The Far East (of Australia)
17th February, Byron Bay and Coffs Harbour, Australia
One of the best known landmarks in Byron Bay is the old lighthouse that dates back to 1901. After a brief breakfast stop in the centre of town we made our way up the steep winding road in Ethel to old blinky where we were treated to some great panoramic views of Byron Bay and its beaches, even with the moody grey skies that threatened rain later in the day.
The lighthouse at Byron Bay.
The headland on which the lighthouse sits is a steep rocky edifice where the sea crashes at its base, with a piece of land that extends out to the east - in fact, to the furthest point on the east coast of Australia (or the mainland, at least). Naturally, we walked there just to say that we'd done it. The question now is whether we'll also get the opportunity to get to Australia's most westerly point. That one will have to wait for a while.
We then left Byron Bay behind to its grey skies and continued south. Only one day in Byron? Well, in all honesty, there's not a huge amount there and it wasn't the cheapest place in Australia. Besides, the hippy thing really wasn't our scene. Earlier in the day I'd perused a notice board on one of the main streets and saw adverts for psychics, palm reading, an alternative festival of some kind and all manner of other things that whispered to me "this is not for you, be gone, great brain-washed traitor from the capitalist worlds beyond ... but can you leave us the keys to the Kombi before you do?".
The next destination would be Coff's Harbour, a town that the Lonely Planet described somewhat unflatteringly as a place that offered little in the way of culture or interest in between the usual high adrenalin type activities, but it seemed like a sensible stop-off point nonetheless. In the meantime, we passed through Ballina where we saw a Big Prawn on the highway. As you do.
The Big Prawn in Ballina. Note the Prawn:Ethel scale.
And then, as if seeing a big prawn wasn't enough excitement for one day ...
We found a camp site in Coff's Harbour and settled for a Big Sleep.