Coffs Harbour to Brisbane.

 

4th October 2012.

The third night on our round trip from Brisbane to Muswellbrook was spent at a caravan park at Sapphire Beach, just north of Coffs Harbour.

Even though we were literally only a few metres from the beach, my plan to photograph the sun rising over the ocean at Sapphire Beach failed.  The sun was well and truly up before I surfaced.

 

I was looking out for the Golden Dog pub at Glenreagh, just north of Coffs Harbour, to add to my collection of pictures of “Pubs of Australia”.   I needn’t have worried about being vigilant - there wasn’t much chance of missing it.  My “Pubs of Australia” collection increased by 54 on this trip.  Thank you Doug for all your slowing down, stopping and driving around the block or out of your way so I could squirm across from one side of the back seat of the land Rover to the other (over mounds of luggage) to capture that elusive shot.

 

I thought that the golden dog was right up there with the pink wombat outside the Wombat Hotel NSW we’d seen last year.  Except that the golden dog was a lot bigger.

 

Here is Doug and Robyn’s Land Rover and trailer at a rest area near Casino.  We drove from Coffs Harbour to Grafton by the Coast Road (Highway 1), then took the attractively-named Summerland Way, which runs midway between the Coast and New England Highways, through Casino and Kyogle, and in to Queensland through Beaudesert.

 

At the rest area near Casino, we met Margaret.  Five years ago, Margaret, then 73, sold her house, bought a camper van, and has been travelling around Australia ever since.

 

As we left Kyogle, Mount Lindesay loomed up ahead of us.  Mt Lindesay lies on the Queensland - New South Wales border, approximately 140 km south west of Brisbane.  It is one of a number of peaks in the McPherson Range, and is remarkable for its tiered summit, the eroded remnant of lava flows from the nearby Focal Peak shield volcano.

 

We drove around the western side of Mt Lindesay, and near Woodenbong were treated to this spectacular view of it. 

As well as being a stunning-looking mountain (1,177 m), Mount Lindesay also claims the fame of being the site of the first known recreational climbing fatality in Australia.  In 1928, Lyle Vidler fell to his death whilst attempting a solo ascent of what is now known as Vidler's Chimney.