Cabarita Beach

 Day 1 – Nimbin, Nuts and Night rescues

A little worse for wear after last night’s shenanigans we packed up camp and headed to Sue’s which was only 20 mins down the road (thank god!).

Arriving to a really warm welcome, Sue showed us around her lovely house and introduced us to Carolyn who was a Dutch girl volunteering for an equestrian centre nearby (where Sue also volunteered part time). Carolyn was supposed to have free accommodation and food as part of the package but the living conditions weren’t great so Sue had taken her in for free. How nice is that? She takes on all us waif and strays.

After a cuppa and being shown to our lovely room with a Queen sized bed and adjoining bathroom (we love Muriel, but we love creature comforts too), Glenn, myself and Sue set-off in her car for our first adventure. We took a quick look at Cabarita beach and drove up to the headland but the parking spots were packed with a mixture of surfers and whale watchers whiling away their Sunday so we decided to come back the following day when it would be less crowded. From the brief glimpse we got, Cabarita looked absolutely stunning so we were looking forward to returning.

Next we headed for Nimbin which is a hippy town set-up in the early 70’s, has a Sunday market and generally a great vibe. On the way, Sue drove us around some beautiful little spots including views, creeks, beaches and villages (Sorry Sue, I can’t remember all of the names!). It seems every corner you turn in Oz, there’s something spectacular to look at.

Nimbin itself lived up to its reputation, lots of colourful shops and stalls and even more colourful aged hippys. We headed to a pub to take in the vibe and people watch before we set off to wander around the town (and got offered the obligatory ganja). It would be a good place to stay on a Fri/Sat J

Sue’s friend Linda had a Macadamia farm further up in the mountains so we headed there next. We arrived down a dirt track to a white picket fence to a beautiful house with a wraparound veranda. It was like a cross between Tara (gone with the wind) and the Waltons (pics don’t do it justice). Linda gave us a quick tour of the house before we settled on the veranda with G & T’s (how British) looking out onto the Macadamia orchards and the odd wallaby or two.

Linda had only been back in Oz for around 10 years as she had previously lived in Clapton Ponds in London, I can see why she came back! As well as Macadamia nuts, she also grew Mangos’, limes and Avocados, or Avo’s as the Oz’s like to call them. There was a family of Magpies (much smaller than ours) that came around in the afternoon for feeding. Linda let us roll up little balls of mince and throw them in the air for them to swoop down and catch, mid-air. Brilliant! no pics though due to dreaded crap camera!

Next was a tour of the farm and the biggest Chooks (Chicken’s) you have ever seen, the cock was the size of a small fat dog! So (Glenn, not Shel) backed away cautiously.

We were just walking through the Macadamia Orchards when we noticed a parked car at the top of the road and people taking snaps on Linda’s land. We headed up there to see what was what and discovered some close neighbours (they probably lived about 20k away!) had stopped as there was a Koala in the road.  By the time we got there the Koala was now on the grass but didn’t look too well, he (I’ll say it’s a him) had a runny nose and some swelling between the eyes. Given he was poorly, plus there was a danger of a dog getting him or being hit by a car we decided to call a rescue line.

You need to stay with and try to contain the Koalas so they don’t decide to climb a tree and get out of reach before rescue arrives. Whilst everyone was discussing how to do this, I piped In with what I’d learnt from Deb when she had a similar situation in Brisbane.  Basically you get a washing basket and throw it over the top of him, get me! Eat your heart out Steve Irwin!

We were a fair distance from the house so Glenn was dispatched with Linda to head back, collect the basket and sprint back to the Koala. Sadly, as Glenn was just 10 meters away the Koala made a mad dash for the tree. It was starting to get dark so we agreed to stay with Linda to wait for rescue whilst the other neighbours went home.

When the rescue team, well, a woman with a cage, arrived, she was ill equipped with no pole (despite us telling her he had climbed) and no torch. So poor Linda headed back to the house for her pool poles and Sue to fetch her car to see if the headlights would help. Unfortunately, despite everyone’s valiant efforts the Koala climbed further and we wasn’t able to reach him. It was agreed for Linda to check up on him in the morning and call rescue again if he was. We later discovered that he wasn’t there the next day, hope the poor fella is okay.

Saying goodbye to Linda we then headed off back towards a village that had a fantastic old pub called the Brunswick Tavern which had live music on Sunday afternoons (it’s pretty famous in the area). Arriving a little later than expected due to Project Koala, it was getting quite dark and cold and we were hungry so we headed straight to the counter to order food. Sue used to be a primary school teacher and had taught the head chef, who when noticing her marked our tickets as VIP which I think meant you got double the size of the portion!

Full from our food and feeling a little cold and tired, we listened to a couple of numbers from the band before heading off, past more lovely little villages and old pubs. Arriving at Sue’s we found Carolyn had cooked us dinner! It was like a vicar of Dibley xmas special with each of us being too polite to say we had eaten. We were each served up with a steaming plate of Smoked Salman pasta and salad. Sue and I tried to eat as much as we could, disguising it under lettuce leaves and slipping the odd bit to the cat. Glenn cleared his plate. Good man!

It had been a long day and we were all pretty pleased with how much we had covered given our hangovers. Sue had taken us to some fantastic spots which we would have passed by if we were on our own. We had a glass of wine, watched a bit of TV and headed for bed for an early night, ready for tomorrow’s adventure.

Day 2 – Having a Whale of a time.

Annoyingly, despite my lovely warm Queen sized bed I woke up early, I think I’m used to camp site time, and was quickly followed by Glenn.

We sat in the garden drinking coffee and it wasn’t long before sue joined us and we spent the morning chit chatting.

Later in the morning we all took a walk up to Cabirita headland to do some whale watching and it wasn’t too long before we saw jets of water and whales breaching in the distance.

Just happy to be chilling out watching this we suddenly became aware of a dark shadow next to the cliff face, first of all thinking that it was just rocks until it started moving.  We quickly realised that it was a whale just underneath the headland.

Whilst we were watching we suddenly saw a baby whale emerge from the shadows of the mother and everyone was pretty convinced that the whale had just given birth right there. We continued to watch and get pretty good pictures until the pair started to swim away into the distance.

However a little later the pair returned. Later, we decided she had taken the calf off for a swimming lesson, and came back under the headland again as if the mother was showing her offspring off to us.  The calf then got caught it the surf and looked dangerously close to crashing into the rocks, only for the mother too give a loud signal at which point the calf quickly returned to her side and then they swam out into the distance together.

As if this was not enough we then saw hundreds of water spouts in the distance and as they got closer, we realised they were dolphins.  Once again the dolphins came right into the headland, about three pods of them containing at least a hundred dolphins each.  We watched as they continued to pass by, some of them surfing in the waves as they went past, we couldn’t believe what we had just witnessed.

Later on we heard that there had been killer whales out to sea and the male humpbacks were out there keeping a defensive line whilst the mothers and calves stayed in the shallower water for safety.

We must have spent a good two to three hours up there just watching before we headed off on a short hike along the coastal path before finding a restaurant/bar where we had a few beers and the odd bottle of wine whilst reliving the spectacle we had just witnessed.

On the way home we picked up some supplies at the supermarket (and bottelo!!) and then settled in for the night.  Sue made a lovely Thai curry and we chatted for the rest of the evening, during which Sue’s Ex, Buzzy, who she is still good friends with popped in for a chat.  At some point we went to bed!

Day 3 – More Sight-seeing

Sue had to go out for an appointment in the morning, so after a couple of coffee’s and a shower, Shell and I took a walk up to the headland at Cabarita Beach once again to go whale spotting.  It was still great to spot loads of whales passing back and forwards in the distance but we did not spot anything as spectacular as the day before.

Retuning back to Sue’s place she then took us out on another sight seeing tour, first we headed to Fingle Point where we had a walk through a small forest before heading up to the point where there was a quaint little lighthouse and took some pics.

What was more amazing though is when we headed down to the headland we found that they had their own giants causeway, exactly like the one in Ireland.  So we walked along the edge taking in the spectacular views and photo’s along the way until we hit the beach.

After this we made our way back to the car and we were taken to point danger which is a famous surfing beach and also the border between Queensland and New South Wales.

From here we headed to another headland nearby that gave us another chance to do a bit of whale watching, before heading back via some small little villages (one where Sue used to teach in) and some lakes.  Another great day where we were shown things that we wouldn’t have come across on our own, thanks Sue!!

In the evening Sue cooked us up a nice Spaghetti Bolognaise and we spent the rest of the evening chatting and listening to music before we went to bed.

Day 4 – Registering Muriel, Byron Bay & Chat Roulette!!

In the morning we were treated to porridge and a fresh juice before we headed out with Sue once more to the town of Murwillumbar.

Sue had kindly arranged for her mechanic to take Muriel in to have her Road Worthy Certificate done (Pink Slip – like an MOT).  So once we had dropped her in at the mechanics we went for a look around the town.

We stopped at a couple of charity shops (Or opportunity shops as they are known in Oz), where Shell and I tried to look for some warmer clothes as it was now getting a bit colder, but we did not have much luck and came away empty handed.

As we had time to kill whilst we waited for the mechanic to finish we popped into a nice coffee shop for a coffee and a bite to eat.  On our way out of here I spotted some nice rugs in a nearby shop, which Shell decided we must have one for Muriel.   Shell went to pay for it and whilst I waited with Sue, she decided she would like one too, whilst she was looking some lady decided to help Sue look for the perfect one, as she walked off we realised that she had nothing to do with the shop!!

Rugs under arm we then returned to the mechanic where we found that Muriel had passed her exam and we went to the Service Office where we could re-register Muriel under our names.  The lady at the counter was particularly miserable and said we had to pay the penalty for not registering her within 2 weeks of purchase.  It was lucky we had Sue with us as she also insisted on a written declaration from her that it was going to be registered at her address and they also wanted her licence number, thanks once again Sue!

Now Muriel was officially ours in name we then headed back to Sue’s house for a little breather before once more heading out on another sight-seeing tour.

Firstly Sue took us about 40 miles down the coast to have a look at Byron Bay, unfortunately it was very overcast and when we got out of the car to have a look it started to chuck it down so we took a couple of pictures and jumped back in the car.  Whilst we were there Sue called her friend Fran, who worked nearby, and we dropped by her office to meet her and have a quick chat.

From here we headed a bit further down the coast where we climbed a hill to take us to another headland with a famous lighthouse on it (sorry can’t remember the name of this place) which is the most Easterly point in Australia.  However it was still chucking it down at the point so we had a very quick walk around and took a few snaps before heading back to the car.

At the bottom of the hill we stopped for a brief time to look at a nice beach there before heading back to Byron bay where we popped into the caravan park to have a look around as we thought we may stay there later in the week (not for $56 a night we won’t!!).

On the way back to Sue’s she showed us a couple of other campsite that we may want to stop at on our way down and some other nice beaches, where at one, we were treated to a beautiful double rainbow over the bay.

We returned once again to Sue’s and in the evening Sue’s friend Lesley came over and we ordered a Chinese Take-Away, that Carolyn kindly went and picked up for us. 

For the rest of the evening we spent it drinking, chatting, telling funny stories and when we were slightly more inebriated, we introduced Sue and Lesley to chat roulette at which point they became incredibly shy!!

Outside a big gale was taking place, so when we finally went to bed we were quite pleased that it wasn’t in Muriel!!

Day 5 – Home Alone (Almost)

Today Sue was flying to Sydney with her brother to catch up with some family, but she said we were welcome to stay in her house for as long as we liked (how incredible is that!).  So when we awoke with slight hangovers, we were met by Mark (her brother) who was already there and waiting to go.

Once Sue was then ready we all headed off to the airport together so we could bring her car back afterwards, we said our goodbyes and massive thank you’s and then went to check out the nearby beach, which Sue had told us was nice.

We had a brief look around the beach area (which again was nice) looking for somewhere to grab a bit of breakfast.  Nothing seemed to be open so we decided to head back to the town of Murwillumbar to pick up a thank you gift for Sue.

During some of our chats Sue had talked about getting a Chimnea for her garden, so we thought that would make a perfect gift for her to come home to.  We parked up and quickly found a garden shop that had the perfect model, however they had to dig one out of the warehouse so told us to come and pick it up in 20 minutes.

Not having breakfast and as we couldn’t see anything better we went to a nearby KFC that was just opening and had Chicken Burger and Chips for breakfast – very healthy!!  After this we then picked up the Chminea and headed back to Sue’s as it was quite overcast.

After setting the Chimnia in the back garden we then spent the rest off the day washing clothes (Shell) and Blogging (Glenn) as the weather had not got better with a lot of wind and rain about there was nothing else to do.

In the evening Carolyn had invited some of her friends over from the equestrian centre for an evening meal and drinks.  Shell and I kept a low profile but were encourage to join them and tuck into some of their Mexican food and have a few drinks with them.

It looked as though they were going to have a late night so after a while we said our goodnights and left them to it.

I’m not sure if we mentioned but Sue owns a large fluffy Persian type cat and Shell, in a softer moment, thought it may get lonely without Sue being there and so invited it into our bedroom to sleep.  Big mistake, it spent the whole night walking round the bed, sitting on our heads and clawing us – nice one Shell!!