WE'RE AT BUNSWICK HEADS

Beautiful Brunswick Beach

View from the caravan park looking out onto the river 

Another view of the river

A perect happy hour spot - care to join us?? 

View looking back from the river

Magic views of a glass lake

We set off from Tweed Heads for a quick 45minutes drive to our next destination Brunswick Heads.  We had intended to drive further down the coast but we particularly wanted to stay here as we were very impressed with the place when we drove there from Tweed Heads for a quick look/see. 

The Ferry Reserve Holiday Park is set along a very pretty river.  The park itself is fairly new and very well maintained and modern.   There was a bit of noise as it’s located close to the freeway, particularly at night time.  The town is a 3 minute drive from the park, via the marina and fishing coop and café.  There are lots of other caravan parks around the area but none of them allow dogs.  We bought fresh Silver Perch and really huge juicy green prawns for dinner that night and they were delicious.

We quickly set up and went for a long walk on the dog friendly beach just over the bridge in town.  The Brunswick Heads Pub is really big and is always crowed with lots of outdoor tables and chairs overlooking the town.  They have bands and entertainment there every weekend.

There is a shopping centre at Ocean Shores with supermarkets and other stores, which is also close by.

We had very mixed weather all week, mainly raining at night which was ok with us.  We did have a couple of very wet walks along the beach where we needed our trusty husky jackets.  Dogs aren’t allowed on the break wall as there’s a bird sanctuary in the bushes and wild bush turkeys wandering all along the wall and surrounding bushland.

The next day our neighbours gave us some bream fillets as they had more than they could use and their freezer was full up.  They were another delicious dinner, pan fried in flour. Really thick fillets. Yum.

On Wednesday we went for a drive into Byron Bay.  I’ve never been there and always wanted to visit the place.  It took us 30 minutes to drive there.  It was a pretty wet and windy day but we stopped for lunch at a beach café and watched the surfers.  The place was quite crowded.  It’s a bigger town than I thought and I really liked the feel of the place and all the quirky shops where tie-die has never gone out of fashion and African tribal clothes are the latest rage.  There were lots of old hippies wandering around with long dreadlocks and scruffy beards and clothes.  It was an interesting place. It’s also a veryexpensive place to buy real estate, so only the rich hippies can afford it there.

We drove from Byron through to Mullumbimby – still an old hippy town, but much less commercial, in fact there’s really nothing much else to do but smoke a bong and get stoned there.  We saw lots of crushed velvet outfits which made us giggle – a real time warp.  On leaving the town we saw a sign for “The Crystal Castle” and thought it warranted a look.  It was a fair drive from the town through some picturesque countryside.  Our expectations of what The Crystal Castle would look like were soon dashed when we got there.  Lo and behold there’s no actual castle – it’s the hippie equivalent of Australia’s Wonderland theme park, where kids can have birthday parties, complete with shop and coffee shop facilities.  It was $15 each to get in.  Since it closed at 5pm and we didn’t get there until 3.30 we decided to give it a miss.  We felt quite disappointed, although it is set in a tranquil landscaped gardens complete with life sized concrete buddas.  We decided we’d rather spend the money at the comedy night we were going to in Byron later that night.

The Comedy Night was at a venue called The Owl and The Pussycat – a local tapas bar/restaurant.  It was $5 entrance fee to view the comedy.  I must say I had the best sirloin steak and yummy thick home made wedges which were reasonably priced.  We sat at the back on really comfy lounges and cushions.  It was hosted by a well known comedian (can’t remember his name).  He was really, really funny.  He did a warm up and then introduced each of the 7 amateur stand-up comedians throughout the evening.  They were pretty mediocre, some a little better than others.  The last one was a Croatian with a thick Russian accent.  He never smiled or looked at the audience and kept taking off layer after layer of clothing, undressing to bright red jocks with blonde curly pubes.  He thought he was so funny.  They hold the comedy events once a month.  There wasn’t a huge crowd but it was quite fun and something a bit different to do.  Wouldn’t rush back in a hurry again as once was quite enough. 

 Well at least there’s a Dendy Cinema at Byron – yeah civilisation. Unfortunately there was nothing on I wanted to see.  Absolute drought of good movies anywhere at the moment.

Next week we're at Corindi - one of our favourite spots.  So stay tuned for all the latest news about Corindi in the next posting. 

Bye from us for now.  Have a good week.  Love Marian and Richard .