20 April 2002 We spent most of today swimming at Broken Head, south of Byron Bay, where Clare and I witnessed a small drama unfold on the beach. A Japanese surfer was pulled from the water unconscious. We watched some surfers trying to resuscitate him. When his chest was compressed, little spouts of water shot…
Category: Travel
Minnie Water to Byron Bay
18-19 April 2002 Minnie Water was great. I spent much of yesterday in the surf with Clare, who is easing into this travelling lifestyle. The surf was rough and full of rips, so I stayed within a depth of 5 feet. We had a nice soup for lunch cooked in the Dutch oven suspended from…
Bellingen to Minnie Water
17-18 April 2002 We spent yesterday at Cate’s house in Bellingen (or just outside Bellingen to be accurate). This was a chance to catch up on some badly needed sleep, and also to catch up on improvements that Cate has made to her house. She works on her house as if it were a piece…
North through NSW
15-16 April 2002 It’s hard to believe that we actually departed more or less on time. We pulled out of our home in Marrickville, Sydney, about 10.00 a.m. waving goodbye to our neighbor Jim and his kids, and Lyn and Greg from across the road. We stopped for petrol and air at the local service…
Map of journey
While we were travelling in 2002, we carried a large map of Australia and traced our journey on it with a heavy black pen. We started in Sydney, and when we reached the eastern most tip of Australia (Byron Bay), we headed north west through Queensland. When we reached Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory,…
Sawtell
Saturday 13 Feb 2015 On Saturday morning we transported a couple of the larger items from the lock-up in Coffs Harbour to Sawtell. Ruby had found another future housemate called Cat, who we had the fortune to meet later that morning on the way to the house that she, Ruby, Toby would be moving into…
Ulidarra National Park
Friday 12 Feb 2015 On Friday morning we received a text message from the dive shop to say that our snorkelling trip to the Solitary Islands had been cancelled due to a swell whipped up by high winds off the coast. This was an intimation of dangerous weather conditions that would a week later culminate…
Woolgoolga Creek
Thursday 11 Feb 2015 After Ruby had driven to work, Susie and I went to the Surf Club for a leisurely breakfast. We then booked a snorkelling trip at a dive shop nearby, and drove to Ruby’s work to drop off some paperwork that she had forgotten to take with her. After an obligatory stop…
Bindarri National Park
Wednesday 10 Feb 2015 We dropped Ruby at work early so that she and Toby could discuss their ongoing plans to find rental accommodation. Susie and I then drove to The Big Banana tourist information centre. Unfortunately the office was staffed by volunteers who could not provide detailed information about road conditions; but we managed…
Bongil Bongil National Park
Tuesday 9 Feb 2015 First thing in the morning, I went shopping for picnic supplies while Susie checked out the local op shops. We then set out for Bongil Bongil National Park via Repton. We parked the car at the end of Tuckers Rock Road and walked along a charming path that took us north…
Park Beach
Monday 8 Feb 2015 We dropped Ruby at the ABC office in Coffs Harbour on Monday morning, and drove to Macauleys Beach. It was windy so we sat in the car for while, watching the waves break on the shore while a group of young campers organised a slap-up breakfast on the grassy verge beyond…
Dorrigo National Park
Sunday 7 Feb 2015 On Sunday we went to the harbourside market with Ruby. The crowd was a curious mixture of young families and ageing hippies; the atmosphere was friendly and laid back. There was a mixture of white elephant stalls and commercial stalls with pleasant-smelling placebos and other expensive new age bumf. A folk…
Wundercliffe 