Zengum's Byron Bay Trip

[ZenGum]

As I think I mentioned, I got fed up with the crappy weather down south and so I shot through to Byron Bay for some sunshine.

The first two days was all driving.

It starts out green (at this time of year) with a few lumpy bits. Wind power provides about 20% of SA's energy.



After a few hours of that, you get into the inland, which doesn't get the southern winter rains, and so it is greyish brown with occasional lumps.



After 1,000 kms I stop for the night, and have more of the same again. Eventually it becomes green and lumpy again. These particular lumps are the Warrumbungles.



Okay, so there are two escort vehicles, then two cops cars, lights on, driving side by side to block the road. I pulled over and was a bit slow getting the camera out.



More to follow.

[ZenGum]

Dodge the truck and you get over the Great Dividing Range onto the east coast.



With the odometer over 2,100 I reached Byron Bay. Here it is from the North, near where I was staying.



Walk a few kms South and you get to town beach. It's still pretty empty because it is early spring.



And here it is looking North along the coast



That pointy lump in the Distance is Mt Warning aka Wollumbin. More of that later.

[ZenGum]

The area is popular with surfers:



which may account for vans like this:



Evening shot of the lighthouse:



Wollumbin again:

[ZenGum]

The tip of Wollumbin is the first place in Australia the Sun touches each day (at least in winter).
Which means doing the hike up (about 9 kms return, maybe 900 vertical metres, altitude 1156 m.) before dawn is awesome.



I seem to remember there were double complete rainbows about at the time, but they didn't show up in the photos.

View to the South:



To the North:



View on the way down.

[Sundae]

Keep it up Zen, it's all gorgeous.
Where I see tree branches poking out of the sand though, my first reaction is to wonder whether they are giant spider legs!

[limey]

Lovely!

[ZenGum]

Stopping for lunch at a nearby town seemed like a good idea. here is the view.



I did a few more things including some hiking, but didn't take photos. There are issues with the battery of my camera, but it is six years old.

Eventually it was time to come home. I began by retracing my steps, but took a more southerly route and spread the drive over three days. That did mean crossing the Hay Plains. Try staring at this picture for about five hours.

[footfootfoot]

Envious.

[glatt]

Great pictures! Australia has mountains. I knew it had hills, but thought it was mostly flat.

I love the surfer van. That paint job is so Australian with the polka dots.

[orthodoc]

Gorgeous! Thanks for posting in detail! The area around Byron Bay is beautiful, but it's all interesting. It would be amazing to see the dawn from the top of Wollumbin. The pic of the Hays Plains made me laugh - it's so similar to what you encounter in North America, whether in Canada or the US, in the plains provinces/states. Not the vegetation exactly, but the hour-after-hour utter flatness and straight road.

Once I finish this residency, a trip to Australia and New Zealand is at/near the top of my to-do list. Can't wait.

[Gravdigr]

Thanks for the pics Zen. Glad you enjoyed your trip. I would love to see the sunrise from atop Wollumbin.

Oh, I lol'd at the Purple Nurple.

[Aliantha]

Zen, I can't believe you were in Byron and didn't get in touch. I would have loved to come down for the drive. It's only an hour or so from here.

We go there all the time when the weather is good. The beaches are great for swimming. The kids love it.

Love the photos though. I'm envious!

glatt, that van is painted in a fairly indigenous design. Maybe not by an indigenous artist, but not sure if anyone local would refer to the dots as polka dots. lol

[xoxoxoBruce]

I'm trying to relate the pictures to the Aussie map, not specifically, just general area. You started from Adelaide, I think, and drove to Mt Warning National Park, in the Brisbane area. Broken Hill or Mildura?

[zippyt]

Cool looking trip Zen ,
Surfer van with dots , shure why not , ive seen WAY Weirder
Cool concept to be were the First sun hits on a New day !!!

[ZenGum]

Heading north:



And back south:



My overnight stops are the green dots. I usually go about three hours between rest/refuel stops.

I can change cassettes while driving, but CDs are a bit too fiddly, so I played through a bunch of old tapes I haven't listened to in years. I had forgotten how much Led Zep IV ROCKS!

ETA sorry about the width.