After flying back to Brisbane from Sydney I met Claire at Brisbane Airport and we had a night in Annerley before heading down to the Gold Coast for 4 nights. Here we stayed at Ocean Beach Tourist Park at Miami. A great small park right on the beach with bus service right out front door and walking distance to Coles, Aldi etc. It was the most expensive caravan park I have stayed at so far at $62 per night but typical of Gold Coast prices.
The caravan park was right on the main beach and backed onto Gold Coast Highway which was great because we were able to walk out and catch the bus up to Broadbeach and then the tram into Surfers. We did that a couple of days and also caught the tram to Southport before walking back along the Broadwater into Surfers. We did the tourist Aquaduck tour. I had done this years ago and it was good fun and a good way to experience the waterways that are very much a part of the Gold Coast lifestyle.
While at Miami I caught up with a 3rd cousin I had not previously met and was able to add another piece to my family jigsaw puzzle.
After leaving Queensland behind we followed the coast down as far as practical and had lunch on the headland at Byron Bay and drove through Lennox Head and Ballina before spending a couple of nights at Alstonville Showground. From here we spent a weekend at friends at Modanville followed by a couple of nights at friends back in Alstonville.
The next stop was South Grafton for 2 nights at a campground which literally was surrounded by farms and we had cows bellowing for most of the night.
After Grafton we headed to Coffs Harbour to stay with an old family friend at Bucca just north of Coffs Harbour for the weekend before a couple of nights at Sawtell Caravan Park to catch up with a cousin who was on holidays from Victoria.
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