Hunter Valley to Byron Bay

As we headed out of The Hunter we went by the site of the bush fire the day before. It was crazy, it was hard to even pick out, fires here are definitely very different than back home.

We stopped by Kurri Kurri (about 20 miles out of Pokolbin where we were staying in the Hunter). One of our wine servers the day before was from Kurri Kurri and was talking about how nice it was and our tour guide was talking about the really neat mural around town. We thought we would give it a go. We had breakfast and drove around the town and snapped some pics.

It is crazy to think that here we are in the bush and in the rural bush, and yet there are McDonalds…

Another example of how blunt Australia is with their road signs

Stopped to see The Big Axe (I read about this in Bill Brassens Book Sunburned Nation) there are large things on the side of the road just for fun really and to get tourist to stop. This was an ax and coming up later was going to be a big Banana! I think the big Banana even was mentioned in his book.

While we were taking a break and admiring the axe, we saw an advertisement for some of the attractions in the area. We were bummed to see this beautiful Camden Haven, but we just did not have the time. So we zoomed in and took a picture of the sign and thought next time

We did however look at some up coming towns and looked in the Lonely Planet Book and decided to have lunch in Nambucca Heads NSW Australia.

Along the water is the V-Wall which is filled with painted rocks. It was the #1 attraction in the town and it had mixed reviews. Some liked the rocks, some think they are tacky.

We had lunch an the perfect place. It was right on the water, we could walk afterwards and the food was excellent – Wharf Street Cafe

Something really neat that happened before lunch was I pulled up my reports using my hot spot and saw that I had made goal that day!! Being so excited I had to grab a glass of bubbles at lunch….

We were back on the road…not going to lie, it was starting to drag a little

HERE IS THE BUG BANANA! No time to stop

My first Kangaroo Crossing sign I could capture

I still cannot believe this is for real!! they are around the trees that koala bears eat from. They are actually pretty endangered as the trees that koala’s eat are only in some areas and those areas are being developed.

we FINALLY got to Byron Bay and enjoyed a glass of wine from The Hunter on our balcony. I remember we had a hard time finding a room in Byron but got a water front Motel that we were a little worried about – but it ended up being great. Bay Hotel

We were right by the beach and we could hear live music from down below (we were in the heart of the city) We then headed out to highly recommend restaurant: St. Elmo Dining Room & Bar to celebrate GOAL ACHIEVEMENT