We liked Brisbane from the start, it had a good feel to it. We arrived late on a Friday afternoon and the CBD was bustling and vibrant with the end of the week, happy feel from the young professionals flocking to the streets!

We stayed in the heart of the city at the Sheraton Four Points and were upgraded to a high floor, and, finally some decent internet!  The afternoon was clear, sunny and we had a great view of the skyline and river.

This was the last evening with our friends from Sarasota.  We ate at a great Japanese restaurant Izakaya Kotobuki close to the hotel.   Ordering at the table with an iPad … Dangerous!  And the food comes quickly!  With the iPad it is easy to order and order…and order.  With my usual unending sushi appetite this served us well!

We ran a few errands after saying our goodbyes and leaving Mary and Dave at the airport early Saturday morning for their long trek back to Sarasota.  It was a sunny afternoon and we enjoyed a walk along the Brisbane river front and city botanical garden.

Still recovering from our fast paced trip the prior two weeks from Cairns to Brisbane (see that post here ….), we ate at a nearby Korean BBQ for dinner, Maru Korean BBQ.  The raw food is brought to your table and you cook the food yourself at a table top grill.  Kinda like cooking at home, but not quite.

 

After hitting the hotel gym, we spent the day touring Brisbane.  We started by catching the public transport “hop on hop off free ferry” at the Eddy Creek Wharf.  The river here is used as an effective means of transport around the city!

 

The ferry took us to the South Bank which is a lively busy site with folks hanging out, enjoying the great weather, sunning, beaching, eating, drinking, listening to music, riding the Ferris wheel, dancing…you name it!  In the evening we reconnected with some mates we met on our Fraser Island trip and had a great dinner.  Terrance and Dily were gracious hosts, picked us up at our hotel and took us to a Sri Lankan restaurant to treat us to some of their native homeland food!  Outstanding company as well as the tour they provided of Brisbane’s Kangaroo Point, and the city lights. We hope to catch up with these great people again!

 

Monday morning comes, we check out of the hotel and back on the road again.  The first stop on our journey to Sydney is Australia’s Gold Coast.  On the way out of Brisbane we stopped at the Botanic Garden’s Mt. Coota for a great view of the city.  A short drive down the coast from Brisbane and we are in Gold Coast! 
We had a terrific lunch at the Barefoot Barista in Palm Beach.  They have a great menu with some relatively healthy food.  We had a couple of salads including the “Quinoa & charred corn tabbouleh with Meredith goat cheese, avocado on toasted organic sourdough”.  After lunch we drove through the skyscraper laden Gold Coast, which reminds us the most of Fort Lauderdale and the east coast of Florida.

In the afternoon we checked into our Airbnb place in Tugun for the next three nights…a nice one bedroom, close to the small town’s central area.  Tugun is about 6,000 people and considered a beachside suburb of the Gold Coast.  We walked down to the town center for a good dinner Kahini Indian Restaurant.  We enjoyed our conversation with Swaraj and took some great notes for visiting India at some point!

For our first full day in the Gold Coast area we decided to walk the beach and esplanade from Tugun to Coolangatta, a 10km plus round trip walk!  The town of Coolangatta does remind us more of Sarasota just as our friends Dave and Ildi have described.  The walk in the business area and nearby condos remind us of the shops and area at St. Armand’s Circle and condos in the Sarasota area.  There is a lot of development of new high rises and multi-unit complexes occurring.

We enjoyed a great lunch at the Coolangatta Surf Club where we became members for a day :).  I had the Caesar salad with Tasmanian Salmon, Tracey had grilled sea trout.  We shared some bacon wrapped scallops washed down by Australian Chardonnays…all with a beautiful seaside view!  Nearly each coastal town in Australia seems to have their surf and lifesaving clubs which are often great places to have a meal because of the views and decent food!

On the walk back to Tugun along the beach we began spotting Humpback Whales!  Heaps of them, just off the beach and beyond the shark nets.  Yes, shark nets.  Shark nets are commonly used along beaches to prevent sharks from nearing the beach.  Controversial and debatable as to their effectiveness, they often snag and drown the wrong sea life, dolphins, turtles and yes, including whales.  There are rescue procedures to follow if, unfortunately, a whale is thought to be tangled because they will likely not survive.  Anyway, this does prevent the whales from getting too close to the beach.

On our second day in the area we made a drive to Natural Bridge in Springbrook National Park.  This was a beautiful drive into the mountains and a short walk to the “bridge”.  The natural bridge has been carved by the water over the millions of years and features water pouring through the bridge and into a cave below…an absolutely beautiful formation!

 

We headed back to the Coral Sea with stops at Elephant Rock and then Burleigh Heads.  The Heads, renowned for its surf break were filled with young surfers (and a few older) as the daylight started to wane.  The Heads are a great place to walk along the sea or a bit higher up into the Heads.  The Heads were formed between 20 and 23 million years ago from molten lava due to numerous eruptions of Mount Warning.

We had a great evening and Greek dinner in Coolangatta at George’s Paragon , enjoying the souvlaki, lamb filets, saganaki and seafood chowder!  All topped off by a Salted Carmel and chocolate topped honeycomb gelato!

Woolgoolga

Off today to new adventures as we head south on the coast from Tugun down the Gold Coast highway to Woolgoolga.  Byron Bay is the first stop just about an hour south of Tugun.

This is a popular spot for seeing the Byron Bay lighthouse which is the location off the easternmost spot on Australia’s mainland.  It is also a popular spot to view the migrating whales from July to October and we saw some off the shore here as well.

After a lunch of fish tacos and seafood linguine at the Roadhouse in Byron Bay, we continued on to Woolgoolga to check into our Airbnb accommodations for the next few nights.  Woolgoolga is a great central spot to stay and enjoy so much of what this area has to offer.

I had the good “Thursday Schnitty Night Special” meal at the Seaview Tavern.  The place was packed for the special…so good and so good for you, a wholesome chicken schnitzel dinner!  We had a cold beer for a nightcap and an alcohol driven conversation with a group of construction workers (working on the construction and expansion of the multi-lane coastal highway).  It was Thursday night and I think they were getting started on the weekend early.  The next morning, after a good night’s sleeps and brekkie, we headed to the Woolgoolga Point.  Here we parked ourselves on a bench with an ocean view and saw heaps of migrating Humpback Whales!  Tis the season!  Also in this area there are many shipwrecks including a very old one on the nearby beach.

Just down the road from our accommodations are the subtropical rainforests and Woolgoolga Creek falls.  The day was getting late but the clear weather made for a beautiful 5k return walk to the falls.  Just as we were about to start the walk we heard rustling in the bush.  We thought it was some hikers coming down a hill.  It turned out to be a lace monitor, probably about one meter in length. His movements were not very discreet.  He would be easy prey for the next monster up on the food chain…humans.  This subtropical rainforest area was plentiful in white eucalyptus trees and several streams to cross.  The noisy kookaburra birds were at it, as well!

 

We have met some absolutely wonderful people on our 10-month travel trek to date.  Our Airbnb host and her family were terrific!  We enjoyed a couple hour cocktail “hour” with our host Anna and her daughter Mel.   We talked right through dinner and ended up doing a local carryout pizza…any excuse to eat pizza works for me! The next morning Anna provided us with a local paper on the porch and a long list of area “to dos”.  We started the day with brekkie of course and the headed south to a lookout over Coffs Harbour.

From the lookout we drove out to the Jetty Bridge that connects to Muttonbird Island at Coffs Harbour.  The footbridge/jetty is under repair so we could not go to the island for this walk.  We did watch a commercial fishing boat unloading, so we bought some local seafood for dinner

We drove down to Sawtell and the lookout there!  Again, more magnificent beach with Murray Beach to the south and a few back toward Coffs Harbour to the north.  We didn’t spot any whales today, but did see a few porpoises.  Again, so many beautiful beaches and so few people!

On Sunday we continued to work Anna’s great list.  We explored Dorrigo National Park, the lookout and part of the “Waterfall drive”.  The area is rainforest with a volcanic origin and teems with flora and fauna.  We were able to hike to a few outstanding waterfalls and drove by several others.  There are over a dozen major waterfalls in the area!

Our last evening, we dined at the Indian restaurant in town owned by the Sikhs.  The town is home to one of the largest Sikh temples in Australia.  Dinner was excellent and we enjoyed talking to a group of ladies that had just finished a Dragon Boat Race.  One of them was new to the sport.  Our hometown of Sarasota Florida has held these events at Benderson Park.  Maybe we will get into the sport when we land back in Sarasota!

Tinonee

We drove on down the coast passing through Port Macquaire where we made a stop at Finians Irish pub for a quick lunch.  Late afternoon we arrived at our place in Tinonee  on ten acres for three nights.   At one point it was a bit more bustling town as it was the point of a Manning River crossing over to Taree that was a major commercial hub on the river.

It was a rainy visit here with a few breaks.  The area was “out in the country” with not much around (population around 700)…a bit of pasture land and a few houses.  The stay was through Airbnb and the owners were away.  We stayed in a guest portion of their home.  Their land was 10-acres filled with fruit trees, pasture, two horses, chickens and many types of beautiful birds and parrots…king parrots, rainbow lorikeets, rose-breasted cockatoo and kookaburra.

The rain did stop one day for a walk along the coast and through some bush at Booti Booti National Park, including Seven Mile Beach and Lake Willis.  We cooked in both nights since we had a full kitchen, and one night drove into the nearby town Taree and had our fix of Indian food at Jashan…excellent! We woke to a beautiful sunny morning.  That morning, we were able to meet our great Airbnb hosts who walked us around their property.

Belmont, Lake Macquarie and Newcastle

We headed south to our destination for the next three nights, the town of Belmont.  Belmont is just south of Newcastle on Lake Macquarie.  We arrived early so we stopped for a great light lunch at the Cafe Macquarie.  That night, we went to the local boating club for a drink and to hear a bit of live music.

The next morning, we drove over to Caves Beach near Belmont. It was mostly sunny and the views and scenery were spectacular!  Caves Beach, surprisingly, lol, is named for the many sea caves lining the cliffs and rocky coastline to the south.  To the north is a beautiful stretch of white beach.  The surf was up as well as a few surfers braving the barrels and cooler water!

 

We took a drive around Lake Macquarie.  Lake Macquarie is the largest permanent salt water lake in the southern hemisphere, more than twice the size of Sydney Harbor.   It is about 15 miles long, and connected to the Tasman Sea by a channel (seems to be more of a bay to me).  We drove through Warner’s Bay and over to Wangi Wangi Point where we had sunny short hike and a great lunch on the deck at the Wangi Deck Café.  It was good to see the sun after quite a rainy week we have had from Tinonee to Belmont.

We decided to make a stop at Newcastle after lunch. We drove through a neighborhood just west of the CBD, and then to the waterfront.  We were impressed by the architecture and the town.  There seems to have been a bit of revitalization occurring in Newcastle.

The waterfront was beautiful, including the Newcastle Ocean Baths, Nobby Point, and Fort Scratchley!  The Ocean Baths have a long history as a gathering point in Newcastle and are sourced with Ocean water.  Fort Scratchley was built in 1882 to defend against a possible Russian attack.  However, it’s guns were not used until WWII when firing upon a Japanese sub!

Australia’s Blue Mountains!

Our final stop before our month in Sydney is the Blue Mountains.  As we enter the mountains we stop for lunch in Leura and then a great short walk to the Leura Falls.  Our first glimpse of the canyons from these absolutely spectacular falls is impressive.  The Blue Mountains and canyons are not as deep or long as the Grand Canyon, but impressive in their own right. For the most part, they are lush and forested, rainforest, in contrast to the Grand Canyon. They have many streams and impressive waterfalls.

We stayed four nights at the Avonleigh Country House in Katoomba.  It is one of the oldest houses in the area built in 1916 with nice rooms, common areas and great hosts. This was a good location and comfortable spot for exploring the area.  After checking in, we took the short walk to the end of our street for our first spectacular view of the “Three Sisters”, an enormous rock formation shaped from many years of erosion.

We spent most of the evening with some new found friends, Lori and Swede at the local Irish bar, the Harp and Fiddle.  Lori and Swede, up in the Blue Mountains for a long weekend,  are Americans working in Australia and living in Sydney.  We all closed the Irish bar, at 10:30!   But we still managed to enjoy a few pints, so it did make for a bit of a late morning the following day.  We met Lori and Swede for a late brekkie the next morning before a 7-mile hike that commenced at 11:56 am!  Ha, out before noon!  The hike was outstanding, infamously known as having 900 steps.  We chose the direction whereby you took the steps “down” versus up…this did help some!  There was a view of Three Sisters at every turn offering outstanding perspectives.  We also saw magnificent Katoomaba Falls from every angle!

Our excursion with Lori and Swede continued with drinks and dinner at the Old City Bank Brasserie where we met some great Aussie mates, Dave and Christine.  Dave is a jack of all trades, a former sheriff and milkman.  Dave was scheduled for knee surgery but was doing quite a bit of dancing to Elvis as we revisited the Harp and Fiddle Irish bar!  Dave and Christine have good friends in northern Kentucky, just outside of Cincinnati, and had even been to Lexington’s beautiful Keeneland horse track!  The long day, or night, continued…into the next day!  After the Irish bar closed at midnight, we went to the Family Hotel which ironically stayed open until 2 am…love the family places!  Finally, we said our goodbyes to our newly met mates and made plans to see them while in Sydney.
Needless to say, we had another slow morning.  The day was cloudy and drizzly, so we spent it relaxing at our place followed by a great dinner at Sanwiye Korean Café.  The rain subsided the next day that allowed us to take the one-hour return hike to the nearby Wentworth Falls.  These falls are beautiful and should not be missed!

 

We took the scenic route back to Sydney and wow are we glad we did!  We headed west of Katoomba and stopped at a few lookouts.  The first stop was Evans Lookout and Valley View…a spectacular expansive canyon before us.  We also saw some yellow-tailed black cockatoos hanging out in the trees.

A short drive further to the west was Govett’s Leap lookout.  More spectacular World Heritage Grose Valley canyon views, with a couple of long waterfalls streaming down the canyon walls.  Apparently this is one of the most famous lookouts in Australia.  We took the 1.5km return hike to the Bridal Veil Falls. Which was about a 40-minute return.

We journeyed on across the Darling Causeway to Bell (not much there!) and then a beautiful drive to Mount Wilson.  Not much at Mount Wilson but a few nice homesteads and twisted gum tree roads.  The roads and trees were both twisted!

We made a short trip on an unsealed road to Mount Banks for a different perspective of the magnificent canyon scenery.  Then on to Bilpin where we stopped at the Bilpin Afire Cafe for a wood-fired pizza.

That was our last stop before our 90-minute drive on into our Sydney home for the month of September!  I know I have said this before, but this drive from Brisbane and the Blue Mountains exceeded expectations!

And a few more pics from this wonderful journey…