Graham and Edith 2012 Trip: Day 161 - 162 September 21 - 22

Friday - drove to Ballina. It has been strange the last few days we have actually been driving on Motorways instead freeways. Don't know that I like all the traffic but it certainly makes getting from A to B a bit easier. We did want to drive down the coast road to Ballina - it didn't quite turn out as we had planned. We are staying at the Ballina Central Holiday Park - it is a Big4 but very basic. No pool or playground but it is okay for us. We are now in school holidays so it is hard to get on parks in some places. We had a walk into the town in the afternoon and were surprised just how big it is. When we got back to the van we had an almighty thunder storm but it only lasted about 20 minutes. We watched the footy (Swans and Collingwood) - of course Graham was very pleased when they won. We were receiving text messages throughout the game from Laura, Colin and David. Laura is very excited that the Swans are in the finals.

Saturday - we had a big day. We went to Cape Byron. We drove up to the Lighthouse and paid our $7 to park for an hour. The lighthouse stands 22 metres high and is 94 metres above sea level. It was built in 1901 from pre-cast concrete blocks. Looking over the edge was incredible with coastline and beaches as far as the eye could see. There were whales everywhere must have been at least 20 if not more. Whilst we were sitting having a cuppa at the top we were talking to a lady from Byron Bay when she spotted a snake slithering across the grass. There was a tourist (yes a Japanese man) trying to get close to get a photograph - she told him to get back as it was dangerous. We got one of the rangers and she just cleared the area of tourists and let the snake make its way back over the edge. They then put out a sign that a snake had been seen in the area. It was a 3 foot long baby brown snake. We then walked down the path that leads to the most eastern point of Australia. After we had finished here we had a drive around Byron Bay. We drove back to Ballina via the coast and called into Lennox Heads where we had our lunch. What a beautiful spot - once again miles of coastline and beautiful beaches.