Umina

I like the area around Gosford a lot, and we decided to stay in the NRMA park at Umina for a few days before we head back to the cold.

Another fabulous park for kids, with playgrounds, splash park and two absolutely wonderful heated pools. I think this is the BEST pool I've seen in all our travels around Australia!

It has a waterslide, bridges, a seat under the waterfall and a very cool section where water jets gently push you around an island.  Despite being so far south, the water was very warm and even I enjoyed a long swim.

Next to the park is a fantastic public playground and, of course, Umina beach.

On a cooler day, we drove out to Patonga, where we ate extremely delicious flathead fillets looking out over the bay as we shivered in the wind.

I got Garry to pull over on the way back to get some photos of the waratahs blooming on the ridge.  Reminded me of our travels in WA, when I frequently cried 'pull over, there's a flower! "

I'm eyeing this park off for school holiday trips in the future, although I imagine it gets really busy during school holidays.

Harrington

Harrington is a lovely place, and we always enjoy it here. This time we only had one day and it didn't seem long enough.  But we walked along the breakwater and watched the water rushing out.

We also visited a lovely couple we'd met several times while we were traveling in the Northern Territory in 2015. It was great to catch up and share travel stories.

We are starting to feel quite cold in the evenings and had to break out a few warmer jumpers.  Canberra is going to feel very cold to us when we get home!

Arrawarra

We had heard that the NRMA park at Arrawarra was a really lovely place to stay, so we had to try it out. It is an amazing
park with a huge list of extras: archery, swimming pool with waterslides, lawn bowls, restaurant, beach access and even a 9 hole golf course.  It also has scary kangaroos, and lots of trees, a lagoon and many many birds.  I've never had a park provide an info sheet on kangaroos that tells you to curl in a ball and protect your face with your arms if attacked by a kangaroo before!  They were just the greys we are used to, but the males were enormous!

Our site was lovely, with big trees and an ensuite that included an outside storage cupboard - very useful!  There was heaps of space although we did start to feel crowded on the last day, when several family groups began to arrive, setting up holiday gatherings across two or three sites.

The beach was gorgeous and we went for a long walk along it.

The ocean was a bit too rough and cold to swim in,  but Garry and Ben thought the pool was pretty good.

We drove to Woolgoolga, visited a bookshop and watched whales from the headland.

We also explored some of the beaches closer to Coffs Harbour, which were also very beautiful.

Split Solitary Island

Skennars Head, Ballina and surrounds

We have stayed at the park at Skennars Head many times over the years, as Garry has a sister in Lismore, and we long ago learned not to stay in the Lismore parks. Skennars Head is close to Lennox Head and Ballina and a lovely quiet park with excellent facilities.

We met Garry's sister and brother-in-law at the Ballina surf club for coffee,  and were struck by the beauty of Lighthouse Beach - travel Australia and the places you know best turn out to be as beautiful as anywhere, if not more so.

We took a trip out to the Crystal Castle near Mullimbimby, which is a gorgeous place with stunning crystals, glorious views and beautiful gardens.

It looks like a log, but it is petrified wood! 

I was particularly pleased to see the world peace stupa.

Garry's family have been in the northern rivers area for generations, and we took a trip out to Brunswick Heads and a cruise on the river to see his family's old oyster leases and the site of his grandfather's shack, and many memories of childhood holidays at the beach.

We enjoyed delicious pizza and salad at Lennox Head and marvelled at anyone paying $49 for a bag of cricket protein, super-food or not!

And of course, there is a lighthouse in Ballina :-)

Bribie Island

We wanted to see some friends who live in Brisbane but were reluctant to drive the van into the city.  Looking about for an alternative, we hit upon Bribie Island.

Our site at Bongaree was directly opposite the water, with a busy road and fence in between. We enjoyed the sunsets and the boats.

Bribie is a very pretty place and very quiet considering how close it is to Brisbane. It also has a great bookshop and the best fish and chips we've had on our trip so far.

We are happy to have found a great solution to the problem of where to stay near Brisbane! 

Hervey Bay

Hervey Bay is only a couple of hours south of Bargara, and hence we rarely stop there.  This time, we decided to stay at Torquay, just a street or two back from the esplanade. The esplanade in Hervey Bay is amazing - it runs the whole length of the bay, through several suburbs and is dotted with playgrounds, picnic areas and bits of bushland.

Ben was happy to make a friend at the park so we spent a few lazy days just letting the boys play - it was so nice for him to find someone who enjoyed the same type of games.

We visited Reef World aquarium,  which also cares for injured turtles, so a nice opportunity to pat one.

I really get a kick out of stone fish, such funny rocky blobs, they make me smile. As long as they are safely behind glass of course!

A highlight of our visit was a whale watching cruise.  Hervey Bay has a huge visiting population of humpback whales and a large tourist industry revolving around their annual visits.  Our cruise was absolutely fantastic!

At one point several big males were chasing a female around and around our boat. Very exciting with the males blowing bubbles and snorting through their blowholes as they tried to impress the female.  A mother and calf passed by at a cautious distance and later we had two juvenile whales just hanging about beside the boat, flipping their tails and checking us out.  It was certainly everything I'd hoped for in a whale watch, although we didn't have a whale breaching spectacularly right beside the boat.

We did a little bit of exploration of the nearby area, visiting Burrum Heads and Toogoom, which were pretty areas.

No visit to Hervey Bay would be complete without walking along the Urangan jetty.  I think I like jetties almost as much as lighthouses!

Bargara

Even though I've lived in Canberra for over 30 years, Bargara is still home to me. I am sad about all the multistorey units along the esplanade replacing the lovely old Queenslander style homes (and some not so lovely old shacks, I must admit).  But there have been some lovely changes, such as the walking paths all along the esplanade and a lovely new picnic area and playground at the Basin.  And of course, the beach is as gorgeous as ever.

Ben and Garry had a lot of fun catching waves at Neilson Park beach (the surf beach). Compared to the NSW beaches, this isn't much surf, but compared to north Queensland, it's pretty good.

We walked down the track to Mon Repos beach, which is famous for its turtle rookery (it isn't turtle season at the moment) and admired the glorious beach. It was also the beach where Bert Hinkler practiced flying.

We were so very impressed with how well Mum's garden has recovered after being completely flattened by a tornado on Australia Day 2013. Once again, the house is completely hidden by greenery.  I know how hard Mum and her friend Lex have worked to create that miracle.