Oct 2 - Byron Bay and back to Brisbane

If the Big 4 Caravan Parks had been the Hilton, then the Beaches at Byron Bay was the Holiday Inn. This last camp site would indeed be memorable in our minds, but for all of the wrong reasons. Having started with our brush with the brush the night prior, we awoke to the fact that we were indeed feet from the faces of our fellow sleeping, snoring, and in the case of the mothers beside us, screaming campers. My personal "hate on" for public toilets would continue with the foul state of the mens washroom where I became a recent convert to the paper-on-the-seat-first philosophy.

The best thing about this site was the proximity to a gorgeous beach only a ten minute walk away. Once again, Linton and Colin did the early exploring while Alex and I had our morning coffees. Upon futher review it was decided that we should all travel down to the water to have a look, though this was definitely not first on Allie's to do list. It was a beautiful walk in spite of the sobbing and once we were on the beach the sights and sand took over and we were all able to relax for a moment or two - simply soaking it all up.

Unfortunately, as far as I was concerned, it was a fleeting moment. Of course, the boys wanted to go swimming and being the total nervous ned that I am I was freaked out by the size of the surf. There were boys playing down the beach who seemed fine and yet I could not get that niggling feeling out of my head that this was not a safe place to swim. So after about ten nail biting minutes I promptly yanked the boys out of the water, declared the beach unsafe, and insisted we all go back to the camp site. Seriously, I did. Needless to say this was a tad off-putting for the three other members of the family - Alex again having the worst time of it. Eventually, we re-grouped back at the camper and made a plan to head to town to find calmer waters and hopefully a calmer daddy!

We were able to find a parking spot right off the main beach and headed down to see if the surf was to dad's liking. It was great(phew!)with awesome views and fun waves and we spent an hour or so building sand sharks, boogie boarding, and soaking up the scene. Soon the need for some retail therapy dragged us off the beach and up into the many cool shops and bistros lining the main drag to see if we needed anything they were selling. Linton and Colin poked around the Rip Curl and Billabong surf shops while Alex and James wandered through the milk bars and bookstores. A great black and white photograph of the Byron Bay surf for our wall in TO was the highlight of the trip. We couldn't seem to convince the boys that we needed to stop for a cool beverage and a basket of fries on one of the many cool patios that dot downtown Byron Bay and so we headed back to camp. Because we were returning the camper in the morning, tonight's menu would be a clean-out-the-fridge dinner including microwaveable cheeseburgers, Doritos, leftover Chinese food,and pasta. Yum!!!

We awoke early, not because of indigestion but with a million things to do, not the least of which was to somehow drop the camper off at the Apollo rental outlet on the far side of Brisbane by 11:00 am. Things went smoothly until James needed to complete the final "swish" of the onboard commode and we spent half an hour simply trying to find the right pipe to flush it down. Finally on the road, we raced (not quite) toward Brisbane needing two gas stops, a successful negotiation of the toll bridge, rush hour traffic, and a couple of fairly useless maps to all go in our favour in order to make the connection - and they did! With nary a cross word between us! Even better was the fact that we were going to receive our deposit back despite the small matter of the cracked tap in the shower. We heaved a collective sigh of relief. We had managed to travel 2300kms safely arriving at our destination with ourselves and the damage deposit all in one piece! After waving goodbye to our winnebago, we had just 20 minutes to get to the airport to catch a reserved shuttle. And so one more stressful connection, a cab ride to the airport, saw Linton and the kids smothered in luggage. And then, finally, we were there, waiting breathlessly for someone else to wisk us away for 36 hours of real relaxation - back over the toll bridge -at Seaworld.