Our day started early, Joe went down to the beach just after sunrise. The surf was generating lost of mist/spray in the sunlight. Back at camp we had breakfast in the BBQ area while out tents dried out. Each morning so far there has been heavy dew all over our gear in the morning.
We set out just after 8 am and rode to South Ballina, after turning off the Pacific Highway to a quieter coastal road. The roads were great, good surface and not much traffic but our progress stalled when we got to South Ballina and found that the ferry shuts down for maintenance from 9.00 to 12.00 on the 2nd Tuesday each month. Bugger. So we had a couple of hours to kill. We made ourselves comfortable beside the river and read our books (kindles) beating off the constant attacks of the mosquitoes.After the ferry we stopped in Ballina for lunch by the inlet. we made a quick visit to the bike shop for Joe to get his head adjusted. As you know his head has never been quite right ... Anyway an OCD bike mechanic adjusted Joe's head - cyclophile language for tightening the steering.
From Ballina we rode along the coast road via Lennox Head to Byron Bay. The hills between Ballina and Lennox Head reminded us how tired our legs were. This is the view from the lookout at Lennox Head.In Byron Bay we managed to find the most expensive tent site in Australia, $40 for an unpowered site!! It is right on Clarkes' Beach and we really enjoyed being tossed about in the surf before hitting the showers. Byron has become incredibly commercial and is very crowded but the beach is fantastic.
Impressions of Byron Bay - very commercial (Billabong, Volcom, Glue, Supre etc.), very busy, lots of backpackers, hippies, dole bludgers, foreigners, dreadlocks, bike riders on retro bikes with no helmets and not a lot of bras (must be a shortage up here)
Finished the day with some BBQ'd Salmon and salad and couple of ales. Excellent day.BTW was talking to a Canadian guy in the BBQ area and I swear he was the love child of Rick Moranis - he looked and sounded just like him. Was also talking to a few travellers there who were having toast for tea because they had no money and no work. They were going to go to Adelaide to get work. Anything you can do to help them Richard?
Very nice spot at Clarkes Beach caravan park. $40 for a tent site does sound expensive but it is Byron Bay....trying to keep the dole bludgers away! Always liked the stretch of road along the coast between Ballina and Byron.
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