Northern Rivers - beachin' (day 1)

It's bittersweet leaving the little guy for 4 days but after a short trip on Rockstar we we're feeling the warmth. The sun is out, the skies are blue, Kelly is hitting her fourth Australian state (Queensland) and turning 31 all at once.

We jump into the rental and wave good bye to the Gold Coast as quickly as we can, heading for the NSW border and a slower pace. We make a quick stop to view the Miamiesque skyline of Surfers Paradise and are more than happy with our decision not to hang around.

We spent the morning checking out the northern NSW coast culminating in a lunch time stop in Byron Bay. Some beautiful beaches and disconcerting warning signs "brown snakes are prevelent in this area" are the highlights. Byron has only gotten bigger and more bustling since I was here in 1998, the beach is still beautiful however and the view from the lighthouse headland spectacular. After a quick bite we headed back north along the coast to find our hotel and for once it lived up to the promise of the brochures. We took a dip in the massive pool and spent some time lounging around and reading (these activities were repeated numerous times over the next three days). We drove to a nearby small town (Kingscliffe) for dinner and ran into the gnarliest looking line of black clouds I have ever seen. By the time we had our food and were in the car the storm had let loose. We had about 5 miles to drive but it was pretty scary with the sky pitch black except when interupted by crazy lighting and thunder all the while it was raining sideways. Glad to be back in the hotel that night.