Almost finished!

We stayed is Tallabudgera for all 4 nights. Wendy said if we had any rain, or really bad weather that we would pack up and head home! We actually had out first rain for the trip, but it was only short, and didn’t cause any probs, so we lasted  it out. It wasn’t a very busy time but more a relaxing time.

We caught up with Con and Margaret, who we had known since Gymea days. It was great to see them as it has been a while, and they haven’t changed at all. K&B went down to Bribie Island and visited Dave and Jenny Mensforth while we were with Dave and Tania. I used to play soccer with Dave – and Con for that matter – back in Gymea days.

We also went up north and saw John Duncan who used to be in our fishing club in Gymea. He still has a lot of the old newsletters, and I saw my name against a few ‘largest catch’ records against some species. I had forgotten all about that stuff. It was really good to meet with him again and relive a lot of old memories. His daughter was there with him, and talk got around to schooling and we discovered Wendy went to Endeavour High with her brother, and I went to school with a lot of her good friends, who she still meets up with.

The days were getting colder and the nights worse, and we knew it would get colder as we headed south.

We left Tallabudgera on Saturday morning, and arrived in our next stop – Yamba after lunch. We got in earlier than K&B as they had called into Beryl’s sister who was holidaying on the far north NSW coast.

When we got to Yamba quite a strong West North Westerly was blowing so the temp was quite cold. We only paid for 2 nights as Wendy repeated her rain/bad weather promise of going home. K&B paid for 3 nights.

Wendy wanted to see her cousin Eunice so she drove back up north on Monday to see her. She was gone all day, so K and I went fishing in the howling, cold wind while B stayed in the van, keeping as warm as she could. We caught some fish, but none to take home, yet again.  

Wendy got back to camp about 10:30pm but as there was no rain, the next day we paid for another night. 

Monday was just a tourist day for us and we went for a drive into Maclean to wander around, drink coffee, eat lunch at the pub, wander around again, then head back to camp, via a bakery to get afternoon tea! 

As we had pigged out most of the day, we elected to forego dinner, and just sit in the van with K&B to keep out of the cold wind. At least the wind had eased off and there was no rain in the forecast. So it was off to bed early-ish as we had to prepare for our last pack up the next morning.

I have picked up a bit of a cough so sleeping was not very good last night, but all should be ok.

This morning, we left Yamba and I am currently sitting in Grandma’s house in Belmont. We are staying here for the night before heading home tomorrow.

We have been away for 7 weeks and 5 days. It has been a long trip and we saw lots of great things, as well as a few ordinary things. I will post up a summary after I get home when the final figures will be in. I have not taken may photos in the past week or so, but here are a few, as well as a few I missed from Hervey Bay which I didn’t get from the camera in time for my previous post. 

Hervey Bay calls itself the Whale capital of Australia, so almost everywhere in town there is some link to whales. These guys are being updated in the water feature on the northern end of the Esplanade. Unfortunately the work is not finished as can be seen by the fencing and bunting surrounding the construction.  

Not really a whale, but dolphins also frequent the area 

The other end of the above whale.

This is a Cold Press Coffee machine. W&B came across this shop while K&I were out fishing. We all came back to taste this iced coffee, and Wendy ended up buying 6 bottles to take on the road. Wendy is going to replicate this process at home.

I was intrigued by the patterns the outgoing tides made in the sand. These shots are from the 800m pier. 

Sun setting over the growing sand floor.  

....and again

...and again.

This was our campsite in Tallabudgera. As you can see, we ended up putting up the walls as well because of the short rain we had.

I took this from the rock wall at Tallabudgera Creek, looking south to Coolangatta Point.

This is the flatty that ended up being legal, but as I measured it wrong, I thought it was under size and thus threw it back into the water.

Our campsite at Yamba, but you cannot see the strong wind in the pic!

When K & I walked out to the rock wall to check it out for fishing, there was a storm out to sea and this double rainbow appeared. You really cannot see the second one very well, as it disappeared very quickly. 

While Wendy was away, I had dinner in the newly created cafe in the camp ground. I wasn't very hungry so I told the guy I wanted something small (that is...cheap) and he recommended this. It was the kids whiting & chips! It was perfect. There were 5 pieces of whiting, chips and salad.

K&I looked everywhere for a place to fish out of the wind. This spot was under the road bridge, but the wind still howled through the tunnels.

A forlorn-looking K as he sat out of the wind, under the bridge. We caught some bream, but as it was the last day, and we couldn't remember the size limit, we threw them all back. If there was no wind, it would have been a perfect day.