A day to make progress north. Starting off we potentially targetted just over the border into Queensland. We stopped for a McCafe coffee (not bad) and then drove through to Grafton, the halfway point. Sadly, we reached Grafton just before four which didn't bode well for the second half. Grafton was suffering from bush fire smoke and the valley was a white out -- well, not that bad but it's still a lot of smoke. Grafton doesn't offer much (seemingly) to the weary traveller and even the air-con cafe we were in (to get away from the smell of woodsmoke) they seemed more interested in loudly gossiping than paying attention to us.
Back on the road and we started phoning for accomodation. Starting in the north, no rooms all the way down to [until?] the nearest hostel. Ho hum. As it turns out Lennox Head is very good and we borrow some boogie boards and run over the road to try them out in the miles of surf. Getting over the chill is one thing. Catching a wave is another. There appears to be more skill to it than meets the eye. Sometimes you are pulled along by the turbulence in the foaming crest, other times you are left high and dry (a poor metaphor).
On the way in we'd seen a cafe on the waterfront that looked good so we walked back to it. An almost clear starry sky but still very warm. The 7 Mile Cafe was a fine choice, officially squeezing in just before they closed the kitchen (at 9ish) they served very good food at standard Aussie prices (AU$19 and AU$24 for the mains) and for the very rich wine connoisseur they have a several page cellar list -- unafraid to charge you over AU$200 for some, we stuck to the beer. My Coopers Sparkling Ale was a secondary fermentation jobbie and no excess of bubbles. Someone in Coopers needs to review their descriptive names.
Lennox Head YHA S28.78651 E153.59259 Elev. -3!
Copyright 2003 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.