The Gold Coast

From Byron Bay we headed an hour north to the shire of Tweed, the southern most district of the greater Gold Coast region.  The twin cities of Tweed and Coolangatta sit right on the New South Wales-Queensland border, with Tweed to the south in NSW and Coolangatta to the north in QLD.  We wound up at the at the beach in the latter enjoying a beautiful sunny day.  There is a lot to be said for “Coolie”, it being just big enough to have an atmosphere without the congestion that comes with a large city combined with the great year-round weather, both swimming and surfing beaches, cool ocean waters and laid back surfer culture that’s present but not overbearing.  I must admit I was quite smitten with it from the moment we rolled onto the scene.  Perhaps this city could end up being our future home after our road trip? Only time will tell.  

  

Coolangatta Beach 

Looking north from Coolangatta Beach you can see the towering skyline of Gold Coast City

A lone surfer getting ready to jump onto the swell from Fingal Head

After a day well spent relaxing at the beach we headed west for another tramp through the mountains (well, in this case mountain).  The largest and most defining feature on the western horizon from Byron Bay to well north of Coolie is Mt Warning, which is the volcanic plug of the ancient shield volcano, the Tweed Volcano.  Of course, you know this means I had to climb it.  The summit, once resting at twice its current elevation of 3,793 feet, is highly sacred to the local aboriginals.  It has been eroded over the thousands of years, leaving a large fertile basin where it once towered, dissected by a few remaining mountain ridges and hemmed in on all sides by world-heritage listed national parks full of ancient Gondwanan forests.  Just the drive up to the base of the mountain provided loads of beautiful views from all different angles.  The hike itself is a constant steady uphill over rocky uneven terrain through the rainforest for what was prescribed to be 4 hours roundtrip (exaggerated).  Kayleigh, being just about done with hiking since all I put her through in NZ, sat this one out (Who can blame her?).  Just before the final steep chain aided rock scramble to the top a sign informed me that the local aboriginals prefer that you not ascend to the summit.  Had I known this before making it this far I may have headed their wishes, but at this point there was no turning back.  From the top the views naturally stretched 360 degrees in all directions, to the southeast I could even see Byron Bay and the Cape some 100km away!

Looking southeast to Byron Bay - see it off in the distance there? 

Mt Warning 

The next day we took a pilgrimage to one of the American styled amusement parks that thankfully calls Gold Coast home.  Dreamworld is fashioned as the most exciting of the bunch, home to the “Big 8” thrill rides as they’re called.  Putting aside the small fair-like Luna Park in Sydney, this was the first proper amusement park we’d been to for over a year.  We came on a weekday in the off-season which meant lines were short and we easily hit every worthwhile ride in the park.  Some of my favorites included the (Big Drop, Tower of Terror and a really well put together zombie themed laser tag arena called Zombie Evilution).  Dreamworld isn’t quite as big or ambitious as its American counterparts, but it certainly hit the spot.

Dreamworld parking lot - you see the Big Drop and the Buzzsaw

Finally, we took a few hours to work our way through Gold Coast City and all its holiday debauchery.  To get a good idea of what the Gold Coast is like I offer you this - imagine that somebody threw the Las Vegas strip onto Waikiki Beach in Honolulu.  The result will either entice or disgust you.  Gold Coast is the 5th most visited destination in Australia for international tourists and is one of the fastest growing regions in Australia by population.  High-rise development lines the long stretch of beach, with Surfer’s Paradise at its hedonistic heart.  Ironically this produces large long shadows on the beach in the evening, effectively destroying the value of its primary asset.  On the lighter side, there are some fantastic engineering feats that have gone into transforming the coastline and the inland marshes into functional harbors and luxury houses on a network of man-made canals with direct access to the ocean.  It’s quite pretty in its own peculiar way.

The dark side of the beach

Surfers Paradise beach

The Legendary Pacific Coast Highway

A short drive northwest of the Hunter Valley and we entered the central coast region of New South Wales, finally clear of the greater Sydney area.  With a short stopover to stock up on supplies in Newcastle, we headed to the Great Lakes district.  A cluster of national parks holding three large saltwater lakes comprise the namesake of the district, and while the lakes are certainly beautiful, both Kayleigh and I think it's the coastline steals the show.  The first stop we made in the parks was Seal Rocks where we were greeted, quite unexpectedly, by perhaps the most beautiful beach we'd seen in Australia thus far.  Situated on the sheltered and remote Sugarloaf Bay, the water was perfect for swimming (provided it is warm enough outside, which on that day it unfortunately was not) and the sand a dazzling white.  Picturesque rocky headlands and sea cliffs framed the scene,  while on the beach pelicans (and not much else) consorted to discuss whatever it is that they discuss.  It was one of the beaches where even though it wasn't warm enough to swim, just sitting in the soft sand and staring at the blue water was entertainment enough.  Another km or so and the road comes to an end at the trailhead to Sugarloaf Point Lighthouse.  Of course, you knowing me at this point, I was compelled to walk to the end of this trail and see what there was to see.  A short but steep walk rewarded me with some sweeping views down the windy coastline which I will so graciously share with you now ;p.

Sugarloaf Point

Looking down the coast from Sugarloaf Point Lookout

Seal Rocks beach

Sugarloaf Bay

The northern end of the Great Lakes district

Back onto the main road through the parks, we crossed the border from Myall Lakes National Park and headed into Booti Booti National Park near Pacific Palms.  Pacific Palms is a peaceful (and quiet) little hamlet pushed right up against Lake Wallis on one side and Smith Lake on the other.  We decided to have our lunch on the gently lapping shores of Smith Lake before heading out to "The Spit" to check out the ocean beaches on it's eastern side.  The surf was far too powerful to swim, but boy was the beach beautiful.  More stunning white sand and teal waters than one knows what to do with.

The Spit beach

A few hours drive up the Australian coast, we diverted off the Pacific Highway and headed west on little distraction known as Waterfall Way.  Driving up into the Great Dividing Range, it was here that we first appreciated just how large Australia is, especially when compared to New Zealand.  This "little distraction" proved to be a full day's drive to view three waterfalls along the highway.  As we ascended the narrow winding road into the misty mountains, the subtropical rain forests leftover from the ancient continent Gondwanaland (a fusion of Antarctica, Australia and New Zealand) grew thicker and thicker.  Then as the road flattened we emerged from the rainforest onto the rolling green grass hills of the plateau.  This region of Australia is called New England and once you see it it's not hard to imagine why - even for someone who's never been to England such as myself the landscape calls to that folk image of the old country.  It was here in this modestly beautiful country that we made our first waterfall stop at Dangar Falls.

Gondwanan Rainforest

Dangar Falls

The next waterfall on our path was Ebor Falls some 40km west of Dangar Falls.  As we traveled west over the plateau the landscape became gradually drier, with the green trees of Dorrigo being replaced with more hardy varieties.  It began to look a bit more like the Australia I'd had in mind before we'd landed in Sydney.  Ebor Falls itself was gorgeous, and easily the most beautiful of the three falls.  By the time we'd reached Wollomombi Falls further west, the dryness had won out leaving us to view a small trickle.  It was at this point that we decided to turn around and head back towards the coast, since any further stops would likely be dried up.  As an interesting aside - along the waterfall way between Ebor and Wollomombi Falls farmers have constructed a LOOOOONG fence running north and south to keep the dingos from moving further west into the cattle grazing country.  It is creatively called the Dingo Fence.

Ebor Falls

Wollomombi Gorge - can you spot the fall?

At the tail end of the Legendary Pacific Coast Drive stretching from Sydney to the Queensland-New South Wales border (think San Francisco to San Diego), we hit the famous hippie surf town of Byron Bay.  Byron Bay might be the most famous beach in Australia outside of Bondi, and the small town seems bursting at the seems with backpackers.  Lining the streets of the central area are plenty of good cafes and restaurants, as well as a variety of holistic and alternative medicines, organic foods, and psychics.  Now look folks, I know I have dreadlocks and all, but this place was waaaaaay too hippie for me and the general trashiness of the backpacker scene doesn't help it either.  The beach itself however, is everything it's cracked up to be.  An idyllic bay stretching endlessly its crescent shape backed by the green hinterland, Mt Warning rising up prominently to the northwest.  It has all the characteristics of Ozzie beaches, soft, clean, white sand, warm clear/blue ocean and plenty of space to lie about and waves to splash around in.  Along with Seal Rocks and Sydney's eastern beaches, I'd give it top merits.  Cape Byron to the southeast of town is the most eastern point on mainland Australia and provides a breathtaking view of the bay.

Mt Warning over Byron Bay 

Byron Bay

I'm not sure if the Legendary Pacific Coast Drive got its name organically or via some well devised tourism ad strategy, but I'd be willing to bet the latter.  I'm not sure I'd call it legendary, but I suppose the Nice Pacific Coast Drive doesn't quite have the same ring to it.  The majority of the drive is not within eyesight of the coast, and there are very long portions of the drive with little to nothing worthy of mention.  Most of the highlights were clustered around the greater Sydney region or just a little beyond.  That said, what's good is great and we make the trip on the driving edge of the winter season.  

Sydney Surrounds

After bunking in central Newtown for two weeks and exploring all the city had to offer, we decided to move shop and spend the last few days before our car rental was ready in a hostel right on the beach.  The Coogee Beach House is less than 100 meters from Coogee Beach, which is an idyllic city beach a few kilometers south of Bondi.  We strapped on our over-stuffed bags and bussed to the beach.  It should surprise nobody at this point when I stop here and say that the sunny warm weather broke that day and we spent the last 4 days staring at the beach from the hostel window and wishing the incessant rain would stop.  It all cleared up the day we were to check out (go figure!) and we again threw on our over-stuffed packs and made the trek across the city.  By the end of the day we were comfortably relocated and in our new rental camper van which we appropriately dubbed Major Tom.  Now we are ready to bust Australia wide-open like a bottle of bubbly!

The first place we hit was the northern beaches of Sydney (being those north of Manly) which were impractical to visit via public transit.  We found a holiday park across the road from Narrabeen Beach and set up shop.  I took a quick jaunt up to the headlands on its northern end for some good views down the long stretch of beach and spied some smaller cliff backed beaches to the north.  Northern Sydney as it turns out, is nothing like its densely populated and high rise southern half.  The harbour seems to have provided a solid natural barrier against northern development, since almost immediately beyond the harbor bridge the neighborhoods become quieter and greener.  Just getting to Narrabeen requires you to drive through a section of national park!  It only gets more lush as you head north, as we did towards Palm Beach - the northernmost of Sydney's northern beaches.  Those of you familiar with the soap Home & Away may recognize the landscape, which is filmed here.  The beach itself is incredible, as is the Pittwater area that surrounds it. 

Narrabeen Beach

Narrabeen Inlet

Looking North from Narrabeen Bluff

Palm Beach

Another memory that northern Sydney imparted upon us was a close up view of a flying fox colony fly-out.  As I mentioned in the last blog, the colony in the Royal Botanic Gardens has been removed, but there are still plenty of colonies all over the city.  We found one near the neighborhood of Gordon, which lies at the edge of Ku-Ring Gai National Park that borders Sydney to the north.  From our lookout on the bridge we saw thousands and thousands of bats come out of the trees at dusk and fly directly overhead on their way to that night's meal.  Unfortunately my camera doesn't work to well at taking pictures of little black dots in the dark night sky, so you'll have to take my word that it was pretty
incredible.  

About 90 minutes to the west of Sydney lies the Blue Mountains which are part of the Great Dividing Range that runs along the entire east coast of Australia, and it just so happens that they comprise one of the most scenic regions in the entire 3500 km stretch.  This is funny because when I was originally researching the Sydney area I'd come across a few photos of the Blue Mountains that failed to impress and I'd actually considered skipping the region.  Luckily for us both I didn't, as Kayleigh was just as blown away as I was.  Blessed is Sydney with natural amenities surely (now they just need to work on…ya know, the city part!).  Calling them mountains may be a bit of a misnomer as they are actually a plateau that has been dissected by a series of waterways cutting into the sandstone bedrock.  Mountains or valleys, lets just go ahead and call them amazing.  The area is replete with quaint country towns, easy to access lookouts with sweeping panoramas over the ancient landscape, as well as plenty of waterfalls, and we took the opportunity to do our first hike in Australia along the National Pass.  It did not disappoint!

Three Sisters Overlook - The photos lose a sense of scale - it doesn't compare with standing in front of it)

They're called the Blue Mountains due to the characteristic blue haze that sits in the valleys.  The haze is actually composed of the oils produced by the millions of Eucalyptus trees! 

The beginning to the National Pass

Wentworth Falls from the bottom

Finally, the last of Sydney's nearby charms that we were lucky enough to visit was the Hunter Valley.  While Barossa Valley in South Australia may be the most largest and most famous wine growing region in Australia, The Hunter Valley is the oldest.  Known mainly for it's Semillon, the area is responsible for a mere 8% of the countries total wine production. It makes up for its size with its abundance of boutique wineries and small scale growers. When it comes to touring the area, it surely isn't as easy as the wine regions of NZ; there is no conveniently centralized square or strip to make it easy to walk from one winery straight to another.  It is, however, much more beautiful than any of the wine regions across the pond (sans Waiheke) and as unpretentious as they come.  We made quick work of the tastings.  :)