Brisbane Family Trip - Days 7 & 8

For the two or three of you who are actually reading this blog you will have noticed that I missed the day 7 entry. No big reason for it, just realised at about 10:30 last night that I had forgotten to do it, couldn't be arsed to do it then and then went to bed.

So, yesterday morning, after a very leisurely breakfast at the Coffs Harbour Yacht Club (or Yachtie Restaurant) I set out to find and take a photo of the two other Big Things at Coffs Harbour. They were underwhelming:

Bunch of Bananas - this didn't even originate from Coffs Harbor. This started its life in a town called Sawtell, and moved to Coffs Harbour when Sawtell was bypassed with a highway upgrade,

The Big Windmill - actually the top of a Bavarian Restaurant. Not sure of the connection, other than a very broad - two things in Europe - connection. Sort of like the Eiffel Tower and borscht.

Once we left Coffs Harbour it was a non-stop drive to our destination for the next two nights, Ballina.

Some observations from that trip:

• There is a 120km stretch of highway that is currently undergoing a major upgrade. According to our AirBNB provider (or landlord), the upgrade started about 5 years ago and still has another 2 years to go. Having driven through other parts of the Pacific Highway where the upgrade have recently been completed, these upgrades cannot come too soon enough.
• We are well and truly in a different climate zone. Sugar Cane fields as far as the eye can see and lots of rain (we in the South have forgotten what that is). Lots of leafy green foliage on the side of the road, overgrown grass and mini-jungles.
• As a group, New South Welshmen (and Welshwomen) drivers are (insert your favourite descriptive expletive here) bad drivers. I'm talking about ignoring speed limits, aggressive driving, selective use of lines, the whole lot. I hope this is not something where the further north you go the worse the drivers are.

So we arrived in Ballina yesterday afternoon.

As we are about a week into our trip I have felt a slight change in my outlook, as is mostly always the case. I find that it takes me about a week into any holiday before I start to unwind, and this trip has proved that to be the case. I had a pretty good night's sleep last night and felt a lot more chill about things today. This will change tomorrow as we enter the second phase of the trip, and we enter into the zone that is National Band Championships.

A couple of things about Ballina:

They have some pretty damn fine beaches.

They have a big prawn! (This is how you do it!)

On a per person basis, they must be the hairdressing capital of Australia. A population of 16,500 with over 30 hairdressing salons, barber shops and other clip joints. Or almost a quarter of the shops in the main shopping strip.

They have a great selection of cafes and restaurants.

Looking forward to the final stretch to Brisbane.
 

Total Km2,049

Total hours behind the wheel 27 1/4

Spotify : Tony Martin's Sizzletown Podcasts (continued)