Road Trip Australia, From Brisbane Through New South Wales.

Now if I took a bit of poetic licence, this blog would start with, it was a dark and stormy night, our protagonist set out against her will on a road trip south not knowing to where and why. The reality is, I knew to where but was still unsure of the why. And therein lies the the reason I find myself on random road trips, not so much based on the why but more the why not?

This happens to be yet another of those occasions where I’ve finished one project and looked for the next. It went like this: job about to finish, can’t spend summer in the Queensland heat, can’t go to New Zealand. What can I do? Vaguely remembered that when I’d finished my post-grad paper in Hotel Management that I’d registered with a hotel chain in search of work. Obviously that hadn’t panned out back then but I tried my login and password – hello, profile still there.

Originally, I’d planned to venture inland down the Newell Highway but first there were a few Covid cases in Goondiwindi and Moree, then there was the unrelenting rain that was causing flooding so the coastal highway it was. Crossing the NSW border at Tweed, I knew I was passed the point of no return, there was no getting back into Qld until the borders opened, if in fact they did or even stayed open. With new and more improved variants of this Covid virus hitting our shores, I have no faith that the powers to be will stick to their assertions of no more lockdowns and ongoing open borders, but that wasn’t stopping me.

Turning off the highway at Cabarita I headed down the Tweed Coast Road stopping at Cabarita beach, umbrella out as I walked along the sand, not the only brollie on the beach. Next stop was Hastings Point for Fish n Chips beside the water – eating in the car to stay dry. Through Pottsville down to Wooyung and back onto the highway, bypassing everywhere from Byron to Wooli where I’ve had the luck to have visited already. My plan was to head out to Seals Rocks, but the crappy weather put me off, and the swag was not coming out tonight. My wipers were working so hard in the rain that the rubber blade was making its way up the wiper arm, trying to escape!

Woolgoolga, just a tad further south was still on the coast and sounded the warmer dryer option, checking into a warm motel with a cold bottle of wine, then camped up on the coast in the incessant rain. The Woolgoolga beaches and headland were moody but beautiful and there were even some hardy locals out on, and in, the water.

Another wet day, another moody coastline. This time, Nambucca Heads and Shelley in its dark and moody splendour. Wuthering Heights sprung to mind and although it wasn’t the misty moors, and I didn’t find my Heathcliff I feel quite at home standing in the rain and the haze looking out toward Forster Beach on the opposite side of the estuary.

Off once more I took a right, “I took a right, I took a right turning” inland off the highway to Macksville, because, well, why not. A lovely old pub and a heritage buildings well maintained but the weather just wasn’t encouraging me to wander too far. The Nambucca River, even this close to the coast looked to be rising almost level with its banks.