Written by Kim
We were up early for some casino comp breakfast before hitting the road for our 4 1/2 hour drive to Coff’s Harbour. One big highlight today is we saw a kangaroo hopping along the side of the road (no pic as camera wasn’t ready). We arranged to stop at the house of the friends we met on the cruise, Deb and Ian which was about halfway. They have a house in Ballina in a beautiful new development. We met their beagle, Lily, and shared a few stories before taking a look around the coast of Ballina. The coast was gorgeous with a bit more surf now that we are south of the Barrier Reef.
We had lunch on the beach which was delicious (no pics sorry!). I had grilled barramundi over Greek salad and Alex had a jerk chicken sandwich. After lunch we went to see where guys hang glide off the headland and then returned to continue our journey.
We got to Coff’s Harbour about 5:30 since we lost an hour with time change for daylight savings arriving in New South Wales. Dave was already at the hotel. When we pulled in it was a bit campy. A motor lodge where everyone was sitting out on the chairs in front of their rooms with one guy playing guitar. There evidently is a group of people who know each other staying here. We were afraid of a party late tonight but when we returned from dinner everyone was in bed. Lol. We walked to a sports bar for some dinner. It was crazy there. This place has food, a bar, horse racing and keno betting, a small casino and dance floor. We had a bargain dinner – chicken schnitzel for $12.50 and a few beers while we watched South Africa beat England in the Rugby World Cup – sorry Dave.
Tomorrow morning we will leave for the last stop on our adventure, Sydney. We are looking forward to a few days exploring the city most Americans only see. We are blessed to have seen a good part of the east coast of gorgeous Australia and already thinking about when we will come back again.
