Our next stop was on the Hastings river upstream from Port Macquarie on the Riverlodge Park campground. Weather is still challenging us with rain and wind intermittently impacting on our plans. The locals had themselves sat around an oil drum fire with music blaring contemporary Australian music (i.e rock from the 80s !) As the bottle pile got higher and the noise got louder the ensuing rain provided a good night sleep for all .
As we travelled north we were delighted to stay in the town of Woodburn. After the tedious process of meeting all the local dignitaries sand the formal presentation of keys to the town we had a good look around .From the 2016 census 5.9% of Woodburn population have a bachelors degree or above compared to the 24% for the state of new south wales. Seems that “ Could do better “ doesn’t just appear on this Woodburn school report !
Using good old Wikicamps as our main guide we landed at Ballina Beach Village . They have an unusual approach where you decide what you pay . I fought with my ancestry and gene pool and went with a fair 25 dollars per night for three nights. This place is excellent . Great facilities , great service and great location. Able to drive onto the beach from the campsite and i fished the dusk tides each night . Three rays , a tarwhine and a nice Tailor were landed with the latter retained for a tasty treat . Finally mastered cooking fish on the gas barbie . Cut carrots length ways and place into foil lay fillets on top and season. Put the seasoned parcels on lowest heat with lid closed. The fish cooks indirectly and slowly. No catching on the bottom here and the carrots get cooked as an extra too . On our second day we woke to find a very flat tyre on the car. Turned out to be a stray nail – think i must have got on the campsite . Run into Ballina using the ferry and it’s all fixed up .
On our way to Tweed Heads on the NSW Queensland border we decided to have a detour into Byron Bay . It is a busy bustling tourist resort with a cult following unfortunately for us we found it impossible to get a parking spot for the van or even find a petrol station that we could get the van into so our visit took place with bums on seats .