The Battle of the Pacific (revisited)

So we left Byron Bay (adding Wonga Pigeon to the list for that area) and headed back towards Bangalow for access to the Pacific Highway.  For those not in Australia this road has a terrible reputation for both fatalities and slowness (a further comment about this history comes on day 25).  On the way North we didn’t find this to be the case from Sydney to Grafton, nor South into Byron Bay, but had been told the bad stuff – exacerbated by roadworks - now ran from Grafton to Byron Bay. 

Certainly the road South from Bangalow was narrow and quite heavily trafficked.  Getting through Ballina – and our current policy position is that this is a good idea, the place seemed to have no redeeming values (think Batemans Bay shifted North about 800km) – was a pain.  We covered about 70km in the first hour, and given that we had about 600km to travel today that was not good.

Things picked up somewhat after that, although we were surprised at the number of folk who drove 10kph below the limit until they got to a bit of overtaking lane, where they suddenly found an extra 20kph!  A few learner drivers added to the fun, but it is probably good that they learn how to deal with roads like this while under supervision (rather than under a semi-trailer).

Getting close to Grafton a very slow truck was labelled ‘Livestock transport’.  At the speed it was achieving I assumed it was herding snails.  Eventually we got past it and it turned out to be Craig Pigg again!  How interesting that we encountered this guy on both legs of the trip.  Perhaps he has heard that I have a pig located behind my belt and is stalking us??

A bit South of Grafton we came across references to the metropolis of Wooli.  This resonated with Frances because it was the source of some excellent tomatoes we had acquired from a street-side stall in Mullaway.  On this occasion the signs were promoting the Australian Goanna-pulling Championships.  My mind was boggled and still is when delving into the history of goanna pulling!

I have always thought of sugar cane as a Queensland crop.  It was thus a surprise as well as a delight to find it in the Murwillumbah area.  However on this leg of the safari it seemed to extend down pretty close to Grafton.  The town of Broadwater had a mill which dominated the scenery from some distance away. 

 (As the images show it was raining again!)  I was intrigued that, as was the case in Congdon, the mill had a conveyor or such like going across the road – why?

We had a comfort stop in a small town where Rugby League was happening in the park adjacent to the dunny.  Unfortunately I felt a need to keep moving on, so that we got to Topi before dark (after floods etc the prospect of the dirt road and bush track in the last 2km were a tad awesome), rather than watching the game.   I did find it within my plans to stop for a pie in Frederickton – who could resist signs about 50 varieties of meat pie?  - and excellent it was, despite the Marilyn Monroe statue outside the shop.  After a fuel replenishment in Kempsey (where flood evidence was clearly visible on the outskirts of town) and the acquisition of some vegies at a roadside stall we pressed on.  The only additional stop was in Nabaic to buy bread: the folk we asked for directions to the bakery were so helpful that even though the bakery was closed we wanted to spend some money in their village.

Yes, we got to Topi.  In fact we got there about 6:45 hours after leaving Byron, which was pretty good considering that we stopped 4 times en route.  (I think we would easily have made Newcastle in 8 hours (and probably 7:30 if we hadn’t stopped so often), rather than the 9 quoted in Newcastle.

 Yes, the final road and track were fine. 

Yes the venue and setting were as great as we remembered from our previous visit about 2 years ago.  It is nice that they had laid in enough firewood to get things happening and provided a bottle of welcoming wine: a Chardonnay from Great Lakes Winery.

 We have now settled in and have got the TV and set-box communicating with each other.  It is a source of wonder and amazement (well not really – the private sector are involved so there should be no expectation that the end user will be considered) that there is no standard for how these devices function.  Thus every time one comes across a different device or combination of devices the process of getting them to work will be different.  I am sure that no-one would expound ‘read the manuals’ as a solution: they will be written in some unknown language and these days (probably) only be available on the internet anyway!

I have just stuck my head outside and heard nothing except a distant frog.  How wonderful.  It is even quieter than Carwoola.