Exploring

Brunswick heads turns out to be a lovely place. Very small - you walk around the block and you've seen most of it!! Brunswick is a much more affordable place to live than the more trendy places like Byron Bay, and does have most things its big cousins have. You could easily argue it has more - it's so much more quiet and peaceful than Byron, as we found out today...

This afternoon we explored Byron Bay (just up the road), which appears to have become somewhat of a hippie love heaven. The beach and bay there is absolutely gorgeous - some of the best coastline you've ever laid eyes on - but we reckon the town has the feeling of a place trying its hardest to be "alternative" (whatever that means). It's amazingly busy with hundreds of people and seemingly endless cars driving around the little streets. Every second shop is something overtly arty farty, and everyone seems to be in one of 3 categories - very well dressed and well-to-do (weekend visitors), wearing tie-dyed shirts and scarves (hippy wanna-be's on holiday) or genuine peace-lovers (mostly locals). Each to their own I guess.

Since we were in Byron, we decided "when in Rome... do as Romans" - so we had dinner at Earth 'n Sea pizza. Still the best pizza we've ever had - bar none. We love the wholemeal dough, the distinct lack of oil, and the great piles of tasty toppings (we recommend the satay chicken or the number 14) - luckily they now have a few shops in Brisbane too, so no excuses for bad pizza any more...

Outside the pizza shop there was a group of local buskers, who Grace decided were good enough to have a bit of a boogie to (she has a better dancing style than me - for which she will, at some point, be eternally grateful). We gave them a few bucks but I think they would have preferred a few beers - and who can blame them :-) I threw some coins in their guitar case, and tried to get Grace to do the same, but she threw the coins AT the guys, who were startled but thought it was very funny. Glad we can provide some amusement wherever we go!

Nambucca/Brunswick

Yesterday we said goodbye to Nambucca Heads - one of our favourite places so far. One of the best things about Nambucca is that you can make some great rhymes and limericks out of its name. There once was a girl from Nambucca...

Yesterday we drove a few hundred k's and we are now in Brunswick Heads. Brunswick is a little town situated about 5km outside Byron Bay, and in a lot of ways seems like Byron's poor cousin - it certainly doesn't have the development of Byron (although that might not be a bad thing) and it lacks shopping centres and the like - but it's got a charm all of its own. Luckily, it's just as beautiful, and we're camped down by the river near the roaring ocean. I'm planning on catching me a fish before we leave here - hope the fish are up for it.

Rain

I thought we were in a drought - but rain seems to be following us wherever we go. It has bucketed down for days, and we're all a bit over it. We are pretty certain it has rained for us every single week since we hit the road - before we left in January, it felt like it hadn't rained for years!!

Unfortunately, while the annex keeps the rain off, water still has a tendancy to sneak in under the sides when it rains heavily, which soaks the flooring and anything in contact with it. Little annoying things like this are not a big deal in the scheme of things, but having a toddler around the place, as always, complicates even the smallest issue.

We reckon we should go and camp at Somerset Dam - at least then if the rain followed us, Brisbane might have something to drink for a while. Cool.

Nambucca Heads

We arrived at Nambucca Heads today - not that we've had a chance to explore very much so far, but what we have seen is great. The park here is one of the best we have stayed in - although it's very small and older in comparison to a lot of others, the amenities are clean and thoughtfully set up, it's about 50m walk down a little track to the beach, the van sites are both shady and grassy, and they have a big jumping pillow, playground, solar heated pool, and a nicely appointed games room for the kids (including big kids like me). Oh, and the staff are both friendly AND helpful - something that's surprisingly hard to find in a caravan park in our experience.

It's fantastic to be here, far away from the Forster mosquitoes - Nambucca doesn't seem to have (m)any at all.

We tried something new last night, and basically packed EVERYTHING up before going to bed last night, and did as much preparation as possible (like hooking up all the towing gear on the car). It had mixed results - we had to have McDonalds for breakfast (aww.. poor babies..), since we'd already packed up the table, chairs and awning, but it meant that we were on the road literally half an hour after getting up instead of the usual 2-3 hours. Some things were not ideal, but it made for an interesting exercise.

On a different note altogther, Grace is getting a lot more independant in the swimming pool (just in time for the world championships too). She has got a lot more confident since she has been wearing floaties on her arms, and now happily bobs around the big kids pool with her head above the water. She's not great at kicking yet (although she's working on it) but seeing her confidence grow is fantastic. It will be great to see her able play in the pool with her cousins at Easter time in Brisbane. We're also looking forward to getting her some more swimming lessons when we're at Caloundra for a few months - it's just so important if you're going to live in this climate that you make your kids water-safe.

The Many Faces of Forster...

We went for a little drive today to explore Forster a bit - it's a nice little town, right near a bunch of lakes (the locals call the "the great lakes") and of course the ocean. As such, there's a real variety of scenery to have a look at, all within a very short distance...

When up at the lookout on the headland today, we saw a pod of dolphins, lazily swimming their way round the rocks and weed beds a hundred or so metres below us. I think we were at the perfect vantage point to watch - if we were on a boat or the shore, you'd have no real concept of how many there were, or where they swam around the rocky shoreline. They are such playful creatures, it was fantastic to see them in their natural habitat like that.

Mozzies that could pick you up and cart you away.

It is with a mixture of relief, excitement and fatigue that we arrived yesterday at Forster. It is such a pretty caravan park here. Our site is sheltered by the shade of some extra tall palm trees and behind them is a beautiful little river. Everything is green and lush and just within arms reach. Our site looks over the two swimming pools, the Castaway Campers Shed (ie. campers kitchen, recreation hall & stage complete with little puppet alcoves), and in the distance are the playground and amenities.

As we pulled in we thought everything looked perfect, with the one exception that there are no concrete slabs for your annexe. But we sucked it up and took it on the chin because, heck, we're only here four days. Let's not get bent out of shape about it!

A few minutes after we pulled up, I took Grace for a short walk. I wanted to hang our annexe matting up on the pool fence in the sun so it would dry off after hosing. So we had a little wander and by the time we'd walked past the hall and into the playground, Grace had at least TEN mosquitos clinging to her delicious juicy flesh. I can not describe the rage I was feeling as I tried to squash these mini-vampires without hurting my little darling.

Camping is hard work and we've been struggling to keep a good attitude about a lot of things,... but these mozzies are so ferocious that they could almost pick you up and cart you away. This morning Grace wakes up and is covered in big pink bites. In an attempt to minimise mozzie bites, she is confined to the annexe. Our annexe has no concrete slab so we have little sections where the sand has made it's way through. I'm trying not to get cranky,... but between the mozzies and the sand all my efforts to remain calm have failed.

[sigh]

Forster is our first stop on our journey home to Brisbane and I am really glad to be heading back. Three months is a long time to be on the road and confined to a small living space. It is also a long time for Scott and Grace to have to put up with the ebbs and flows of my hormone therapy. I stopped taking it two or three days ago so we'll see if I calm down a little bit more soon.

Forster

We got to Forster yesterday via the scenic route - literally. We came in through the scenic "lakes way" which was a beautiful drive but ended up being really windy (as in bendy, not blowy) and bumpy - we really should have gone the main highway, but it seemed a good idea at the time.... I managed to rip one of our stabiliser feet off the caravan while doing a tricky manoeuvre on a rocky lay-by on the road. Not happy about that at all, but have managed to rig up something for now...

Not that we've seen too much of it, but the town here looks nice and sleepy - split in 2 by a big river, which is quite odd. When I say sleepy, in some ways it is - I went out looking to buy a couple of beers at 8.30pm last night, and nothing was open (apart from a petrol station or two, and the ubiquitous McDonalds - seemingly now a part of every town on the highway). The park we're at is pretty much in town, and backs onto some good looking mangroves. Perhaps unsurprisingly the mosquitoes are REALLY bad - I can't recall ever seeing so many. We are, as a result, bathing in RID whenever possible, so no need for deodorant!

Before leaving Sydney we managed to get Grace another car DVD player after the life-changing end-of-the-world-like failure of the other one. The result was a reasonably peaceful trip yesterday - excellent!