Australia – New South Wales

It has been a while, so this will be a somewhat longer post than normal.

From the Sunshine Coast we headed, with some trepidation, down the coast toward Sydney (which we decided not to visit on this trip). While a beautiful coast, it has a reputation as being more developed and less pleasant than the Sunshine Coast. Our first stop, Gold Coast, definitely lived up to that reputation with massive towers a couple of blocks back from the beach. The beach itself was beautiful but the town didn’t impress us (other than the curry place, very good).

Our next stop was Byron Bay, which means we had transitioned from Queensland to New South Wales. How to summarize? Byron Bay is different. I heard somebody compare it to Tofino in the sense of the hippy culture and the prevalence of various chemicals. Except it is warm.  There was a nice park and semi-secluded beach for walking though.

If you look really carefully through the mist you can see the lighthouse out on the point.

We continued south through Coffs Harbour, Port MacQuarie, and then Lake MacQuarie.   On the way down, we mainly saw some wild life.  Not too many pictures, but here are a couple.

 

Despite the name, Lake MacQuarie is actually more of an oversized lagoon – as we discovered when we discussed going swimming with some locals.  Evidently it is somewhat known for two things: sharks and blue-ringed octopi.  Neither is expected in a lake nor healthy to get bit by.  Still, a nice place and the B&B we were at was great.  We got to watch the lorikeets while sitting beside the (somewhat cool) pool.

From Lake MacQuarie, we headed around Sydney and into the Blue Mountains.  We landed at a nice inn/B&B in Katoomba.  Our original plan had been 3 days in Katoomba and then 3 days in Canberra but after two days in Katoomba, we decided we didn’t want to leave so we booked the extra three days and started look for more hikes.  Unfortunately, my personal favourite hike, National Pass, was closed due to the danger of rock falls, so we had to take several other walks.   Wentworth Falls was still a favourite area but we also spent some time in BlackHeath and Leura.  Liane figures that all the up and down we did should stand us in good stead when we get to skiing.

Here is the obligatory Three Sisters picture from the Blue Mountains:

We are now in Launceston, Tasmania and headed south-west toward Strahan.   More walking and maybe a day cruise in our future.