Valley of contrasts

Hello All—

It has been a couple of days since my last post and you all have my sincerest apologies.  We have been doing a lot here and, at the end of the day, I’m not always up for a post.  I’ll try to make amends today with a lot of detail about what we’ve seen and done.

We have been splitting up the last couple of days and Tuesday Austin, Jacq and me headed south out of Bribie Island toward Lismore.  It’s a scenic drive that runs through some world famous beaches with names like Broken Head, Lennox Head, Byron Bay, Ballina, Surfers Paradise and Shelley.  The scenery is nothing short of spectacular.  There are rolling hills that rise 1,500 feet or so in the air and then run right down to the sea.  One beach, Shelley, has golden sand with several flat, rounded rocks on the shore.  The rocks are small and the surf is large, about 6 feet, and the rocks are broken off from the basalt formations that form the ledge where the large Pacific rollers turn into a surfers dream.  The rocks get tumbled and rounded just like the rocks in a mountain stream.  Lunch was had on the beach at Shelley and consisted of a tradition burger with the lot.  That is Australian for a burger with the lot, translation: Pineapple, lettuce, onion, beets, bacon, egg, cheese tomato, mayonnaise, mustard and tomato sauce (ketchup).  Quite tasty, and an argument can be made that it is the best burger in the world. 

  I will have to travel the world in an attempt to verify.  Now back to the landscape, there are basalt formations in the beach itself and they have pools built into them.  The water is changed twice a day with the changing tides. 

At Byron bay, there are two headlands that protect a crescent of golden sand with very mild and predictable surf.  We saw one youngster who couldn’t have been more than 10 years old surfing and surfing well.  He could get up and ride the wave all the way to the beach.  We climbed the headland and looked out toward a rock formation in the bay.  Julian’s Rock is probably 3 miles off-shore and boasts great diving and snorkeling opportunities.  It also boasts a good number of shark attacks.  We didn’t find out firsthand about either one.

 Further down the road was Ballina where the Richmond River joins the Pacific.  It was a first for me to see that kind of estuary.  In the southeast US, the rivers join the sea through a series of marshes and bays.  A very slow and sedate melding of waters fresh and salt.  Here was a very different story.  There are two rock jetties that protect the mouth of the river so that trawlers and other boats can leave the inland marinas.  However, the journey is not for the faint of heart.  The same rollers that were creating 6 foot surf at Shelley, create 7-10 foot surf that breaks dramatically on the jetties.  The tide is pushing hard enough against the downstream flow from the river that surf breaks in the middle of the river.  We were able to see about 20 surfers (crazy) riding waves along the jetty and the river’s mouth.  And guess what?  The area is known for its shark attacks.  We have some photos of the area but, like the pictures of the Harbour Bridge, they really don’t convey the size of everything.  It was all very dramatic.  The water color was so very clear and changed from a crystal blue color to more jewel tones as we made our way done the coast line. Watching the surfers carve their way through some of the large waves was really impressive.

From the beaches at Ballina, we headed into the town of Ballina.  First stop was Shaws Bay which is a small bay off of the entrance to the Richmond River.  Again the water is changed twice a day when the tide comes in to the bay.  Along the side is Shaws Bay Hotel which was owned at one time by Eddie and Jan Edstein.  We hoisted a pint in their honor while at the bar.  Well, I hoisted a pint of XXXX, Jacq hoisted Lemon, Lime and Bitters and Austin hoisted a lemonade (Sprite).  From the hotel, it was off to downtown Ballina where Jacq grew up and went to school.  We got to see her high school, town park/swimming pool and other local attractions that were very nice to see.  Now some of the stories that she has been telling me make sense having seen the “scene of the crime” so to speak. 

From Ballina we travelled a bit inland to take the back roads into Alstonville (pronounced Austinville) to see another town where Jacq spent some of her misspent youth.  The roads up to Alstonville were small, twisty and beautiful.  There was a bit of trepidation on crossing the one lane wooden bridges that had boards sticking up, but we made it none the less.  There are several farms on the way into town that grow everything tropical, sugarcane, guava, avocados, pineapple and macadamia nuts.  One of the farms is the former residence of the Edstein clan where they raised Clydesdales and other live stock.  The farm is still there (a little smaller, 40 acres down to 10 acres) and for sale for the sum of A$850,000 or so.  Just make an offer.  The hills are rolling all around the farm with lots of green pastures and the occasional tree.  The neighboring farms are growing some type of fruit because all of the trees are covered by black netting to keep out the fruit bats.  Which, by the way, are about 3 feet from wing tip to wing tip. 

The farm led into downtown Alstonville.  It is situated in top of a bluff and has commanding views of the Pacific Ocean.  The house that the Edsteins’ owned after the farm was one of the ones with a great view of the pacific.  The steeply rolling terrain gave way several hundred feet from the back door so that when they were on the back porch, they could see the rolling farmland, the beach and the ocean.  Quite a view!  The town of Alstonville is quaint with a small main street forming the commercial district.  There were a couple of “odds and sods” shops and the necessary parts of any town in Australia, the pub.

In all of the towns we have visited one thing they have in common is the RSL club in it is sort of like a one stop shop for veterans and the general public who purchase memberships (veterans are free).  The vets can socialize, gamble, drink and take care of whatever business they may have with the government.  The members of the public are limited to socializing, drinking and gambling.  Food is served and entertainment acts are brought in.  Of course pubs in Australia are true English style pubs and serve the same purpose as the pubs in England.  Everyone has their “local” (where they always go) where they go for a “shout” (round of drink) after work.  It is a very open, light and airy place not at all like a of the halls back home. Also they have Golf clubs, lawn bowls clubs, all where people meet and greet to socialize.

After Alstonville, we headed back toward Bribie and decided that dinner would be had in Surfers Paradise, otherwise known as Surfers.  Where Ballina, Lennox, Broken Head and Byron were quaint, small typical surfer towns.  They really are like the stereotype, lots of VW and Toyota microbuses with the “come as you are” clothing and, I suspect, lots of “herbal lifestyle choices” being made.  Surfers was the exact opposite of that.  The surf is spectacular and, as the name implies, it is really good for surfing.  However, the city (definitely not a town) is anything but small and quaint.  It is populated by high rises and international restaurants.  Bright lights and big sounds.  If you want it, it can be had in Surfers.  As a matter of fact, we walked past a building that billed itself as the tallest residential apartment building in the world.  332 meters high with 11 elevators.  And this building was not more than 2 blocks from the beach.  There was the Chinese restaurant that was filled with nothing but Chinese.  We dined at a Thai restaurant that was delicious.  All of the restaurants were inside/outside dinning with patrons sitting on the sidewalk and the restaurant itself having the entire front open to the sidewalk.  A very big city, international experience that was not more than 1 hour 30 minutes from the rural vistas of Alstonville.

We drove back to Bribie on the M1 from Surfers since it was late and we had already seen the sights along the beach.  On the drive we enjoyed the ever so efficient Queensland Roads and Transport Administration (RTA) system of motorways.  In Australia, there is liberal use of speed and red light cameras.  Ordinarily, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.  Everyone drives the speed limit or a ticket shows up in the mail a couple of weeks later.  But, the Queensland RTA decided that the night we were driving back to Bribie, they needed to change the lights along the motorway.  The M1.  The main drag up and down the East coast of Australia.  So, in true efficient fashion, the changeable speed limit signs had all been changed to 60.  60 kmph  Which translates into roughly 35 miles per hour.  On an 8 lane motorway.  Since the Aussies are so efficient, we noted no more than 6 guys standing around watching each other standing around.  But the 60 kmph signs were everywhere, along with big brother and his pen.  I’m a police officer and I think that the whole camera