A very relaxed day today, even by our current standards ! After packing up we stopped off at Celia and Eugene’s van to say our goodbyes and were treated to coffee and given some chocolate brownies, fresh out of the oven, to take with us for second breakfast. Very nice they were too, thank you Celia 🙂
We decided to head down the minor coast road from Coolangatta, avoiding the freeway as much as possible although we did end up on the freeway when the coast road petered out at one point.
Our first proper stop was at Byron Bay which, despite the weather, was packed. I guess it was Saturday morning though so no real surprise there. The weather was performing pretty much as forecast, wet and windy but there were a fair number of die hard surfers trying their luck in the waves. In sunnier weather I can imagine it’s a very scenic spot, even with the wind and rain it still looked amazing.

From Byron Bay we once again stuck to the coast road heading to Ballina, having chosen to stay at a camp site just to the north of Ballina at Flat Rocks Tent Site. Whilst on our way there we spotted a lookout point at a place called Lennox Head and as we had loads of time thought we’d take a look. We sat in the car park for a while looking at the ocean from the comfort of the Land Rover and then tossed a coin to decide if we should make the trek up the hill to the lookout or carry on to the camp site. The coin decided we should go for a walk so we put on some extra layers and set off up the hill.
As it turned out, the coin was right. From the high vantage point above the ocean we could see a long way to the horizon and we pretty soon started to spot the migrating humpback whales breaching the surface. They were a long way out but there was no mistaking them, such a buzz to finally see them ! When the rain got a bit heavier we had to abandon the lookout and head to the camp site.

The camp site borders two beaches, Sharps Beach and Angels Beach and we chose a spot next to Angels Beach. The whales were visible from the small lookout next to our camp site too so if the forecast is correct and tomorrow is a sunny day we hope to spend some time watching for them. We’re booked in for 2 nights so haven’t thought about where we will go from here, if the weather is good we’ll probably stick to the coast.