Sapphire Beach, NSW

Ratings: CP ***  Surroundings ***

  

Tawny Frogmouth pair in trees behind the caravan

Split Solitary Island, one of the three solitary islands which can be seen from Sapphire Beach which is 10km north of Coffs Harbour. This area forms part of the Solitary Islands Marine Park which extends over 75 km of coast and is 71000 hectares in size.

Tight line, Gillian! Fishing in a gully before the storm.

Meandering behind the veil of glittering waters of Crystal Shower Falls in Dorrigo National Park, The park is a sub tropical rainforest where an elevated boardwalk allowed us to experience the mid levels of the rainforest and a Skywalk took us above the forest canopy to view the world below.

 Behind veiled shimmerngs of Crystal Shower Falls.

Coffs Harbour from Muttonbird Island which is home to a large colony of wedge tailed shearwaters. They travel thousands of kilometres from south east Asia in August and dig or repair their burrows in the soft soil of the island ready for laying eggs after they have paired and mated. Burrows are used year after year by the same pair.
This area is home to the Gumbaynggir people who form one of the largest coastal Aboriginal nations in New South Wales. An interesting document about their history has been compiled by Liz Thomas at Coffs Harbour City Library.
Captain John Korff is recognised as the European discoverer of Coffs Harbour in about 1847. He sheltered there when he was trying to reach the Bellingen River and was first to submit a report on the suitability of the harbour when he returned to Sydney. Settlement by Europeans occurred from the 1870s and clearing, fencing and disease had a devastating impact on the Aboriginal people resulting in them becoming dependent on the Europeans for food and shelter.

Evans Head, NSW

Ratings: CP **** Surroundings ****

A view of Evans River mouth. We saw families of dolphins and migrating whales from this lookout.

Fishing at low tide looking across the river to the lookout on the hill.

Chinamans Beach where these beautiful rock and pools of marine life were exposed during low tide. It is bounded by the Bundjalung National Park named for the Bundjalung people,  the original custodians of northern coastal areas of New South Wales.

Fishing boats have returned to their moorings with catches of flathead, snapper and squid which will be sold at the cooperative on the harbour.

We were privileged to see this family of Ospreys... Dad keeps a lookout while hungry nestlings wait for Mum to produce the meal.  Ospreys are listed as vulnerable and the removal of old trees and human disturbance has disrupted nesting. Another danger is that young ospreys become tangled in nets. Members of the local community have built platforms where Ospreys can build and use their nests year after year.

Northern Rivers region communities are environmentally active and among many other activities to try and prevent environmental degradation, they have banded together to prevent coal seam gas mining in the region.

Pastel softness as the sun goes down....a view along the main beach.

Lennox Head, NSW

Ratings: CP *** Surroundings ***

Lennox Head, a quaint town in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales where the white sands of Seven Mile Beach invite the energetic and sedentary types, and surfers brave the good waves and sharks.
I met up with a dear friend and shared time with her travelling through the quaint rural town of Bangalow and then to the best market I have ever visited. It's a monthly market held in The Channon which is a valley town. The market is outdoors and spread over fields....fresh produce, plants, food, music, quirky clothes and heaps more!

The views from the lighthouse at Byron Bay, built in 1901 at the most easterly point of the Australian mainland, are spectacular. We had the thrill of watching some whales on their journey back to the plankton rich Antarctic waters.

One of the migrating whales.

Nimbin Rocks on our way to the rural town of Nimbin.

The main street in Nimbin, known for the prominence of its environmental initiatives as well as for its cannabis counterculture.....interesting day!

Watching a sunset from our caravan site at Lake Ainsworth.   It is a freshwater dunal lake with water strained brown by the swamp paperbark trees, a type of tea tree said to have healing properties.

Scarborough, Qld

Ratings: CP *** Surroundings ***

Fifty metres from our caravan park is Moreton Bay Boat Harbour where we saw boats and yachts of all shapes and sizes, some with their own private jetties.

Looking across the beautiful Brisbane River towards the South Bank cultural precinct where the Queensland Museum and Sciencecentre and the Gallery of Modern Art are situated. We used public transport, which included bus and train rides to get to the city from Scarborough and back again...fairly successful with a few glitches along the way, the main one being that we didn't realise that some buses require prepaid tickets and don't accept cash, so we weren't allowed onto the bus we planned to catch! The one and a half hour trip into this bustling and pleasant city was well worth the effort!

Looking towards the CBD on the North Bank of the Brisbane River.

Brisbane Square is a high rise building mainly used for office space (151 metres with 38 floors) and houses the Brisbane Square Library. It has received Australia's highest environmental rating for its ecologically sustainable development practices such as the use of recycled materials, water saving features and an air filtration system that reduces pollutants in the office tower. The spheres are a form of street art by sculptor, Donna Marcus. The balls, each weighing 200 kg, are made of 7000 used vegetable steamers. The official name of the work is "Steam".

Maleny, Qld

Overnight stop at the showgrounds where we had an oval to ourselves.

Ratings: CP ** Surroundings **

Maleny ("Soul of the Sunshine Coast") is a quirky town in the Blackall Ranges overlooking the Sunshine Coast hinterland. It is known for its dairy produce and its alternative lifestyle; a town of cooperatives and social justice movements and home to artists and crafts people along with retirees. The town hosts a Bunya festival annually in remembrance of the Bunya feasts which were held by the local Nalbo and Dallambara peoples of the Gubbi Gubbi nation every third year when the Bunya trees were in fruit. These feasts ceased when settlers cut down the trees for timber and dairy farming.

Green pastures of dairy farms against a backdrop of the Glasshouse Mountains on the morning we left Maleny.

Maroochydore, Qld

Ratings: CP *** Surroundings ***

Maroochydore Beach on the Sunshine Coast. A sunny winter's day perfect for my first swim in the Pacific Ocean. It was strange to be in the land of high rise buildings after so many weeks in small towns and isolated parts!

Cafe lunch at Rainbow Beach, Noosa Heads.

An afternoon run along Rainbow Beach.