3 January – 8 January
Monday:
Needless to say, it’s not a great night’s sleep for either of us. Getting a new mattress is first on our agenda. We drive up to Port Macquerie, which is probably the biggest place around. It’s a lovely town and we stop for lunch on the beach. Most of the afternoon is spent sorting out shopping, but we get there eventually. It’s a struggle finding campsites on the coast at this time of year, so we head up to Kempsey, which is a bit inland. We have no problem finding a campsite there and tonight goes a bit better. For a start, it doesn’t rain. Our new mattress is super comfy and it seems like we’re finally getting back into this camping malarkey.
Tuesday:
We’ve not got far to go today, so we can take it a bit easy. We drive up past Coffs Harbour to Moonee beach. There’s a lovely lagoon with grassy banks, which makes a great picnic spot.
It’s overcast today, but not cold. We spend the afternoon swimming and reading, then head a bit inland again in search of a place to pitch out tent. We find a campsite surrounded by fields in Grafton. It’s another good night’s camping. We’ve bought a second gas stove so that cooking is a bit easier and the weather is obliging. After dinner two young girls approach us offering a plate of cake. I ask what the occasion is: it’s their dad’s birthday and they couldn’t finish all the cake themselves. It’s such a lovely, old-fashioned gesture I can’t help but smile. The cake was gorgeous too.
Wednesday:
We’ve booked a campsite in Lennox Head, which is about 15 minutes south of Byron Bay (accommodation in Byron Bay is just about impossible to find in school holidays). We arrive early so take a stroll through the town and buy ourselves a picnic lunch to eat on the grass.
Then we head to our campsite. It’s in a prime position, sandwiched between a tea tree lined lake and the 7 mile white sand beach. The campsite is busy: a lot of families that have clearly been here for at least a couple of weeks. They all have proper camping set-ups, and we get a few odd looks pitching our little two man tent on our massive sight. Nick has bought a tarp (fulfilling a lifelong ambition I think) and gets that set up to provide some shelter from the sun and rain.
With the work done, we head to the lake for a swim in the warm, tannin-rich waters of the lake.
Nick heads back to camp and I decide to tackle a mini-jog on the beach, something I’ve been meaning to do for ages. I keep it to a quick 20 mins just to ease myself in, then I drag Nick to the beach to get battered about by the waves with me. It’s bliss.
Back at camp we have a few beers and some food. The clouds have been looking a little ominous all day, but more worrying is that everyone around us is battening down the hatches. We’re just about to settle down and watch a film when we find out why. It comes belting it down. Everything (including ourselves) gets thrown rapidly into the car. A couple of hours later the torrential rain shows no sign of letting up, so we’ve got to make the mad dash from car to tent.
Thursday:
It rains all night, but we both sleep well. In the morning we lie in the tent waiting for the rain to stop. We wait, and we wait. Eventually my bladder is demanding that I get up. I stick my head up for a look out and see our flip-flops floating outside the tent. Then we realise that the entire tent is sitting on about 2 inches of water. How it stayed dry inside I don’t know.
We’re supposed to be going sea-kayaking in Byron today. When I ring up they say that at the moment it is still on. So we get ourselves dressed and drive into Byron. It’s absolutely beautiful – all rainforest and beach. It’s also completely rammed with ageing hippies and backpackers. We’re both glad we’re staying in Lennox now. It is still raining, so we have a little drive around town and up to the lighthouse.
Eventually we get the call to say our trip is cancelled. There’s no point heading back to camp in the rain, so we stay and get some lunch in Byron. Then we drive to Ballina, which is the biggest town around, and find a shopping centre to hide in. The rain has reached torrential levels again, covering the road in places, so we’re a bit scared of heading back to see what state the tent is in.
Amazingly, when we get back the tent is still sitting in water, but is dry inside. We catch a break in the rain to move the tent to higher ground, then spend the rest of the evening cowering in the car. We’ve pretty much had enough. It’s forecast to rain more and we’re thinking of clearing out early and heading to Brisbane. Just before we go to bed the rain finally stops.
Friday:
We wake up still not sure if we’re staying or going. It’s not raining but the clouds are still heavy, and it’s tempting to just pack up the tent while it’s still relatively dry. We kill a bit of time over breakfast, and then the clouds shift and we get a bit of blue sky. After a couple of days of trying desperately to stay dry, we head straight for the beach for a swim in the sea. It’s great fun, and quite hard work in the waves.
We take a walk along the beach to get some lunch, then settle on some grass by the lake.
Later in the afternoon we head back to the beach. Nick is eyeing up the surfboards – having not surfed for about 20 years he’s keen to give it a go again. On a walk up to the toilets I spot a guy with a pile of boards. I ask if he’s hiring them. He says he is offering lessons, but won’t just hire them out as most people don’t know what they’re doing and end up getting into trouble or not catching any waves.
I relay the info back to Nick and somehow he persuades me that we should go for a lesson. I’m so nervous I feel sick, but we’re giving it a go. Ben, our instructor, is brilliant. We have a bit of a sea safety lesson and a few dry runs on the sand, then he takes us out into the surf. These are the same waves we were being chucked about in earlier, but somehow, miraculously, Ben gets me stood up on the board first time. It’s awesome. Nick takes to it straight away and is soon teachers pet. I have to hear about how he’d make a really good long-boarder, and ‘is he naturally good at all sports he tries?’ He’s doing brilliantly though and having a great time. I won’t lie, I got knocked off way more times than I stayed on, and I wasn’t much good at catching a wave without someone to push me onto it, but it was so much fun. 2 hours later, exhausted, aching and happy, we call it quits. It’s over to the lake to wash our boards off, then back to camp for beer.
Janet adds: would love to be a surfer girl, but might have to trade Nick in for surf-instructor to coach me through it.
Saturday:
We both wake up aching all over. Surfing is such good exercise, and much more fun than running. It’s dry so far: we’ve rebooked our kayaking for this afternoon, so fingers crossed we can go this time. Although I’m not sure how well our tired arms are going to do at paddling.
We head into Byron and take a short hike up Cape Byron to the lighthouse. The views are good and we see dolphins swimming about in the bay below.
Then we head to our kayak rendezvous point. The trip is on! We get kitted out with helmets, lifejackets and paddles and head for the beach.
It’s brilliant fun kayaking out through the waves. I’m in the front of our boat and am getting launched over the top of them to smack back down the other side. So far so good: we haven’t fallen out or tipped our boat. Once everyone is out, we paddle across the bay. We’re looking for dolphins and turtles. At the halfway point we haven’t seen anything yet and head into the beach to warm up with tea and timtams. Then it’s back out through the waves again. On the way back we stop for a snorkel over a little reef. I whack my chin trying to climb back in, but manage not to tip us over. More embarrassingly, I put my helmet back on backwards, much to the amusement of the crew (picture evidence to follow). Just as we’re heading back in to the beach some dolphins pop out in front of us (with a little baby!). We watch them swimming for a while, then surf the waves in with tired, aching arms.
Janet adds: Despite the relentless rain, I’ve had such a good time here. I think Lennox Head might have stolen my heart.
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