ activities. They had morning craft sessions and an evening disco on the weekend, great fun for the kids. We met another family who were just getting ready to begin their journey around Australia. They lived nearby and had just moved out of their rental house and into their caravan, putting their belongings into storage. I felt for them, I remember how exhausting that whole process was for us. But look at us now! We are enjoying all these awesome places like Hastings Point, a lovely spot on the coast. While we were there we went for a short bike ride and were greeted with this beautiful view of the river meeting the ocean.
As I was taking pictures I suddenly realised there were people on horseback coming into view. Horses, really? Could it get more picturesque?
The big talk around town was the filming of the newest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Captain Jack Sparrow would be making an appearance over the weekend. We joined the crowds to have a look at the set. A huge whale skeleton was being erected on the coast.
We could see the crew busy at work, moving the bones so they were in just the right position. There was definitely an air of excitement in the crowd. Lots of kids there, it was late afternoon and it looked like (from all the school uniforms) that many families had stopped by after picking their kids up from school. While we were there taking in the view we spotted real, actual whales in the distance. They were much more interesting than the fabricated skeleton in front of us!
This was the view looking the other way. Such a beautiful beach!
The timing of this was funny for us since we had just started listening to the music (from the first movie) with the kids. They haven’t seen any of the movies in the series, but we all love the music!
They had a section of the bluff marked off so you couldn’t get too close to things. :) All the tents were ready (and empty!), waiting for the arrival of the cast and crew in a few days’ time.
Soon we headed in the other direction and explored the beach some. I love little toddler footprints on the beach. You can tell he was running.
I asked SkeeterBug to put a footprint next to one of TurboBug’s. I should have put one of mine next to his, those feet keep getting closer to my size!
I realised these were the hoof prints of the horses we’d seen earlier.
Excuse me while I include some lovely beach pictures in this post.
As we were leaving I waited for TurboBug to catch up to us. He came running along the beach and saw me standing there with my camera and must have thought I wanted a picture. He hunched down and grinned for me, not moving until I’d snapped a pic. Cute!
See that land in the distance? That point? That’s where the whale skeleton was.
Look what I found, mama!
This was such a beautiful area, many small towns spread along the coast. Each had gorgeous beaches and surfers galore.
While we were in Coffs Harbour we drove over to Dorrigo National Park. We’d heard that there was a walk you could do where you get to walk behind a waterfall. Doesn’t that sound fun? Something to remember. On the drive up there were other waterfalls to see. In fact, part of the drive is called Waterfall Way.
The visitor centre was quite nice with a cute shop and cafe.
There’s a terrific lookout behind the visitor centre, the Skywalk Lookout. Another one of those beautiful lookouts that overhang the valley below. This time I forgot to take a picture of the lookout itself. But what a view! On the linked website is says that the double mountain peaks are called McGraths Hump, also known as Old Man Dreaming and in Aboriginal legend it is the profile of a warrior’s face.
We were sad to discover the walk behind the waterfall was closed due to damage from a recent storm. We walked down to see the other waterfall anyway.
So much to see on this walk. It was pram-accessible all the way, which we opted for in this case to give our backs a break and help us move a bit faster. I’m a big fan of baby-wearing, but toddler-wearing is much harder on the back. And now we commence with a gazillion pictures of the walk…
We had much discussion about leeches. There were warning signs about them and we worried about these blood-sucking creatures. Anyone my age immediately pictures the leeches from the movie Stand By Me, right? Those were big. These were not. The few we saw were tiny.
We picked up a couple after sitting on some benches. They were a bit sticky but interesting to watch. They moved around like inchworms.
This was a long walk for us with kids, but a good one! Rainforest walks are nice and cool even on a warm day, and there’s so much to see.
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