Haven’t written for four days, but I’ve been busy and having lots of fun. Rambling on the coast in Marcoola:

I left Noosa Heads on Friday headed for Brisbane to pick up Matt. Great to see him, as always, after his long journey from New Orleans, and we were off to the mountains and beach in short order.

Matt is a terrific navigator, always finding neat and out of the way places. Our first stop was Lamington National Park, about 30 km inland from Brisbanne. What a cool place. A sub-tropical rain forest with a sky walk that’s over a hundred feet above the rainforest floor and a neat lodge, run by the Reilly family for over seventy years.

We hiked for three and a half hours among huge waterfalls, enormous old growth trees and total calm and serenity.

A really great afternoon, after which we watched the sun set while having dinner and beers. One thing that I’m still getting used to is that it’s winter here. The climate is fantastic – mid 40’s at night and 70’s during the day – just perfect. The days, however, are the shortest of the year, so it’s dark at 5:30. Big change from the northern hemisphere, where the days lasted forever in June and July. Oh, well…

After Lamington NP, we meandered to two towns on the coast that have a vibe like no other I’ve seen – Burleigh Heads and then Byron Bay. Both these places exude surfer cool through every pore. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is surfing or watching the waves and surfers tearing it up. Surfing really is the center of everything in this part of Australia, and people are so happy and friendly that you know it’s one of the secrets of life.

 Byron Bay also has a hippie coolness, with lots of youngsters out and about in dreadlocks, tie-dye shirts and groovin’ around.

We hiked out to the eastern most point of the Australian continent in Byron Bay, watching humpback whales on their journey to Australia’s warm northern waters to give birth and nurse before heading back to their Antarctic homes in October. They are a blast to watch.

Yesterday found us at Coffs Harbor in the morning. We pulled over at 6:30 am, before even having coffee, to watch the sun pour through the eastern sky, only to spy twenty or more surfers in the early morning waves, happy as clams, with more in the parking lot en route to the swells. Surfing really is a birthright here, and I was reminded of powder clause days out west – get your rides in early, then off to work, mate.

Overcast skies, but a neat place to hike out and look for whales.

After Coffs Harbor, we drove up into the mountains to Dorrigo National Park, a jewel in the New South Wales and National Park systems. Although relatively small, Dorrigo has stupendously large trees and views. The climb was over 3,000’ and the cooler climate was a delight after warmer temps down lower.

After dinner in the throwback town of Bellingen, we headed back down to sea level and Port Macquarie. Shots taken this morning while out and about after breakfast.

Decided to try my hand at scooter boarding in the bowls. Not.

Lots of photos and great travels. Off to Sydney for some exploring tomorrow. Should be fun to return after last week’s brief stop.