On Saturday morning Susan and I took Alfie to New Brighton beach for a walk before we had coffee and a cake (Date and Walnut) at The Salty Mangrove. Then it was across the road to the park for a play on the swings and in the tunnel.

Painted onto the pavement nearby was a message from Bryon Shire council informing residents of a new ban to protect wildlife and waterways.

Mike and Rachel returned around midday. We spent a happy couple of hours building Mike’s new Weber Q3200N+ gas BBQ.

On Friday night Mike and Rachel spent the night away in Byron Bay. Susan and I were Alfie’s babysitters from late afternoon, soon after Mike got back from work.

But before that we spent the morning in Byron Bay, walking from the Captain Cook Lookout and Picnic Area to Wategos Beach. On the way we spotted a koala, high up in the trees. It wasn’t doing much.

At Wategos Beach we got some coffee from the Soul Kitchen Cafe near Raes. Then, while Rachel went to collect the car, we attempted to keep Alfie happy by going to the beach to watch the kayakers, swimmers and surfers. On her return she pointed out the dolphins, which soon started surfing really close to the beach and the bathers.

Later that day, after Alfie had had his afternoon nap, we took him to Torakina Beach at Brunswick Heads then to the Hotel Brunswick, so that Alfie could play on the slide and I could have a beer.

Alfie wrote a message to his mum. It was quickly washed away into the sea.

On the Tuesday, Rachel had an appointment at Tweed Valley Hospital. After dropping Alfie at day care we went with her to discover more about the local area. We breakfasted at the Choux Box, Kingscliff before taking a stroll on the beach.

Se Bliss

The surf was still very foamy from the storm. We could see that a lot of the sand had been moved, some of it up the beach, covering the access steps down to the sand but a lot more washed away by the storm surge.

Having picked up Rachel we returned to Ocean Shores and were shown the different access points to the nearby beaches and the cafes at South Golden Beach and New Brighton. Then we went to Coles to attempt to buy some groceries. This was the first day it was open after the storm. Many of the shelves were empty.

Later, after collecting Alfie from day care we visited The Farm, for a walk and for Alfie to play on the slide.

A couple of days later than planned we arrived at Brisbane Domestic Airport early on Monday morning. As expected it was bucketing it down with rain, but we were undercover for most of the walk to the Air Train.

Unfortunately, the Air Train had a rather limited service. We couldn’t get to Varsity Lakes, which was where Rachel had hoped to pick us up. All the trains were in the wrong place due to tropical storm Alfred. The best we could do was still somewhere in Brisbane. We returned to the arrivals to get breakfast, and plan a different mode of transport. Eventually, after an aborted attempt to find a shuttle bus operated by Con-X-ion, we plumped for a Greyhound coach to Surfers Paradise. It was there that we met Rachel and Alfie who drove us to Ocean Shores, NSW.

On arrival at Orana Road we settled in and I started tidying up Alfie’s toys. There were several missing pieces of the floor jigsaw that went with the Jungle blocks toy so we used some of the magnets from another toy to complete the puzzle.

That evening we went to the Billinudgel Hotel for a couple of beers then back home for supper.

On the Sunday we checked out and headed off to the South Western corner of Australia on our tour of tourist spots in and around the Margaret River region.

Next on our itinerary, provided by the receptionist at our hotel, was the Margaret River Mouth Viewpoint. I was told by the duty Surf Life Saver, who came from Cornwall, that the surf was approx 2.5 metres that day.

At this time of year the river doesn’t seem to flow into the sea. There’s a big sand dune between the surf and the calm waters of the river mouth.

Next stop was Hamelin Bay Beach, where we didn’t quite see any manta rays but did watch a couple by the shore who had spotted one. Back at the car park I unloaded a couple of beers, that we wouldn’t be able to take on the plane, to an Aussie and his Dutch pal who said “This is the first beer I’ve had in Australia”.

We continued along Caves Road through Augusta all the way to the South Western most point of Australia at Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. It’s neither the most southerly part of Oz, nor the most westerly, but it is where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean.

After a tour of the museum, in one of the keeper’s cottages, and a walk round the outside of the lighthouse we picked up a coffee and sausage roll and started the 4 hour drive back to Perth Airport.

On arrival at Perth domestic airport we had trouble finding both an open petrol station, to refuel, and the car rental return. Google maps took us right up to the airport terminal, not to the drop off point. When we eventually found it we were given directions to a gas station which was open. Refuelling there would be a lot cheaper; Budget charge $5 a litre, which is a lot more expensive than unleaded 91 at less then 2 dollars.

Our return journey to the Car rental was no better than before. The signs to the car rental drop off point peter out just where you need them. We were in good time for our flight – the red eye to Brisbane – but still managed to get a little bothered. Consequently, we got a phone call as we reached check in. It seems we’d forgotten to leave the car keys!

Next stop, Brisbane.

Tropical storm Alfred, which was declassified from a category 2 cyclone, arrived at Brisbane about the time we were supposed to fly in from Perth. Quantas had rescheduled our flight to Sunday night, so we had an extra 36 hours or so to spend in WA. We decided that, rather than stay in Perth, we’d hire a car and take a trip down to the Margaret River region in South Western Australia.

We took the train to Perth Airport where we picked up our Toyota Corolla hire car from Budget, in the Hertz office. Our plan was to take two days and one night to do the equivalent of the tourist trips to the Margaret River region.

We needed a bit of assistance to connect my iPhone to the car’s system, so that we could use Google Maps, and had to buy a new USB C to lightning cable to keep my phone charged. But soon were were on our way, to Busselton. We took the slightly more scenic route and eventually found a general store / cafe to get a late breakfast; somewhere near Pinjarra. On the way Susan kept her eyes open for any launderette that would be open on Sunday afternoon / evening.

When we arrived at Busselton there was a beach volleyball tournament in progress. Since we weren’t on the coach trip we had time to walk to the end of the jetty and back. On our return we grabbed a coffee and cake and watched the volleyball for a while. Then we headed off to our motel in Margaret River – the name of both the town and the river.

When we checked in we discovered that the motel had a laundry room. We got change for the washer ( $5 ) and tumble drier ( $1 a go ) from the reception, where we also were given some excellent advice of where to visit the next day, plus a packet of detergent, loaded the machine and went off to the room. Since we were doing the laundry we decided to eat in the hotel’s restaurant. I had an enormous Chicken Parmigiana. Every now and then Susan went off to check the laundry, and on her return I then went to do the same thing; in total she failed to find the laundry room 3 times.