We took a few days after the PDC to just hang out a while, camping at Byron & Tracey's. We did some shopping, washed clothes and were treated to a lovely dinner party the night before we left. Tim (another of Shawn's friends who works at Zaytuna) was back from New Zealand and he and his lovely wife Clare were there with their two boys; Alex of course, and Leslie, the aforementioned "Queen of the Day Trip." There was much eating, drinking and merriment, for a wonderful sendoff. We also went down to the farm for morning tea on Thursday, to say our goodbyes and get more travel advice from Jeff and Nadia. Nadia gave me some henna packets for my hair.
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| Leslie and Shawn |
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| Byron's party shoes |
On Thursday just after noon, we packed all our stuff into Leslie's car (co-owned with Tim and Clare) with all of her stuff. We were planning a few days of camping right off the beach at Brunswick Heads,before taking Leslie to Brisbane to fly back to the states on Sunday. (Leslie planned to stay in a little motel in BH.) It was a very tight squeeze to get our stuff, including the awesome camping gear we inherited from Juan and Tatiana, into the Camry wagon. We had to leave a few things behind, including the nice Oz Trail camp chairs.
We arrived at the Terrace View Caravan Park Thursday afternoon and set up camp. The place was $34 a night, which was a little steep, but the amenities were great. Our site was way down at the end, past blocks of 'mobile homes' (a bit different that the states' version of this) that gave the place a really homey feel. We were across form a bathroom/shower/kitchen facility with an unfortunate TV. (More on that in a bit.) As soon as we set up camp, the rain started in earnest. It hardly let up for 3 days. So the kids in the camp spent a lot of time watching TV...loudly. Especially at 6am. Apparently Saturday morning cartoons are not just a U.S. phenomenon.
The kitchen had a toaster, fridge, and the most amazing instant hot water machine on the wall. I wish every camp kitchen had one of these! We met a lovely couple, who were tenting in the site next door, in the kitchen, and visited with them quite a bit. Bill and Elenor, from Sydney, originally from Scotland 50 years ago. We found out on the last day that they were 80 and 81 years old! And did quite a bit of road tripping and tent camping along the way. Inspirational and entertaining folks indeed! (I will post a pic...)
We spent some time wandering the shops in the nice little beach town of Brunswick Heads, as the campground was right there, steps from the beach and the "downtown." We had a couple of nice meals with Leslie, and with another of Shawn's internship friends, Paul Krieg. Paul is a tall bear of a man, very gruff seeming, but a warm person with a great sense of humor and a wonderful ability to tell a story. Originally from South Africa, he was once a major player in the music industry in S.A. and Australia. He gave Shawn a copy of the "fictionalized" novel he wrote about some of his exploits...he could use a good editor, but it is a good read. (From what Shawn has shared anyway, I have yet to get my hands on it!)
We didn't get as much beach time as we were hoping due to the weather. We decided to stay through Sunday night so we could take Leslie to the airport without worrying about breaking camp and shoving all our stuff into the car as well as hers. I was a bit apprehensive about the return drive from Brisbane, even though Shawn was going to handle the driving part. Something about handling an unfamiliar vehicle in a big city, not sure of the way, and driving on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car...I find stressful.
The drop off went smoothly, we hugged Leslie goodbye and took possession of our new car, well partly-owned anyway, as we had bought out Leslie's share of the sunburnt '96 Camry wagon! Shawn did awesomely driving back to Brunswick Heads. We were even able to take a nice walk on the beach before dark. Tomorrow we set out on our Amazing Australian Roadtrip!
