Lot o’ Driving
OK, I really enjoy driving and have driven across country twice with the family in our own car. I enjoyed the time behind the wheel, making phone calls, spending time with the kids and listening to audio books with everyone. Well, we had our first long car ride from Sydney to Coffs Harbor on our way to Byron Bay. The day started with some calls in the morning and spotting some cool birds from the balcony of the apartment we were staying. I finally brought the camera out with the zoom lens and caught some cool shots of the multicolored birds that I watched every morning. I headed out to pick up the rental van around 7:30 am and finally got back to start packing up around 9:15 am and then the games began!
We left Sydney around 10:30 and the GPS said 6 hours and 3 minutes to our destination, no big deal. Over an hour later it said 5 hours and 28 minutes to our destination. I don’t believe that GPS took into account any traffic and it definitely didn’t take into account the 60 – 80 KPH speed limits in the construction areas along the way. So, with a 45 minutes stop for lunch we arrived in Coffs Harbor around 6:40 PM, about 7.5 hours of driving and I was tired!
We stayed with a family from Encinitas who have a daughter, Kirra, that was in middle school with Drew. Carolan and Tim, Kirra’s parents, offered us an opportunity to stay at their house, which was really nice and generous. We arrived and we immediately sat down for a bbq dinner that Carolan prepared. There were burger and sausage, some coleslaw and more. It was really nice, but I was really tired. That was a lot of driving, and I realized today that driving on the other side of the road makes you focus a lot more energy on driving than I do back at home. The family lives in an amazing beach town and their new home backs up to the state reserve including a number of gorgeous beaches. We went for a walk before dusk and I brought my camera and tripod to take some pictures.
When we got back to the house we talked for a while before turning in for the night. We woke up in the morning and all headed out for breakfast at a local surf club. The food was excellent and the view was amazing. We enjoyed our time with the Buckmaster family and then headed off on our drive north, but first they wanted to take us to a park to see some kangaroos. So, we were off to Moonie Beach Nature Cove to see some of Australia’s national animal.
We started walking around the nature park and saw a number of kangaroos. The first one was just out in an open field and I had my telephoto lens on and got some cool pictures. The next one we saw was between me and the kids and he, or maybe it was a she, started hopping away. Got a couple of cool photos and we all were able to see some kangaroos up close and personal.
After watching the kangaroos it was off for another 3 hours until we got to Suffolk Park, a town just south of Byron Bay. We arrived in about 3.5 hours and entered the rental property and were really happy to see a beautiful home for us to stay in. We all took the bags out of the car and then Ilise and I headed into Byron Bay to go grocery shopping. We bought half the store and headed back for dinner and then some rest. I am really tired and looking forward to going to bed early, so I’m going to call it a night.
To a life well lived!
Larry Kesslin 