After leaving the gorgeous Coffs Harbor, we headed for Lennox Heads- the midway point between Ballina and Byron Bay.

Some of you may remember Lennox Heads for making the news in June last year when a twister rose from the sea and caused much wide-spread damage, including wiping out most of the caravan park we were looking to stay in.

Before heading to the park, we detoured through Ballina to have a look at the town and stop for lunch. Some friendly locals recommended a stop at Thursday Plantation, just north of Ballina. It turned out to be a gorgeous place to visit, with a (free) maze where the kids had to hunt down a dragon, a rainforest walk- filled with interesting sculptures, and displays/dvds regarding the main process of the plantation- tea tree oil and its products.We stocked up on a few products before heading to Lake Ainsworth Caravan Park in Lennox Heads.

There was absolutely no sign of the past destruction- the town has done a wonderful job at rebulding itself. The park is built right between the lake and ocean. The kids enjoyed feeding the very friendly ducks- finishing off most of our bread! They were also quite facinated by the red tint of the lake- which we found out later is due to the effects of the tea trees surrounding the lake.

The following morning, we headed into the Byron Bay fresh produce market. What a different world! The first thing we noticed was the amount of bicycles being ridden around the busy town. There was also a general lack of plastic bags (most were using baskets/heshian bags for shopping). Even the local clothing fashion was different- a gorgeous array of color bursting from woolen garments. We enjoyed a vast range of food from cheeses to sugar cane juice to stocking up our fridge with organic vegetables.

We spent the afternoon cooking, visiting the beach and cooking some more!

Leaving Lennox Heads on the 29th, we stopped in at Cape Byron and made a visit to the lighthouse, followed by a walk and pic at the most easterly point on the Australian mainland. We were also lucky enough to spot and eagle soaring around its nest.

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Then we visited the famous Byron Bay Cookie Factory and stocked up on some cookies. It was great to pick up a few bags of  ‘seconds’ (nothing wrong with them!) at quite cheap prices.

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Next stop was Tweed Heads for the famous ‘leg in each state’ photo- we are now in Queensland! Now we can offically say that we won’t be back in NSW until next year!

Next to Tweed Heads at Kirra Beach, we found a dine-in Pizza Hut with an all-you-can-eat pizza/pasta/salad/dessert bar. Mmmmmm- brings back childhood memories of special days out to the Bankstown one! We didn’t even realise they still existed!

Following a feast we headed through Surfers Paradise for our next stop-  Big 4 Treasure Island at Biggerra Waters…

What a gorgeous place!! We have decided to stay at Emerald Beach 20km north of Coffs Harbour for 3 nights as it is just so lovely and there is so much to see here!

After a lazy morning chatting to our friendly neighbors (Keith and Junnie), washing and of course the kids enjoying the park facilities (jumping pillow/playground) we headed off.

First stop was Carobana, where we watched the process of making honeycomb- lots and lots of it!. Did you know that honeycomb dosn’t actually have honey in it? We then did a bit of taste testing various carob products- and of course the fresh honeycomb- and made some purchases.

Next stop was the Big Banana. No trip to Coffs would be complete without a stop here and a pic in front of this Aussie icon. We also booked into the tour, in which we enjoyed a 3D movie, walk through the Banana trees and giving a helping hand in the packing room. Did you know banana trees only grow 1 bunch of fruit, then they are chopped down to make way for new shoots? There you go! We finished off with a choc-dipped banana each, followed by a few rides down the toboggans. The kids hadn’t been on one before and really enjoyed it.

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We finished off the day by stopping in at The Clog Barn. We enjoyed a walk through the miniature Dutch village, followed by a demo on making a clog.  This process used to take 3 hours per clog, but modern machinery has brought this process down to only 5 minutes.

The following day, we headed down to The Butterfly House, which was a simply beautiful experience. It was lovely to walk through the house and have butterflies all around- stopping to rest on hair, arms and even cameras! We have never seen Kaytlin sit so still as she waited for the butterflies to land on her. There were also puzzles to do in the cafe, along with a maze and quiz which the boys really enjoyed.

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We then headed to the Fisherman’s Co-op on the wharf for some tasty salt and pepper squid. We watched a fishing boat bring in and weigh 20 sharks, caught the previous night. Kaytlin and I headed off for walk along the breakwall, while the boys threw in a line to catch their own sharks. A few small fish were caught, kissed and thrown back in. Fishing ended when Joe caught a cheeky bird, who had decided to try and steal his bait-while it was on the hook! Fortunately, Joe managed to free it and it flew off to join the other scavengers.

Our night ended with dinner at the Greenhouse Tavern- a very family-friendly place, where kids eat free! I was particularly impressed with the range of healthy options on the kids menu- not just the regular fried food with chips. A nice end to a lovely time in Coffs Harbour.

Did you know???…

Tamworth was the first place in Australia to have electric street lights? There you go! This morning we visited Tamworth powerhouse Museum which told us the story of electricity in Australia and had some very interesting old artifacts. The kids enjoyed pulling all the old light switches and were facinated with the old ovens and fridges. I imagine it would have been what my grandparents would have used.

After lunch, we drove up the hill to the Wildlife Sanctuary. This was free and absolutely brilliant. I could have stayed in the bird aviary for hours. It was such a lovely, peaceful place and set up well for kids with games, sandpits (with sandtoys!!) and lots of wildlife.

Afterwards, we stopped if for a look at the Powerhouse Motorcycle Museum. Josh and Kaytlin picked out bikes they wanted for their birthdays!

Heading towards Armidale the next day, we stopped at Bendemeer for lunch. The Bendemeer Hotel is famous for being robbed by the famous bushranger Captain Thunderbolt. This was a gorgeous place for a pit stop- Josh liked exploring the river whilst Joe and Zach battled it out in a game of soccor.

We then stopped at Banalasta, a lavender and eucalyptus plantation. After being invited to ‘go out the back and see the animals’, Joe and the kids jumped a electric fence to pat a horse and donkeys. A crazy ostrich came over- not at all fazed by Joe and his new cowboy hat- and pretty much scared them out as they all ran for cover crying!!!

Arriving at Armidale, we stayed at Penbroke Tourist Park, which was just lovely. we just relaxed, played some tennis and had a nice BBQ for dinner. That night, I didn’t sleep too well because it was sooo cold!! Little did we know, but it had dropped to -2 degrees that night- the air con froze up and the water in the pipes froze so we had no water! I think Armidale will go down as the coldest place for this trip.

First stop along Waterfall way was the gorgeous Woolomombi falls- at 260m , they are the tallest falls in NSW. The kids learnt how to ‘Coo-EEE’ off the gorges.

Next stop was the Dutton Trout Hatchery. A very interesting stop! The kids got to feed the trout is the different ponds and then watch the hatching process from tiny fish eggs- quite a hands-on experience. I really recommend this place!

Following this was a stop at the gorgeous Ebor Falls- so pretty once again- could have stayed longer!

Waterfall way in general was quite narrow and windy, so after lunch in Dorrigo, we just decided to keep going to Coffs Harbor. We would love to go back and spend longer on Waterfall way as other interesting stops included the Rainforest Centre and Belligen.

We checked into the gorgeous BIG 4 at Emerald Beach, 20km north of Coffs. There are bush turkeys and roos with joeys all around us- such a beautiful places. We have decided to stay 3 nights here as we didn’t end up back tracking to Port Macquarie and Taree. We finished the night with a campfire, with toasting marshmallows and toast!

The next photo is showing our trip so far. coding- red- 1 night, green- 2 nights, yellow- 3 nights.

What wild weather!!

About a week before we left on this trip- we watched a DVD on the New England Highway. Deciding that there was some quite interesting things in Muswellbrook, we decided to change our intinery, rather than follow the coast to Forster. God always has a hand in our plans, because it turned out to be a wonderful decision weather wise. The trip to Muswellbrook really tested Joe’s driving- but he did a marvelous job and we checked into Pinaroo Leisure Park in no time.

After leaving the van there, we drove to Hunter Belle Cheese, where we were treated to a vast (and delicious!) cheese tasting, as well as learning about and watching some of the cheese making process. We really recommend this place!

Then we headed south a little towards Denman to visit the Pukara Olive Oil plant. Whilst the kids are quite familar with olive trees and picking olives (thanks Mark and Cass), we were able to watch and learn about much of the process required to make olive oil. VERY interesting place also. Zach was able to complete an assignment on processes, which he had to complete for writing (check out his assignment page).

We were quite surprised at how much a mining town this was, as there are several coal mines all over the region.

The next morning, we stopped at an old coal train to take some pics before heading north to Lake Glenbawn State Park. Much to our surprise, we almost hit our first kangaroo! He just jumped right in front of us and kept bounding up the road. Following that, we did see a bit of roadkill- made worse by crows having lunch….ewwww…

No luck fishing for Bass- but we did enjoy a lovely time by the lake. We then heading into Scone- the horse Capital of Australia and had a look at the racetrack. The kids had a play in the park- whilst we enjoyed some scones in Scone!

Next stop was Tamworth, where we will stay for the next 2 nights (and catch up on washing!). Stopping at the Golden Guitar was a must in the Country Music Capital of Australia! We then checked into the Austin Tourist Park, followed by an evening of Masterchef (both making and watching!)

I didn’t think we could fit sooo much into such a short time!

After leaving our wonderful friends at Mooney Mooney, we headed up north to Nelson Bay. After breathing a sigh of relief that we DIDN’T get pulled over at Mount White, we stopped at Go-Kart-Go. The kids all had a ride doubling up with Joe- it was great that even Kaytlin was ‘old enough’ to try out the go-karts too.

Once we arrived at Halifax Caravan Park, Nelson Bay, we set up and the kids were keen to swim. It may the middle of July, but they still got into their swimmers and had a go in the surf. The sunset was just magical and it was such a serene spot to be. There were  a few wild rabbits running around and the kids had a ball chasing them.

Tuesday morning, we headed off to join a Whale Watching Tour- being prime whale watching season. We knew the weather was going to turn later in the day- but  it was still quite rocky. Joe had bought us all sea-sickness tablets so none of us were ill. We followed a couple of whales for a while and it was wonderful to see how majestic they were. We also met a pod of dolphins that were quite playful, along with a couple of seals.

In the afternoon, we met up at Stockton Beach with Bruce, from 4WD Tag-a-long Tours. We had a fantastic 3 hour adventure driving up and down sandhills, learning about quicksand and sandboarding. We even saw some more whales from the top of some of the sandhills. I thoroughly recommend this to anyone coming up this way. Cost was $150, considering we had a private tour- it was brilliant. Bruce was invaluable when Joe got bogged and it took both of them 20 minutes to get us out.

Zach is settling into homework and completing some early morning and then after dinner. Josh and Kaytlin are keen to do some ‘homework’ too- so we will see how long that lasts!

We are diverting from our original plans and heading inland tomorrow to Muswellbrook and Scone. Rather than stick to the coast (weather has turned terrible anyhow), we will visit an advocado farm, Olive processing plant and cheese making place.

Well, after 4 years in planning we have finally hit the road!

Joe was aiming for a 10am departure- I would be happy if we left by 12pm. After problems with the fridge/freezer and a visit from NRMA (see pic below), we did leave by 10- WESTERN Standard time!!

Our first stop was a mere 86 kilometres, but we still had “Are we there yet?” from Kaytlin. Oh- she has a lot to learn!

It was wonderful to catch up with our friends Roberto, Katrina and little Rafi who have recently settled into a new home at Mooney Mooney. For those of you who don’t know, its about half way between Hornsby and Gosford, off the F3. Belinda and Ryan were also able to pop in and it was great for Melinda to catch up for some girlie talk with 2 wonderful high school friends. The boys bonded over some sports in the grounds of the property.

It’s still quite surreal that we won’t be returning to Menai until the end of January. Just packing away the house and cleaning it top to tail was enough to deal with!!

We had to make use of out Premium Roadside Assistance before we even left home- hopefully it will be the last time we have to call them!

A very warm welcome to all following us on this trip around Oz. We hope that you enjoy travelling ‘along side’ us on this adventure.

On this home page, you will find updates of where we are and places we have visited. We would love you to make comments and give us advice along the way.

Please feel free to flick through our other pages, including out proposed and some-what crazy itinerary. Why not print a copy of our map and have your children follow our journey, marking it with stickers as we go.

Don’t forgot to keep your eye on “The Adventures of Thunder Bob”- a crazy monster truck who follows the Gindy’s where they go- and usually gets them out of sticky situations!

As we travel, may you feel as blessed as we do that the Lord, our God created such a wonderful, amazing and intricate place for us to live.

With much love,

Joseph, Melinda, Zachariah, Joshua and Kaytlin